It seems that religion either still is or is becoming more important to voters. In this article, presidential hopeful and Mormon Mitt Romney says he's not happy with his competitor Mike Huckabee's cheap shot he took at Romney for being a Mormon. (Oh, and yes, Huckabee is a Southern Baptist minister.)
The word has gotten out that Romney is a Mormon and now he's slipping in the polls. I read a report the other day that claimed presidential candidates, especially in the all-important State of Iowa, are being forced to make declarations of their faith in order to appeal to evangelical Christians there.
It's pretty sad that religion plays such a big role in politics. By making our choice for president based on religion, we are inviting conflict with other countries and cultures in the future. We are basically telling the world that we are a theocratic state where our absolute values trump all other value systems.
We should be less focused on a candidates religion and more focused on whether that person can run the country or not. Making a decision based on religion and personality got us Geo. W. Bush and look where that put us.
The world is getting smaller and smaller everyday. We cannot afford to deal in relgious absolutes.
"Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise, every expanded prospect." James Madison
"Those who can make you believe in absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire
The United States has always been a strong Christian state, for years we have been a world leader. Now in present times with the decline of morals and Christianity, it seems we are not so powerful and untouchable after all. Possible connection? Maybe, maybe not. It stands to reason in my eyes.
ReplyDeleteLook at our high school kids, remember the goth, alive and well in my small town school district. These kids claim to be atheist. They are not even old enough to by a pack of cigarettes but they can claim they have no god.
With the absence of Christianity and morals people tend care less about their fellow man and the world it's self. You might disagree but look at most non Christian families. Their kids are out of control, they live with out morals and are generally selfish people.
I am not saying all non Christians are this way but most seem to be. I have run into many good Mormons, Jewish and Muslim people.
Take notice of the people that claim to have a close relationship with God, they are happier and more pleasant people to be around. They have a higher set of morals and live a smother more content life.
Without Christianity or some form of religion it is easy to make up and live by your own vales. Heck murder and rape are perfectly acceptable without a system of accountability. A lot of people need religion to keep them in check.
As far as our president goes, you can keep the Muslims and Mormons.
So you're saying you will only be good and not murder and rape because you're afraid of some God punishing you?
ReplyDeleteYou don't think it's possible to have good morals and values without the threat of burning in some mythical hell?
So you're saying if people do have religion, they have better morals and values?
"I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so." Adolph Hitler, 1941
I am saying not all but I do believe that most atheist have poor morals and values. I deal with and interact with several atheist people. They are have poor morals and nasty character.
ReplyDeleteWithout God, why should it bother you to kill your neighbor when he ticks you off? The only thing you are doing is solving a problem. If you aren't going to burn in Hell for it, what difference does it make?
With no God I could make up my own set of morals, who could tell me I am wrong? Who says your way of living is right and mine is wrong? It would be opinion, God is absolute, his word is it.
Why does the idea of something that gives people hope and guidance bother you so bad? Why do you fear "God"?
Some people need something to believe in, don't be do quick to take it away.
The German people followed Hitler because they needed something to believe in. They were down and out, rock bottom. Someone to bring them out of their economic slump. Hitler did, he just went stupid after that. Maybe they should have followed someone else,,,,,,,,,,you think.
My point with Hitler was that there were a lot more religious people throughout history with questionable values and morals than there ever were atheists. Far more violence has been done in the name of religion than anything else.
ReplyDeleteThis is because "God's word is absolute." When two people have different views on "God's word," the two absolutes conflict, causing one to try to kill the other in the name of God. Because after all, there really is no way to prove exactly what God wants. It's your interpretation against mine.
You could argue that people need a God for hope and "guidance" but as history has proven, his guidance is usually to kill the other guy.
You must fear God if God is preventing you from killing your neighbors.
In your comment you contradict yourself there. First you say that God is preventing you from killing your neighbors ("Without God, why should it bother you to kill your neighbor when he ticks you off?").
Then later you say, "Why does the idea of something that gives people hope and guidance bother you so bad? Why do you fear "God"?" as if we shouldn't fear God.
Generally, what stops you from killing your neighbors, and other poor moral choices, is society and societal norms. We have a law based on society's norms, not based on religion.
Even without God, a normal person in today's society would know that killing your neighbor is bad. There are laws that tell us that too.
You could also argue that our norms are derived from our religion. This may be true to a degree.
This is only because the good parts of religion, i.e. Thou shalt not kill, are pretty much universal in all religions and even in non-religious societies and based on societal norms and what people generally think is good and evil.
There are also a lot of bad parts to religion. Different religions have varying levels of bad parts.
Some say that Muslims have the most bad parts because Muslim religious texts pretty much advocate killing non-Muslims.
People will argue that the parts of the Koran that advocate killing non-Muslims are misinterpreted by a small number of radicals.
Hitler believed the Christian bible advocated killing all Jews.
"[The Jews] both killed the Lord Jesus, and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men." Thessalonians I, 2:15.
Wonder where Hitler got that idea?
"Think not that I come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword." Matthew, 10:34
But even still, according to the Bible, you can do whatever you want and then castrate yourself and go straight to heaven.
"For there are eunuchs, that were so born from their mother's womb: and there are eunuchs, that were made eunuchs by men: and there are eunuchs, that made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it." Matthew 19:12
Where do you get this from?
ReplyDeleteI would agree God has been used as a fuel to motivate men to fight but what fight are you talking about? World war 2? Are you saying we should have let Hitler go?
"You could argue that people need a God for hope and "guidance" but as history has proven, his guidance is usually to kill the other guy."
Some atheist believe That,,,,,
The human race is the only species that knows there is a beginning and and end to life. So began religion, to combat chronic depression. This depression coming from knowing you are going to die someday.
My comment about killing my neighbor was aimed at if I had no beliefs in God.
If I had no God killing my neighbor might be a way for me to make the world a better place. The guy sucks. So how could I go wrong? As long as I don't get cought what makes the difference?
This argument could go on forever, we are supose to protect the weak and innocent. Well if God is not going to punish me when I die, I could take advantage of the weak and profit from it. Who is to say I am wrong? My set of morals allow me to do that and not be held accountable for it.
Throughout history, in all cultures of the world, people have been convinced there is a God. Could one say with any sense of confidence that all those people have been mistaken? Billions of people, who represent diverse sociological, intellectual, emotional, educational makeups . . . all came to the same conclusion that there is a Creator, a God to be worshipped.
ReplyDelete"Anthropological research has indicated that among the farthest and most remote primitive people today, there is a universal belief in God. And in the earliest histories and legends of people all around the world, the original concept was of one God, who was the Creator. An original high God seems once to have been in their consciousness even in those societies which are today polytheistic."(3)