[MD] Plains Talk and Pragmatism

[John Carl]

The "thing about religion", dave, is that it is a very big problem for the
world and we can't erase the problem by burying our head in the sand and
pretending it doesn't exist.  The MoQ is either a good tool for dealing with
the world as it is, or it's not.  If it's going to antagonize the vast
majority of the world's population with being "anti" their most pressing
need and reality, then it really can't do any good, can it?





> dmb says:
>
> This is the thing about religion. Just look around. What is at the heart of
> our domestic politics and foreign policies? Muslims, Jews and Christians
> each define themselves in relation to the other two. Each form of theism
> thinks the other forms are wrong, if not downright evil. And this conflict
> is not limited to angry e-mails. It entails actual death and destruction.
> There is a vast difference of degree but not in kind. Islam uses suicide
> bombers to resist the infidels and Christianity uses assassins to resist
> abortion doctors. The fundamentalists in Israel literally believe it's their
> god-given right to occupy Palestine and of course all those Palestinian
> refugees beg to differ. And so both sides have a hard time even recognizing
> the humanity of the other side. This is the problem with theism. It's
> supposed to be a force for morality and good and brotherly love but that's
> obviously NOT what's happening. Quite the opposite.
>
> The framers of the constitution knew this about religion. European history
> is chock full of war, torture and murder in the name of religion. The age of
> colonialism was certainly about money and power but it was also very much
> about spreading Christianity at gun point. Whole cultures were destroyed in
> this process. And it's always about the guys and the bad guys. It always
> entails an epic karma dump. And today, in our context, theism is a
> reactionary stance. It's just a form of cultural supremacy and it could only
> be adopted by one who hasn't yet learned the lessons of history and/or one
> who hasn't read a newspaper in a long, long time.
>
>
>
>
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