Reply to: Winner and Losers of 2005

[expat]

sas, we have no way of knowing all the answers.

There is a lad at my daughter's school who will die in a year. The only thing that keeps him from the depths of despair is the faith that he, his family, and most people at the school share.

And yet you insist on belittling these people.

I'm sorry he's going to die soon. I'm glad he has something that keeps him going. Indeed it might make me happier if I had that faith.

But I don't believe it.

[sasguru]

We owe a good deal to the Blackies

[TGAOTU]

Wasn't it Archbishop Desmond Tutu who said that the white man took the land from the African peoples and in exchange gave them the Bible?

Fungus

Nah mate, it was Iron Maiden!!!

The white man came across the sea, he brought us pain and misery
He killed our tribes he killed our creed, he took our game for his own need
We fought him hard we fought him well, out on the plains we gave him hell
But many came to much for Cree, oh will we ever be set free?
Riding through dust clouds and barren wastes, galloping hard on the plains
Chasing the redskins back to their holes, fighting them at their own game
Murder for freedom the stab in the back, women and children and cowards attack

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives
Soldiers blue in the barren wastes, hunting and killing the game
Raping the women and wasting the men, the only good Indians are tame
Selling them whiskey and taking their gold, enslaving the young and destroying the old

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives

Run to the hills, run for your lives
Run to the hills, run for your lives

[EternalOptimist]

Darmstatd

I know someone who is without sin NOW.
Well its a sort of theory really but Im sure if we all have faith it will become true.

1 Sin exists in the world because of Adam and Eve and the apple and the serpent etc

2 Therefore sin does not exist anywhere ouside of this world

3 An alien or anyone born in space must be sin-free

4 oh dear, no one has been born in space - yet.

5 but wait - surely if the pope says that condoms are wrong because they are a form of abortion then sperms = life

6 therefore if a spaceman has a sperm it is a life without sin

7 therefore if we get a pair of Buzz Aldrins space skiddies that he had a wet dream in, grow them out with some stem cells, we MUST end up with someone who is without sin. (a strange smell maybe, but definately no sin)

8 then we can brainwash the sin-free stem-lord to track down Chico, throw bricks at him, and show him the true meaning of 'let him without sin etc etc'

[Fungus]

A discussion on the radio i heard recently placed Mao Tse Tung (and his devotees) as the biggest mass murderer in history in terms of numbers of people killed/starved. Aconservative estimate puts it in the region of 100 million people. Possibly more. His religion - communism. After all religion is the opium of the people!

Incidentally, back on message. My winner for 2005 has to be China for continuing to lift millions of people out of poverty. Maybe Neo Capitalism works! Next would come India a largely secular democracy.

Biggest losers for 2005 have to be the people that the misfortune to live under the yoke of the religious fundamentalists whether Muslim (Iran/Saudi/Sudan/much of Pakistan) or Christian (Phillipines, still no family planning!). There has to be some reason why these countries have the crappiest economies!

Wasn't it Archbishop Desmond Tutu who said that the white man took the land from the African peoples and in exchange gave them the Bible?

Fungus

[Fungus]

Eternal Optimist

When Jesus was accused of being an agent of the devil this is what he said

"Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you."

Matt 12: 25-28

That's the best argument I've yet seen for just saying no to drugs.

Fungus.

[Lucifer Box]

What load of tosh from Sausage Jockey. There is overwhelming supporting evidence for quantum theory, special and general relativity, evolution, genetics, and so on. And the one big difference is this. If the facts contradict a scientific theory, the theory is discarded/improved. But religion, well. But you have got one thing right. You cannot prove that God exists, or does not exist, and hence it is a faith. And that's why fundamentalist Christians/Muslims etc give me the heeby geebies.

Fungus

Take no notice of KnobJockey, he is a Walter Mitty character of the first order. He's only pretending to be some sort of fundamentalist nut for some screwed up reason of his own. You may remember that a couple of months ago he was pretending to be American, but I guess he got bored of that.

[Fungus]

Science is not based on proof, only a very narrow part of it is - pure mathematics - and that has very little bearing on the real world. Sure the pure punk will tell you it does, but they are looking for their next grant check.
Science is itself a belief system.

Science is based on axiom, experiment and politics - increasingly on politics. Bit like religion really, the axioms are in the bible, the experiments are on the human mind, and the politics, well, just join your local church.

People who ask for a proof of God display their ignorance and narrow-mindedness. It is a meaningless question - it like asking a pure mathematician to prove their axioms.

What load of tosh from Sausage Jockey. There is overwhelming supporting evidence for quantum theory, special and general relativity, evolution, genetics, and so on. And the one big difference is this. If the facts contradict a scientific theory, the theory is discarded/improved. But religion, well. But you have got one thing right. You cannot prove that God exists, or does not exist, and hence it is a faith. And that's why fundamentalist Christians/Muslims etc give me the heeby geebies.

Fungus

[Xerxes]

I hope he has an answer. There are far too many people as it is who say "something" must be done but, when pushed, can't elaborate on what that "something" should be.

[sasguru]

What do you propose should be done about Iran?

Don't bother asking him penetrating questions. Anything that pierces below his rather shallow intellect, he ignores. And no that's not an insult, Chico - it has been noticed by most of this forum. I would be happy for you to prove me wrong by answering Xerxes simple question?

[Xerxes]

Oh right I get it - Iran should be allowed to manufacture nuclear weapons and wipe Israel off the map ehh?

What do you propose should be done about Iran?

[Hart-floot]

A discussion on the radio i heard recently placed Mao Tse Tung (and his devotees) as the biggest mass murderer in history in terms of numbers of people killed/starved. Aconservative estimate puts it in the region of 100 million people. Possibly more. His religion - communism. After all religion is the opium of the people!

Incidentally, back on message. My winner for 2005 has to be China for continuing to lift millions of people out of poverty. Maybe Neo Capitalism works! Next would come India a largely secular democracy.

Biggest losers for 2005 have to be the people that the misfortune to live under the yoke of the religious fundamentalists whether Muslim (Iran/Saudi/Sudan/much of Pakistan) or Christian (Phillipines, still no family planning!). There has to be some reason why these countries have the crappiest economies!

[darmstadt]

actually, I think I know someone who IS without sin

I think you will find we are all without sin. Apparently when the big day comes, we will be forgiven our sins and trespasses.

[EternalOptimist]

actually, I think I know someone who IS without sin

[snaw]

Hmm difficult one that - Does Hitler, Pol Pot, Stalin et al ring a bell?

Stalin I'll give you, but I don't think he was specifically targetting people because of their religious beliefs as opposed to killing then because they a percieved threat. Point being your claim is foundless - exponentially more people have indisputably been killed because of religion than for any other reason.