Religion may become extinct in nine nations, study says

[Zebo]

BTW having an open mind which I have doesn't mean not passing judgment on ideas and philosophy, it just means you do so for good reason. if something is absurd you can call it absurd and still be open minded. Islam is absurd.

EDIT: wuliheron read it yourself and get back to me.
http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/

I'm confident your inner Islamphobe will emerge fairly quickly assuming you were not indoctrinated with this garbage.

 

[Zorkorist]

The State is the new Religion.

Just one more Authotorian group, telling you how you must live your life.

-John

 

[Zebo]

The State is the new Religion.

Just one more Authotorian group, telling you how you must live your life.

-John

Huge difference.

Man made and malleable - not some visions from god of a dehydrated hallucinating desert lunatic thousands of years ago and set in stone.

In effect we are gods as opposed to locked in a time warp of unassailable ideas, mores and tenants.

 

[Zorkorist]

I agree. It's a step up from Religion.

-John

 

[Zorkorist]

Huge difference.

Man made and malleable - not some visions from god of a dehydrated hallucinating desert lunatic thousands of years ago and set in stone.

In effect we are gods as opposed to locked in a time warp of unassailable ideas, mores and tenants.

Great post Zebo.

That explains exactly why Government is better than Religion.

However, Government has many if not most of the flaws of Religion.

-John

 

[wuliheron]

Great post Zebo.

That explains exactly why Government is better than Religion.

However, Government has many if not most of the flaws of Religion.

-John

Dogma is the end of honesty and compassion, the beginning of confusion.
Lao Tzu

Government is just religion without the window dressing. Stalin didn't need religion to justify killing 25 million and enslaving peoples' minds and bodies. You can hate all dogma, but that becomes a dogma in its own rite.

 

[Zebo]

Stalin was a dictator similar to god not surprising he could get away with murder on that scale. When you're killing in gods name and with purpose anything is possible.

Fortunately for us we believe in freedom and will kick the bums out if they get too dogmatic.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Christianity is a great source of good for the world. You'll be sorry once the Christians are gone in the Rapture. The world will be consumed by evil for a time. Good luck during the Tribulation.

 

[Zorkorist]

Dogma is the end of honesty and compassion, the beginning of confusion.
Lao Tzu

Government is just religion without the window dressing. Stalin didn't need religion to justify killing 25 million and enslaving peoples' minds and bodies. You can hate all dogma, but that becomes a dogma in its own rite.

Honesty, Compassion, and the right to exercise them, are necessary to any person's well-being.

Government and Religion only serve to stifle the individual.

-John

 

[Zebo]

Christianity is a great source of good for the world. You'll be sorry once the Christians are gone in the Rapture. The world will be consumed by evil for a time. Good luck during the Tribulation.

lol - I'm sure the native Americans you failed to covert would disagree. like what seriously

 

[wuliheron]

Honesty, Compassion, and the right to exercise them, are necessary to any person's well-being.

Government and Religion only serve to stifle the individual.

-John

Government and religion are merely tools. You can blame the hammer all you want when it hits your thumb, but its still just a hammer.

 

[Zorkorist]

They, Government and Religion, are reflections of our society.

There is no hammer, no animosity. They believe they are doing well.

That it is the individual that is important, has barely been seen by Government, Society, and Religion.

The closest thing we have to an understanding of why the individual is important, is the United States Bill of Rights, which has been trampled on by the United States Government.

-John

 

[RabidMongoose]

do you live in Canada? we aren't a very religious country at all retard.

You're all talk, but your head of state must be the head of one religion. Actions mean more than mere words. As such, Canada is one of the most religious nations on this planet because Canadians demand that their head of state be the head of one specific religious denomination.

If you're not religious, then drop this ridiculous demand. However, I expect that deep inside you are religious like many other Canadians, and as such you will continue to demand that your head of state also be the head of a specific religion at the exclusion of other religions.

 

[wuliheron]

Stalin was a dictator similar to god not surprising he could get away with murder on that scale. When you're killing in gods name and with purpose anything is possible.

Fortunately for us we believe in freedom and will kick the bums out if they get too dogmatic.

Freedom itself is just so much dogma or political rhetoric. Words have no demonstrable meaning outside specific contexts.

Hypocrisy
When the Way is forgotten
Duty and justice appear;
Then knowledge and wisdom are born
Along with hypocrisy.
When harmonious relationships dissolve
Then respect and devotion arise;
When a nation falls to chaos
Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
Lao Tzu

 

[RabidMongoose]

I know very well who the head of state of Canada is. It doesn't matter and you are so far off it isn't even funny.

That's nice but as I just said, words don't mean anything. How about some action? How about if religion isn't important to you and your countrymen then you all get together and demand that your government doesn't impose and protect such a ridiculous religious tradition?

Seriously, come on, your country demands that its head of state be the head of one religion. That is about as religious as you can get.

 

[Zorkorist]

Freedom itself is just so much dogma or political rhetoric. Words have no demonstrable meaning outside specific contexts.

Hypocrisy
When the Way is forgotten
Duty and justice appear;
Then knowledge and wisdom are born
Along with hypocrisy.
When harmonious relationships dissolve
Then respect and devotion arise;
When a nation falls to chaos
Then loyalty and patriotism are born.
Lao Tzu

Freedom, may perhaps be the ultimate a man can achieve, or ever hope to achieve.

It's not a dogma, or a religion, or a government or a society.

It's a natural state, and only bounded by dogma, Government, Society, and Religion.

-John

 

[wuliheron]

Freedom, may perhaps be the ultimate a man can achieve, or ever hope to achieve.

It's not a dogma, or a religion, or a government or a society.

It's a natural state, and only bounded by dogma, Government, Society, and Religion.

-John

That's good generic political rhetoric. Just replace "freedom" with love, Allah, brotherhood, or whatever word you prefer.

 

[Zebo]

No you cant replace it with any ole word, Words have meaning. Freedom is absence of oppression. Religion is oppressive. The state too is oppressive but at least we are doing the oppression rather than immutable word of God and his minions.

Let me give you an Example. In my time in Saudi every friday on all three stations (all state owned) they had head/hand chopping on. This tradition is still with them for even minor infractions because god said so.

We OTOH no longer hang people for thievery or worse in middle ages because we made our own rules.

That's freedom.

 

[Zebo]

Freedom, may perhaps be the ultimate a man can achieve, or ever hope to achieve.

It's not a dogma, or a religion, or a government or a society.

It's a natural state, and only bounded by dogma, Government, Society, and Religion.

-John

Freedom is absence of oppression. Wether you are an oppressor of someone or oppresse by someone everyone recognizes freedom and what it is in their heart. Of course its natural unless you're a sociopath or indoctrinated by fundis.

You can't give freedom, it just is, it's a natural state w/o oppression, you can only take freedoms.

Religion, especially Islam, excels at taking freedom.

 

[wuliheron]

No you cant replace it with any ole word, Words have meaning. Freedom is absence of oppression. Religion is oppressive. The state too is oppressive but at least we are doing the oppression rather than immutable word of God and his minions.

Let me give you an Example. In my time in Saudi every friday on all three stations (all state owned) they had head/hand chopping on. This tradition is still with them for even minor infractions because god said so.

We OTOH no longer hang people for thievery or worse in middle ages because we made our own rules.

That's freedom.

As if we never raped and whipped slaves in the name of freedom, lynched people, or burned witches at the stake.

All that barbarism is just a remnant of primitive societies and a measure of economic success. Sometimes it requires a bit of forceful suppression to get rid of the worst vestiges like we did with the Japanese and Germans, but unless you can create a strong middle class it will just come back again. Still, you'll find barbarism in every primitive group from small jungle tribes to feudal societies to high tech ones. It's a way of maintaining control over resources.

Other societies like the Bhutanese and Tibetans have been incredibly civilized and non-barbaric for centuries despite having strong religions. Hell, the Bhutanese today even measure their "gross domestic happiness" and make the rest of us look like barbarians. If it's barbarism that bothers you I'd suggest going straight to the point rather then playing with words.

 

[brandonb]

Oh, I believe those "studies" from Abrams, Weiner, and Berger for sure.

 

[Sheik Yerbouti]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12811197

Wow! Great news! About time... People have grown a brain to think for themselves! I might have to jump ship and move!

The team took census data stretching back as far as a century from countries in which the census queried religious affiliation: Australia, Austria, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Switzerland.

I find it funny Canada is on the list. But I'd much rather move to New Zealand or Australia.

:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Finland is supposed to be pretty damn nice.

 

[jonks]

Christianity is a great source of good for the world. You'll be sorry once the Christians are gone in the Rapture. The world will be consumed by evil for a time. Good luck during the Tribulation.

Don't you worry about us sinners. Some books were 'left behind' to tell us how to get by.

 

[actuarial]

That's nice but as I just said, words don't mean anything. How about some action? How about if religion isn't important to you and your countrymen then you all get together and demand that your government doesn't impose and protect such a ridiculous religious tradition?

Seriously, come on, your country demands that its head of state be the head of one religion. That is about as religious as you can get.

You have a serious flaw in logic. What you are saying would make sense if a) the citizens demanded it, b) the reason for demanding it was religious in nature.

I think you are flimsy on a), since I in my lifetime have never had to chance to choose who should be our head of state. In my day to day life the designation is meaningless, so there's little reason for me to rise up against it. On b), you're using coincidence as evidence. Are you saying that if the Queen was no longer the head of the Church of England she would no longer be our head of state? Was there never a King/Queen of England who was not the leader of a religion?

Also remember, it said would EVENTUALLY be free from religion, not that we are free of it now. So here's some follow-up questions on your evidence that the Queen proves we are not on the path to removing religion: Who's the last active Anglican that was Prime Minister? What's the most popular religion in Canada? Is the Queen the head of that religion? What percentage of Canadians consider themselves Anglican? Why would a Roman Catholic demand an Anglican head of state?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

The State is the new Religion.

Just one more Authotorian group, telling you how you must live your life.

Actually, in practice, large corporations and free market dogmatism could become or already are our religion. For example, there have been news reports about businesses requiring people to not smoke in the comfort of their own homes and businesses forbid the private use of illegal drugs even if they have no impact on work performance.

When you step back and think about it, corporations and businesses control us in numerous ways. Want a job? Don't be overweight and have good looks. Also, you cannot take personal (unemployed) time off and expect to work again. That is a sin! it's forbidden! You might also need to work as an intern (less than slavery) for a period of time before you're eligible for employment.

What's insidious is that, by and large, most people are completely unaware of just how much they are being controlled.