08-05-2009, 12:28 PM
Bruce
I'm afraid you've not succeeded in persuading me of much else than that those nurtured in a particular religious/cultural ethos will always tend to judge others beliefs more harshly than their own (in the words of Robbie Burns - ' O' wad some power the giftie gie us, to see oorsels as ithers see us'). That and the fairly self-evident notion that wars tend to be fought over fundamental disagreements which oft-times are bound up (or conflated) with religious belief - religion being by definition concerned with the most fundamental beliefs. I don't accept your three-fold division either. China comprises over 25% of the worlds population. It has its own Muslim, Christian etc minorities but by and large subscribes to a much older religion which Westerners would hardly recognise as religion at all - and I DON't mean Communism either
. Then of course there is Buddhism in all its many guises - and lets not forget Hinduism.
It is certainly convenient for the Western PTB that the Muslim faith be characterised in pretty much the way you have done because the lands containing the vast bulk of what remains of the planet's oil endowment just happen to be Muslim. Personally I find it all wearing a little bit thin by now though and fully expect a new scary enemy to be conjured up when this one has finally been flogged to death (literally) and a more convincing threat justifying domestic police-state powers is needed.
I heartily recommend the first half of the video production 'Zeitgeist' for a convincing demolition of most of the hallowed tenets of Christianity as a somehow unique fulfilment of the Jewish Old Testament. VERY uncomfortable viewing for those with unconditional faith - but rigorously factual.
I'm afraid you've not succeeded in persuading me of much else than that those nurtured in a particular religious/cultural ethos will always tend to judge others beliefs more harshly than their own (in the words of Robbie Burns - ' O' wad some power the giftie gie us, to see oorsels as ithers see us'). That and the fairly self-evident notion that wars tend to be fought over fundamental disagreements which oft-times are bound up (or conflated) with religious belief - religion being by definition concerned with the most fundamental beliefs. I don't accept your three-fold division either. China comprises over 25% of the worlds population. It has its own Muslim, Christian etc minorities but by and large subscribes to a much older religion which Westerners would hardly recognise as religion at all - and I DON't mean Communism either
. Then of course there is Buddhism in all its many guises - and lets not forget Hinduism.It is certainly convenient for the Western PTB that the Muslim faith be characterised in pretty much the way you have done because the lands containing the vast bulk of what remains of the planet's oil endowment just happen to be Muslim. Personally I find it all wearing a little bit thin by now though and fully expect a new scary enemy to be conjured up when this one has finally been flogged to death (literally) and a more convincing threat justifying domestic police-state powers is needed.
I heartily recommend the first half of the video production 'Zeitgeist' for a convincing demolition of most of the hallowed tenets of Christianity as a somehow unique fulfilment of the Jewish Old Testament. VERY uncomfortable viewing for those with unconditional faith - but rigorously factual.
Peter Presland
".....there is something far worse than Nazism, and that is the hubris of the Anglo-American fraternities, whose routine is to incite indigenous monsters to war, and steer the pandemonium to further their imperial aims"
Guido Preparata. Preface to 'Conjuring Hitler'[size=12][size=12]
"Never believe anything until it has been officially denied"
Claud Cockburn
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".....there is something far worse than Nazism, and that is the hubris of the Anglo-American fraternities, whose routine is to incite indigenous monsters to war, and steer the pandemonium to further their imperial aims"
Guido Preparata. Preface to 'Conjuring Hitler'[size=12][size=12]
"Never believe anything until it has been officially denied"
Claud Cockburn
[/SIZE][/SIZE]