EU, Solona in Bible Prophecy?

[fryke]

I just realised how awful that sentence was to read. Sorry. ... What I meant was: Most of the ongoing wars really _are_ about religion, and if you'd take away all of those, we'd actually have the time and the money to solve things like the energy crisis along with the environment. A materialistic approach is not a problem per se. In fact, it'd be the solution.

The energy crisis is nothing ethereal, it's a materialistic problem that can be solved. The environment is suffering and that's connected to the energy problem, but it's also connected to the ongoing wars, where millions (money) in weapons (material) are wasted (environment) in order to uphold a status quo about oil (energy crisis). In the name of gods that have changed their faces a thousand times, because they're man-made icons. Even if you _do_ believe in a god, you have to admit that the way "God" is used in the current wars, it's simply not a good thing.

I know you can't just erase religion. But it's certainly worth marginalising and personalising it WHEREVER you can. Have your own, private religion. Believe and trust what you want, I know I do. But as soon as you lead "your people", your "nation under God" into (several) wars on a worldwide basis, you're a problem that has to be solved.

I agree that the flag under which you do that doesn't really matter and that some 20th century monsters have abused atheism. But again: They didn't really uphold any atheistic thoughts. Atheism, for them, was just yet another small thing to abuse. They could've chosen Christianity (for ease of use), but probably wanted to replace religion (talk about hybris) with their own myths, so they first had to take religion down for _that_ reason, not for the sake of saying there is no god.

[fryke]

Btw.: Hitler was a Catholic who thought he was fighting Jews for "God". Stalin, after Hitler invaded, brought the Church back because he thought it might help. They were never really atheists on the one hand, and they never did these things "in the name of atheism" or anything similar. Hitler, quite clearly, tried to uphold the Arian race thing he was all about. Stalin held the communism idea high. Religion/atheism was a side note. Comparing those to fundamentalist muslims like Bin Laden or fundamentalist christians like Bush jr. is way off.

[Rhisiart]

Originally Posted by bbloke

rhisiart: .... I'm no fan of religious fundamentalism .... I'd disagree that it is the greatest threat to us now.

Global warming & economic inequality are just two of the biggest threats at the moment. However, I think we're sitting on a ticking bomb. As far a extreme religious fundamentalism is concerned, I don't think we've even scratched the surface yet of the horrors to come.

Originally Posted by bbloke

rhisiart: Also, I'd like to sound a note of caution about when people start bashing religion..

I think religion is fair game for a bit of bashing, given the deliberate manipulation of the scriptures over the years by so called Holy men simply for political gain.

However, spirituality and a belief in God/Allah/Vishnu (or whatever) is an entirely different thing. I would never disrespect an individual's personal spiritual existence.