Your starting assumptions might be wrong. Religion may bring out the very worst in people. Witch burnings were considered an auto de fay, an act of faith. The wish to destroy the beliefs, icons and followers of rival gods. Politics may bring out the very good in people. Striving for self sovereignty or the right of women and minorities to vote.
Thank you for your reply excon and Happy Saturday. I am a very simple person excon. No blue smoke, mirrors, bells and whistles about me. I am plainwrap.economy. No fancy packaging. What you see is what you get. If one purports to be religious one cannot also simultaneously be a racist/bigot/hatemonger/misogynist/anti-LGBT. They are mutually exclusive to me. You don't have to be religious to be a very good person but if you call yourself religious then I think you are OBLIGATED to be kind, caring, accepting, honorable. See how simple I am? :)
Religion for the most part has brought out the worse in the majority. It has been the reason for the spiritual ignorance and blindness throughout the world. (2 corinthians 4:4)
This post was edited by Autumnleaves at October 22, 2016 2:54 AM MDT
That is something I have never been able to understand Autumn. We both know that an Atheist can be a good person, a kind person, a caring person. It isn't being religious or believing in God that automatically makes someone a good person. It is how you treat other people. I mean "do unto others as you would have others do unto you" and " what you do to the least of mine you do to me" are not hard to understand. They do not equivocate. There is no wiggle room there at all. Yet some religious people are racists and bigots and hatemongers and misogynists and anti-LGBT. Not mildly but hatefully, viciously, bitterly, cruelly. And they are very self-righteous about it and see themselves as being fine in the eyes of God. "WHAT YOU DO TO THE LEAST OF MINE YOU DO TO ME" . They either conveniently forget that or it doesn't matter to them what God wants. It will forever be a mystery to me. There is no hypocrite so evil to me as one who purports to believe in God and Jesus and attacks other people for their skin color or religion or political views. I think that is blasphemous! Thank you for your reply! :)
It's hard to find two members of the same church who agree on what religion is supposed to be, and people who ask a question like that already have chosen the answer they want to hear.
You know nothing about me so you cannot possibly know what I want or think or what I look for in a response. I look for honestly, civility, logiic and substantive replies.. Your assumption is incorrect. I KNOW what I think. I ask questions to find out what others think. There is no answer 'I want to hear' contrary to your assumption/belief/assertion/allegation/accusation.. If there were I would not waste my time asking questions. I would like to get a thoughtful answer from you without an insult embedded therein. That is what I want to hear. Thank you for your reply and Happy Saturday..
Rosie, you are talking nonsense. You say you ask questions to find out what others think but then you scold me for posting what I think. An insult exists only if you accept it as such. If you feel insulted, it's your fault for taking it, not mine for giving it.
No, it's a name I thought of some time ago, not a reference to any specific guy of that name, I chose it because there's something hidden within the name. I wanted to see how long it would take Rosie to notice it. I've known Rosie online for 5 years from Answerbag, and she is a very shrewd lady. I just wanted to see how quickly she would pick up on my reason for using the name Dennis Lambert in my posting. Lol:)
The message in religion may be about being your best self, but it almost never happens. Large groups of like-minded individuals tend to think and act similarly enough that mob mentalities begin to form. Even churches have developed offshoot branches of their faiths because of mob mentality. While all this is supposed to be about becoming a better person, it almost never happens because one thing most people forget about religion is that most of them also tell you about certain things that God/Allah/whatever-deity-you-hold-holy hates. This leads to actions by groups of people who may not have acted against certain groups or causes to go against their personal beliefs.
Politics is usually about power; power to do something, power to stop others from doing things, or power to make things change. While, in most situations, this leads to corruption, in some cases it causes people to become better because, the one thing people forget, people will do whatever is in their nature. Most often people who run for political office are seeking power, usually because they have a plan on what to do with that power. Whether this is an altruistic goal or a vindictive one is dependent on the person's nature.
Thank you for a very thoughtful analysis in reply to the question I asked Olivia-Kate. I appreciate the care and time you invested in it. Happy Saturday! :)
Benedict Arnold 