There are the haves and the have-nots

On 11/26/2015 9:14 AM, Sam Wormley wrote:

There are the haves and the have-nots. If you are a have, open your
hearts and homes to the have-nots. The world will be a better place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0XBXJjoXJ4

You first

Lead by example

or do you lead from behind?

Sam Wormley:

There are the haves and the have-nots. If you are a have, open your
hearts and homes to the have-nots. The world will be a better place.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0XBXJjoXJ4

If you want to make the world a better place, heed this and preach it:
"The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious
belief." ‹Steven Weinberg, Nobel laureate in physics, UT Austin.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On Friday, November 27, 2015 at 9:32:21 PM UTC-5, Davoud wrote:

If you want to make the world a better place, heed this and preach it:
"The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious
belief." 鬼teven Weinberg, Nobel laureate in physics, UT Austin.

And yet Weinberg supports Israel?

On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 9:54:52 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Friday, November 27, 2015 at 9:32:21 PM UTC-5, Davoud wrote:

If you want to make the world a better place, heed this and preach it:
"The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious
belief." 鬼teven Weinberg, Nobel laureate in physics, UT Austin.

And yet Weinberg supports Israel?

And why not? Israel is a peaceful democratic state. It doesn't persecute
Muslims based on a fanatical interpretation of Judaism. Instead, Muslims, based
on a fanatical interpretation of Islam, had persecuted Jews; when the Jews
refused to remain subject to this, and achieved their independence, the Muslim
world sought to drive Israel into the sea.

So Israel has had to take precautions with respect to the free movement of
people from the West Bank and Gaza Strip within its territories; not out of
religious hatred, but in order to protect its citizens from violence.

And Jews settled in Israel not to create a theocratic state, but to have, as an
ethnic group, a homeland of their own, rather than living always as a minority
in someone else's country - and thus, potentially subject to pogroms and
genocide at any time. This has to do with human rights and actual historical
experience, not religious dogma.

So I find your comment entirely baffling; Israel is not exclusively an
expression of religious faith, and can be supported by people who aren't
Jewish, as well as by ethnic Jews who do not follow the religion of Judaism..

Of course, it _is_ true that the need to locate the national home of the Jewish
people within the Palestinian Mandate, instead of, say, in Australia, or in
some space that could be made available in Africa or Latin America, comes from
the religious imperative to rebuild the Temple - which still has not happened,
however. (Which is why I said _exclusively_ above.)

John Savard

On Friday, November 27, 2015 at 7:32:21 PM UTC-7, Davoud wrote:

If you want to make the world a better place, heed this and preach it:
"The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious
belief." 鬼teven Weinberg, Nobel laureate in physics, UT Austin.

I don't deny that the world's religious beliefs are not empirically valid.

However, those who subscribe to religious beliefs are... firmly attached... to
them. If I want to make the world a better place... one of the things I should
do is find something better to do with my time than spend it arguing with the
wind.

The wind will not change its course because I tell it to - and, equally, there
is little I can do to cause the world's people to abandon their faiths.

Also, while religious belief _has_ often had harmful consequences, its
consequences are not exclusively harmful. The following points can be noted:

- In many cases, conflicts identified as religious wars are between groups
which also differ in other respects; ethnic origin, language, economic class.
And people divided by such attributes fight wars with each other without the
help of religion.

- Religion has played a part in the reform of many criminals, and the
rehabilitation of many people suffering from alcoholism or drug addiction. It
is simple to understand, and has a powerful emotional appeal, and will
therefore reach people left unmoved by other approaches.

- As well, while people don't have to be religious to perform acts of charity,
the emotional power and intellectual simplicity of religion has in many cases
made it effective in increasing the level, and broadening the base, of
charitable contributions and volunteer efforts.

John Savard

On Mon, 30 Nov 2015 11:11:35 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc
wrote:
- Religion has played a part in the reform of many criminals, and
the
rehabilitation of many people suffering from alcoholism or drug
addiction. It
is simple to understand, and has a powerful emotional appeal, and
will
therefore reach people left unmoved by other approaches.

Basically, religion is a kind of psychological drug which can be very
addictive. Religious extasy can have many similarities to a
hallucioenic "trip".

On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 2:00:45 PM UTC-5, Quadibloc wrote:
On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 9:54:52 AM UTC-7, wrote:
On Friday, November 27, 2015 at 9:32:21 PM UTC-5, Davoud wrote:

If you want to make the world a better place, heed this and preach it:
"The world needs to wake up from its long nightmare of religious
belief." 鬼teven Weinberg, Nobel laureate in physics, UT Austin.

On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 3:50:15 PM UTC-5, Paul Schlyter wrote:

Basically, religion is a kind of psychological drug which can be very
addictive. Religious extasy can have many similarities to a
hallucioenic "trip".

So can we assume that you are basing your statements on personal experience?

Quadibloc:
And why not? Israel is a peaceful democratic state. It doesn't persecute
Muslims based on a fanatical interpretation of Judaism.

I don't know what universe you live in, but that's not a description of
the Israel I lived in for 4+ years and to which I traveled frequently
over a period of 15 years. Lack of religious freedom, denial of rights
to Arabs (Christian, Druze, Muslim) who are citizens of Israel, corrupt
politics, stolen land, imprisonment without charges, interrogations
under torture, assassinations... It's a long list.

--
I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that
you will say in your entire life.

usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm

On 12/1/2015 9:18 AM, Davoud wrote:
Quadibloc:
And why not? Israel is a peaceful democratic state. It doesn't persecute
Muslims based on a fanatical interpretation of Judaism.

I don't know what universe you live in, but that's not a description of
the Israel I lived in for 4+ years and to which I traveled frequently
over a period of 15 years. Lack of religious freedom, denial of rights
to Arabs (Christian, Druze, Muslim) who are citizens of Israel, corrupt
politics, stolen land, imprisonment without charges, interrogations
under torture, assassinations... It's a long list.


I'm afraid you started your list several THOUSAND years late

and, Of course, you have no historical context, nor geographical context

in short You're an ignorant idiot