tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-591067151103789843.post3010245601614297358..comments2023-12-21T11:15:11.821-08:00Comments on Strait of Magellan: An Eye for an EyeCaptain Robert Reederhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14500768952960978516noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-591067151103789843.post-63458692293051845342011-04-04T18:23:06.168-07:002011-04-04T18:23:06.168-07:00@ Craig--
My father was also a Christian. His Jes...@ Craig--<br /><br />My father was also a Christian. His Jesus was wise, gentle and kind. His Jesus associated with tax collectors, lepers and prostitutes, and understood that a Samaritan could be a good and decent person even though they were a Samaritan. <br /><br />We create our gods in our own image. <br /><br />I have known so many good, gentle and kind people who have been adherents of so many different faiths. I count among my friends Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Wiccans, atheists, who knows what all else. The benefit of living in a seaport town, I guess. Good, decent, fallible human beings, trying to make their way in this world and make it a better world for their kids. <br /><br />And then, you get crap like this. <br /><br />I couldn't have said it better myself. Dipshits will be dipshits.Captain Robert Reederhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14500768952960978516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-591067151103789843.post-70462021368262208422011-04-04T15:12:12.082-07:002011-04-04T15:12:12.082-07:00Good on you, Captain. I totally support this act. ...Good on you, Captain. I totally support this act. Also I agree with you, dipshits will be dipshits.<br /><br />On the abortion issue, I am amazed that those anti-abortion folks seem to miss the outright genocide commanded by God in the Torah. But then from what I can tell they tend not to read that portion of their book much, too much of that touchy-feely do good and be a decent human being parts to it, you know like take care of the widows, the orphan and the needy, which along with don't murder each other seems to be the thing God harps on the most.Craig A. Glesnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06696516342754954732noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-591067151103789843.post-11826039458268979732011-04-02T23:17:25.754-07:002011-04-02T23:17:25.754-07:00The thing is, I really don't think religion, p...The thing is, I really don't think religion, per se, is inherently bad. My sister, for example, is Christian. When our father passed away, her faith really seemed to help her come to an understanding of that, which gave her peace of mind that she might not have had otherwise. Whether what she believes about death and what happens after death has any validity or not really doesn't matter. Death is a reality, and her beliefs help her come to terms with that reality. That works for her, and she isn't the sort of person who would fly an airplane into a building, regardless of what her Bible or her pastor told her to do. Her faith causes her no harm, her faith causes others no harm, and it helps her deal with the everyday crises and triumphs that life typically gives us. It works, for her.<br /><br />Does that make it, in Marx's words, an "opiate of the masses"? Maybe. But in my sister's case, and the case of many people like her, it's a fairly benign opiate.<br /><br />I'm also not convinced that people who do evil in the name of their god wouldn't just do evil anyway. The Bible is used for justification to harm others all the time, but if the Bible suddenly didn't exist then people who wanted to harm others would simply find another justification. As often as not people who would use the Bible (or the Quran or the Upanishads or whatever) to justify harming others don't really care whether the Bible actually justifies their harming or not.<br /><br />For example, nowhere does the Bible say anything at all negative about abortion. It was a common practice during the time of both Moses and Jesus, and neither of them (or their respective followers) ever even mentioned abortion. But that doesn't stop people who advocate government regulation of other people's bodies from pretending that the Bible is somehow "pro life".<br /><br />Bad people will do bad things, with or without religion as an excuse. Good people will do good things, with or without religion as an excuse. But if, beyond all of that, a religion brings a little joy or comfort into into the lives of its followers, that's not a bad thing.<br /><br />Anyway, just my $.02.Captain Robert Reederhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14500768952960978516noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-591067151103789843.post-11232246118048796612011-04-02T18:24:03.185-07:002011-04-02T18:24:03.185-07:00Maybe it's time to just burn all of the religi...Maybe it's time to just burn all of the religious books and be done with it. <br /><br />I'm not sure that stone-age gods and nuclear age weapons can ever successfully co-exist on the same planet. One or the other of them needs to go away, now. Or better yet, both of them need to go away now. For the survival of our species. Let's turn our swords into plowshares and our Bibles into heating fuel. Today.Space Cowgirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00325004848039990867noreply@blogger.com