On Mon, 13 Dec 2010 21:41:23 -0600, Tim Daneliuk
wrote:

On 12/13/2010 5:15 PM, DGDevin wrote:
"Disbelief" wrote in message ...


Not a patch on Lennon's song - and if there were no religion, the world would be a damn site better place. Too many have died, been maimed, deprived of food or cast out of society in the name of religion - and usually by preachers of it who are either hypocrites or bigots or both.

A fellow my wife and I know lost everything to Hurricane Katrina, his house had six feet of water in it. He didn't even see anyone from FEMA for months, but he and his neighbors were fed and housed for the most part by church groups, many of them had come hundreds or even thousands of miles to help. So while I agree that religion has been the source of a lot of strife over the centuries, that doesn't mean that no good has ever come of it. Religion is no different from any other aspect of human society, it can be a force for good or ill, it all depends on how people use it.

More people have died at the hands of atheists than at the hands of the
religious wingnuts. Stalin alone probably eclipses the entire death
toll of the Crusades and medieval Christian church. Tribalists come in
second - think Tutsi/Hutu for one example - but religion is a far distant
third.

Perhaps. Then again, those killings weren't done in the name of some
god, or NO god, either.

Mayans and Incas offed a few in the name of their gods, too. The list
is endless.

--
Know how to listen, and you will
profit even from those who talk badly.
-- Plutarch

On Mon, 13 Dec 2010 22:26:42 -0800, "DGDevin"
wrote:



"Larry Jaques" wrote in message
news

Religious folks can keep their witch burnings, Crusades, Westboros,
etc.

How about their soup kitchens and homeless shelters and rehab programs and
hospices and so on, can they keep those two? You're choosing to see only
one side, and while bigotry and stupidity can certainly be found among
religious people, so can compassion and generosity.

The jerk/nice ratio is about 1,000:6 in my experience. The local soup
kitchen/flop house -demands- that the partakers listen to their
sermons before dinner, say grace, and all but demand (which would be
illegal) work from them for their services. There's not much room for
compassion and generosity with all that need for spouting religion. My
neighbor is a Catholic and says that her church gives away food and
such without asking the needy to listen to their religious views or
for anything in return. That sounds like a lot more compassionate and
generous

Churches could do a lot more for the homeless and hungry if they
didn't spend countless millions on ornate and gaudy church buildings.
$100 million for one church in HelL.A., $25 million for a gold-topped
Mormon temple in Sandy Eggo, etc. That money could have fed, clothed,
and housed a metric ****load of people, huh?


I've known some real
jerks who made a big deal of their religious faith, but some of the nicest
folks I've ever met were also very religious--they're not all looking for
opportunities to burn witches.

Me, too. But, like I've said, the ratio is very wide and the bad guys
are on the big end.


--
Know how to listen, and you will
profit even from those who talk badly.
-- Plutarch

On Dec 14, 8:57*am, Larry Jaques
wrote:
[snipped]

Me, too. *But, like I've said, the ratio is very wide and the bad guys
are on the big end.


I couldn't disagree more. I might agree with the exact opposite.

Robatoy wrote in news:f26e53db-6003-4d63-89c7-
:

On Dec 14, 8:57*am, Larry Jaques
wrote:
[snipped]

Me, too. *But, like I've said, the ratio is very wide and the bad guys
are on the big end.


I couldn't disagree more. I might agree with the exact opposite.

I guess it is a personal thing. Both from the observer's point of view and
from the organization's/practitioner's. In the end, I would hope that
everyone gets what he/she deserves to get grin/snicker

--
Best regards
Han
email address is invalid

On Dec 10, 9:26*am, RonB wrote:
As a life-long Kansan, I love my state, but there are times when I
want to hide under a damned rock. *For those who haven't heard the
nutcase a**holes from the Topeka-based Westboro "church" plan to
protest her funeral.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/contr...test-elizabeth...

No word regarding Patriot Guard intervention.

%$@#&*


Take comfort in the fact that not many of us likely judge your
beautiful state by the actions of its minority whack-jobs.

I have to frequently remind myself that freedoms are often
distasteful, but better than not having them at all.

On Dec 14, 9:36*am, Han wrote:
Robatoy wrote in news:f26e53db-6003-4d63-89c7-
:

On Dec 14, 8:57 am, Larry Jaques
wrote:
[snipped]

Me, too. But, like I've said, the ratio is very wide and the bad guys
are on the big end.

I couldn't disagree more. I might agree with the exact opposite.

I guess it is a personal thing. *

Very personal indeed.

Neil Brooks wrote:
On Dec 10, 9:26 am, RonB wrote:
As a life-long Kansan, I love my state, but there are times when I
want to hide under a damned rock. For those who haven't heard the
nutcase a**holes from the Topeka-based Westboro "church" plan to
protest her funeral.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/contr...test-elizabeth...

No word regarding Patriot Guard intervention.

%$@#&*


Take comfort in the fact that not many of us likely judge your
beautiful state by the actions of its minority whack-jobs.

I have to frequently remind myself that freedoms are often
distasteful, but better than not having them at all.

The two are not mutually exclusive. For example, I have the freedom to own a
baseball bat in a state that recognizes "fighting words" as justification.

On 2010-12-14 08:57:55 -0500, Larry Jaques
said:

Churches could do a lot more for the homeless and hungry if they
didn't spend countless millions on ornate and gaudy church buildings.
$100 million for one church in HelL.A., $25 million for a gold-topped
Mormon temple in Sandy Eggo, etc. That money could have fed, clothed,
and housed a metric ****load of people, huh?

Just to play devil's advocate for a moment, didn't the money feed,
clothe and house a metric ****load of contractors?

On 2010-12-14 08:57:55 -0500, Larry Jaques
said:

Me, too. But, like I've said, the ratio is very wide and the bad guys
are on the big end.

Um, maybe. I tend to believe everyone is pretty decent, right up to the
point they reveal their true natures. But then the evil does seem to be
truly out of proportion -- evil people must work very hard to prove
just how evil they can be.

It takes a lot of Mahatma Gandhis to balance out even one Radislav Krstić.

In article ,
says...

Neil Brooks wrote:
On Dec 10, 9:26 am, RonB wrote:
As a life-long Kansan, I love my state, but there are times when I
want to hide under a damned rock. For those who haven't heard the
nutcase a**holes from the Topeka-based Westboro "church" plan to
protest her funeral.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/contr...test-elizabeth...

No word regarding Patriot Guard intervention.

%$@#&*


Take comfort in the fact that not many of us likely judge your
beautiful state by the actions of its minority whack-jobs.

I have to frequently remind myself that freedoms are often
distasteful, but better than not having them at all.

The two are not mutually exclusive. For example, I have the freedom to own a
baseball bat in a state that recognizes "fighting words" as justification.

What state would that be?

On Tue, 14 Dec 2010 06:29:03 -0800 (PST), Robatoy
wrote:

On Dec 14, 8:57*am, Larry Jaques
wrote:
[snipped]

Me, too. *But, like I've said, the ratio is very wide and the bad guys
are on the big end.

I couldn't disagree more. I might agree with the exact opposite.

I've met too many hypocrites right out of church. shrug

--
Know how to listen, and you will
profit even from those who talk badly.
-- Plutarch

Larry Jaques wrote:


I've met too many hypocrites right out of church. shrug

And I've met too many hypocrites that have nothing to do with churches.

--

-Mike-

On Dec 14, 11:14*pm, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:
Larry Jaques wrote:

I've met too many hypocrites right out of church. *shrug

And I've met too many hypocrites that have nothing to do with churches.

--

-Mike-


Hypocrites are the worst scum. Being dope-smoking/stealing cops,
diddling priests or politicians.