Religion. The Good, The Bad, the Ugly

[ucrzymofo87]

donations from chrisitan, jewish, and muslim organizations to overseas countires numbered $7.8 billion. most of the US contributions in foreign aid come from private organizations because our government doesn't tax us out the ass like your government does to you.

i am grateful for sweden's contributions to foreign aid, as I am for the rest of the world's contributions. how about you? are you greatful for US aid to poor countries?

[LordMune]

i am grateful for sweden's contributions to foreign aid

Fat lot of good that will do us, we're going to hell regardless.

[Shaka Zulu]

i am grateful for sweden's contributions to foreign aid, as I am for the rest of the world's contributions. how about you? are you greatful for US aid to poor countries?

Ofcourse I am.Why not? But as Jeffrey Sachs,the special adviser on economics and aid contribution in UN,I expect the worlds richest country to have alot higher percentage then that,not to mention,to not have one of the smallest percentages.

I'm perfectly aware of how unique the US is in having alot of big private donors.Its an unique country on the whole.Having people all over the world,and having different causes and big organisations for it,can be a reason for it.Buts alot for what kind of ideals the country instills in its people.

[Shaka Zulu]

i am grateful for sweden's contributions to foreign aid

Fat lot of good that will do us, we're going to hell regardless.

Is Sweden the country that have the most atheist in its country,right? Heard that before somewhere.

[ucrzymofo87]

i think that both sweden and the US have different ideas on how foreign aid should be given. Sweden prefers that the government give aid, the US prefers private entities to give aid.

either way, the most important thing is that the aid helps those to whom it is directed.

[MrFelony]

just because its a fact doesnt mean its not vague...and just because its vague doesnt mean its not fact. you can still rape the world and give it a present at the same time. your fact is vauge because it has no SPECIFIC accounts of how the world gave aid. if you ask me you guys cant have the arguement you are trying to have without writing fucking essays back and forth so thats why everything said is somewhat vague

[Killfile]

As a society, including private donations, the United States spends less on foreign aid than any other western nation as a percentage of GDP.

The amount doesn't matter, and citations of it in pure dollars only demonstrate a woeful misunderstanding of what makes these contributions meaningful.

Example:
Hurricane Katrina just hit the gulf coast. You and Bill Gates are walking out of a grocery store together. There's a woman asking for donations to help the hurricane victims. You reach into your wallet and pull out a $5.00 bill and give it to her. Gates gives her a $10.

Now - which of you is being a stingy bastard? Gates gave more than you, but obviously he can afford to give MUCH more than you. $5.00 might be a big donation for you, representing almost an hours labor. For Gates, it's not even a drop in the bucket.

From those to whom much is given, much is expected.

-----

As to the Taliban, Iraq, and the evils, real or imaginary, of Islam... there are some things you should know about the religion.

First, under a truthful reading of Islamic law, women are extremely liberated. Women have had the right to divorce for centuries in the Islamic world. Women are protected from physical abuse from their husband's under Islamic law, and they are required by the Koran to be taught to read and write, just like males.

Those that use the Koran or Islam to subjugate or oppress women do so in violation of the laws they pretend to uphold. The Taliban represents a sordid corruption of Islamic law. Saddam's government, one of the most secular in the Muslim World, has about as much to do with Islam as Santa has to do with Jesus.

Of all the world's religions, Islam would seem the lest deserving of the scorn we've heaped upon religions in this thread. Islam has shielded both the Jews and the Christians from persecution despite differences in belief structures. Islam has been stabbed in the back by the unconscionable religious manipulations of the Crusades, orchestrated by the Vatican itself. Islam has been the recipient of hatred and scorn, particularly in these last few years, simply because some psychopathic asshole decided to invoke Allah instead of Jesus or Buddha when he killed a bunch of people.

You want a hard question? Why is it terrorism when a person, brainwashed with fear, hijacks a plane and rams it into a military building (like... oh... the Pentagon) but it's war when we drop a precision guided munition into a residential neighborhood?

If you want to be a serious thinker in the world of international politics or history you need to stop buying into the spin that EVERY media organization, US or otherwise, imparts to its coverage and start looking at why things happen and why we call them what we do.

What really differentiates a terrorist from a freedom fighter? What makes Palestinians who suicide-bomb Israel evil, but Israelis who launch missile strikes on Palestinian apartment buildings good? Why do we have a problem with Saddam's oppression of his own people, but didn't care when Rwanda was undergoing a genocidal civil war?

Which religion has done evil? All of them. Humans do evil. Religions are comprised of humans. Show me a faultless religion and I'll show you a one man suicide cult.

[Shaka Zulu]

Its not easy to find posts with so much sense.Thanks for clarifying my points Killfile

Its hard to encounter people who are a bit naive(for example,regarding its own country,which happend to be the only superpower),and think the world is rosy and dandy.

[Rosiel]

I love when the tsunami hit, christians said it was god's punishment to them, then Katrina hits and the Iraqs say it was god's will and then the next day a thousand Iraqis die in a chaotic riot, my point? Hail Lucifer!

[Skullkracker]

huh, I guess you just won the most pointless post of the thread award

[Rosiel]

How is that pointless?

[Shaka Zulu]

Its a compliment to call it pointless sens it is a post that starts with "I love when the tsunami hit"...

[Sortep]

People will always blame the whole organisation for it. When it is a minority group that is responsible for shit like that happens.

it used to be majority then, and it was much closer to power
power currupts
but I'm not out to protect those fucks, they screwed up, but the system but clenged since then

FYI there are more than 1.2 billion muslims on this planet,few 1000 ppl with different believes are are a minority group But still,like i said before we should not judge someone when we dont know the whole story,just dont judge them from what you heard on CNN or BBC.

i have to agree pretty strongly with a few of nazgul's points... one of the very few people i trust with my life and grew up with is lebanese... islam it's unadulterated form is a religion of openess, learning, and compassion... it's afew individuals who corrupt and use the doctrines of the prophet to base power within a vass majority who just want to live their day to day lives in peace... the average muslim doesnt give a rat's ass who you worship as long as it doesn't interfere with his or her worsphip or doesn't result in you runnin around sacrificing babies... most anybody of any religion has a few basic principles pointing towards peace with everyone around you, how to life a fuller life, and how to avoid the evils of the world (most of which come from the few corrupted)... but yeah... tio wrap up... bad deeds come from the hands of man... not philosophies and religions... and this ends my only long post in mindwerks

[Libaax]

[quote="Nazgûl"
Spreading the gospel of democracy sounds a great deal like the "white man's burden" of the 1700s-1900s. We all know where that ended up. Maybe its time for the west to just butt out and let the rest of the world find it's own path. Why is our way so much better anyhow?

Thats one of the biggest problems in the world right now that the west with the us as thier leader feels that they are better than the rest, they must save the lesser people.

I think the world would be a little better if the west stopped acting like that.

[MrFelony]

but we must what can i say

[Libaax]

You must what?

Are you replying on my post or someone else's post?

[Skullkracker]

it's all about politics people, you should have seen that by now

"don't hate the players, hate the game"

(I bet you arefamiliar with where I took this from )

[MrFelony]

hehe yes it was your post i was replying to, albeit jokingly

[Libaax]

Hehe i should have know but with your wierd humor its tough to tell what you mean

[Necromancer]

politics > religions or religions = politics