On Sat, 07 Aug 2004 20:53:34 -0600, JJ
wrote:

Mike Coslo wrote:


Now here we differ. Whatever problems "lack" of religion may cause
are overshadowed by the problems that religion *causes*. I am perfectly
happy to have religions coexist together - problem is, the religion's
adherants are often not.

The Muslim religion is a good example.

This is one reason why I don't subscribe to the specific beliefs of
any of the established religions. Maybe it only seems like it to
me...but I find it odd that every major religion is convinced that
theirs is the only *true* way to...well, to whatever rewards they
claim await those who follow the path those beliefs say is the correct
one. They're also convinced that anyone who chooses another path is
condemned in this life and the next. The fact is that none of us
really knows and can prove which is right.

In a sense they are all right...since, as I said, religion is nothing
more than a system of beliefs people use to explain to themselves
things that they don't understand - so in a way, the "God" of Judaism
and Christianity, the "Allah" of Islam, etc. all refer to the same
higher power whose nature none of us really knows anything about.

The problem, then, comes in when groups manage to convince themselves
that they know something they don't, and set forth attempting to
correct everyone else's views on the subject using military force,
terrorism, concentration camps, or whatever.

Meanwhile, we get numerous examples throughout history of people
perpetrating various levels of atrocity upon other people in the name
of their relgious beliefs. It isn't just the Muslim religion.
Christians conducted The Crusades long before anybody even knew where
Manhattan was, let alone thought about building skyscapers there.

Add to that the scumbags who will make use of people's religious
beliefs in order to take advantage of them, and what it all adds up to
is a whole lot of harm being done by man to his fellow man in the name
of God/Allah/Jehovah/Whatever, and maybe the commies had a point
trying to keep all that crap out of their society. Problem is, there's
nothing in communist ideology to answer unanswered questions. shrug

We now return you to our regularly scheduled discussion of FCC Office
Testing History, already in progress. :-)

John Kasupskim Tonawanda, New York
Amateur Radio (KC2HMZ), SWL/Scanner Monitoring (KNY2VS)
Member of ARES/RACES, ARATS, WUN, ARRL
http://www.qsl.net/kc2fng
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