Hello heimoushu.
Well, not entirely. Religion restricts and imposes restraints on freedom. Wars are fought over religion and because of religion. The furtherment of mankind has been and is being restricted by religion. Disease is being perpetuated through religion. These are all facts that are easily presented and backed up with evidence.
I’m not sure what you mean? My arguments for or my arguments against what I have said? I am interested in thoughtful discussion, but I struggle to understand how taking your child to the beach as a foreigner, during a typhoon, and the fear of damnation and the delightful thoughts of eternal bliss promised by selfish religions tie in together. The example you have provided is a possible selfish act given to one human by another. Another is a selfish and false promise given to hundreds of millions of people. The two ideas are as comparable as apples and snakes.
Furthermore, you don’t need to convince me that humans are selfish.
May I ask if you are a foreigner yourself? From my point of view, labelling a group of people who you do not know, who are from vastly different backgrounds and countries in a community which is as transient as the expat community in Taiwan is perhaps not the best way to get into a discussion. Many foreigners may be from the same country as you, therefore making them, relative to you, not foreigners, but fellow countrymen.
I agree with you that charity does start at home, but I have never required a book of words to tell me that.
Perhaps you can tell us what BS foreigners are telling you, how it is self-righteous and why it is bullshit?
[quote]People who buy sofas or computers from friends and then have to be begged to actually pay for the stuff because they just don’t pay what they owe. I have never had that problem with a Taiwanese friend and don’t know any who have.
[/quote]
Well, perhaps you need to review your choice of friends. Many Taiwanese people continuously and consistently let me down on contracts, timekeeping and other promises. And I can’t count the thousands of dollars that I have written off this year for various projects I have done for different companies and individuals who haven’t paid me.
The number of foreign men who date Taiwanese girls is very high. Conversely, the number of foreign women who date Taiwanese men is very little, just because the number of foreign men in Taiwan outnumber the amount of foreign women in Taiwan substantially.
In what way? Why would anybody cry over religion while their life is in tatters? It’s much easier to blame other people or external circumstances. I’ve never heard anybody talk over how bad religion is, except during a logical, well thought out discussion.
Actually, you’re not sure of anything about me. But of all the people who don’t act responsibly, how many have their lives dictated, to a certain extent, by religion?
Well - news just in.
In his book, Mein Kampf, a book admittedly that I have only read excerpts from, Hitler reveals himself as a fanatic, an anti-Semitic and a staunch believer in his country and in God:
“I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord”
In the pre-war years, Hitler’s speeches identified him as anti-Jew.
And then there was the Holocaust, in which hundreds of thousands of Jews were slaughtered. Now I fail to see where religion does not fit into WW2.
The lead up and circumstances of the beginning of WW1 is slightly more complicated, but it was Garvrillo Princyp (?) who killed Franz Ferdinand after the Balkans war (in itself a war largely fought over different views on religion). The killing of Franz Ferdinand and his wife (sorry, I can’t remember her name) triggered WW1, although the reasons for WW1, I grant you, are not largely attributable to religion. Garvrillo Princyp was known as a religious fanatic, I believe.
[quote]
Global warming has nothing to do with religion (unless you feel that it might be a political farce or that God is punishing us)[/quote]
Man made global warming is almost as much as a farce as religion, and even if it does exist, then the environment will get it’s own back eventually. I see you mention political farce. It is interesting how religion and politics co-exist to give us more wartime excitement. Through the ages, religion has often been used as a political tool to scare and control the masses.
It’s not about sounding smart. It is about effectively presenting your case. People have different opinions about many things. I disagree with many different people about many, many different subjects. But unless you can give me evidence to the contrary and set up a good argument to try to convince me that there is a god and that religion is an overall force for good, then I’m afraid you’re onto a loser.
You haven’t presented a good argument: all you have managed to achieve is to whine about some foreigners you have come into contact with and try to convince me through semi-anecdotal tales that somehow these people and their actions have more of an impact on world affairs than religion does.
And ask yourself this question: If religion was such an all-encompassing force for good in the world, do you think the people you speak of would exist in the broken societies that we have today? Why have people descended into crime, greed and sin if religion is there to save, guide and uphold all the values a society should have?
You barely wrote anything meaningful in your initial post that I could respond to. What important issues?
As with every other post I respond to, I read it and respond as I go along. You are welcome to disagree with me - what would life be without conflict?
Gott Mit Uns!
SH