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Anonymous
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Sun, May 7, 2006 10:05
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Missed it, but...
...I do have a quarrel with the notion that religion or spirituality is necessary for survival, though I guess it depends on how we define spirituality. I suppose that if one defines it as that attention to ourselves as more than just body and intellect, I'm OK with that. But I don't think we need to believe in or pursue obedience to a deity, or collection of deities, to have happy lives.
I'm a secular humanist, and it seems to me that I live by the golden rule more closely than some of the people I know who claim to be the most ardent Christians. There's a danger in thinking we will all get our rewards in some fantastic afterlife. If you think that, it gives you license to treat people negligently, thoughtlessly, and even downright cruelly here on earth--after all, they'll get their reward in heaven...or hell. In my view, that's a crock. We need to treat each other and our home, the earth, with respect and compassion NOW, regardless of what comes after. I know an awful lot of professedly "religious" people who don't even come close to doing that.
Whew, didn't mean to rant, but ...well, thanks for asking.
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Anonymous
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Mon, May 8, 2006 13:05
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Thank you!
I just have to say that I agree with you whole-heartedly. Human being can be much better people when they treat others as they'd like to be treated and form their own ethical code. Once it's about heaven and hell or what your preacher tells you, you're no longer doing things because they're right, you're doing them because someone told you so. Or because you want to be rewarded. All in all, I think organized religion creates followers instead of thinkers. And that can't be good for a society.
Hope I didn't offend anyone, but I just loved your post so much I had to respond.
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