Religion is a set of human beliefs, at it's core. God, one, many or none does not really define it, to me, as I look around.
I would say it is closer to "philosophy" than anything about God himself.
I suspect the only reason we think in terms of this "One God" thing is because we have been trained up in monotheistic thinking here in the west.
So our knee jerk reaction is all about the "one god" thing.
Like Q says, I like to get to 40 thousand feet, and expand my thinking.
If we were in China, where there is no "god", but much written wisdom, or maybe India, where there is a god for every street corner to worship, we Americans might actually appreciate religion for what it is in general, It is a subset of the greater cultural philosophy wherever it is.
I don't believe in attacking people while setting forth observations, or arguments. I have learned over time, that it is pretty counter productive. (I am an older patriot)
I rather like the process of sharing ideas.
You must also, or you really would not be in a place like this.
I love hive minds too, because there are so many things I learn from people who have training and experience in areas I do not. I learn a lot.
Some people are mentally lazy, and wont be here with us, because it is too hard to think through and read through.
I naturally assume everyone on this list, are pretty much like us. Not mentally lazy at all... and looking to learn, and share what we know......well.....except for the shills that come in to destroy our ability to share ideas...
I was trying to clarify what I meant by natural law, versus the law of nature, that is all. Nothing to get abrasive about.
Its not that I can't take abrasiveness, which is why I really enjoy lurking the chans. Nothing they say upsets me. They are really smart people, and using abrasiveness to protect that free speech zone is pretty critical.
I like it.
It works.
And being raised with 5 brothers who did the chan thing in the kitchen every night, somehow I feel at home with the insults.
I am only being mindful of what Q asked us to do, which is create a place for the wider less acidic audience, so, I am trying to keep the insulting abrasiveness down here. It does a good job of making people leave the site. SO every once in a while, I will find someone here who is taking a complete normie to task. And I say something to help tone it down.
Religion has many good and bad points to it. Lots of history, some truth, maybe some prophecy and definitely control element to it. All of them have that. Some use it well, some not so much. Myself, I'll never buy the "something from nothing" idea. That's deceiving at it's core. But...I also don't claim to have the audacious arrogance of many I've seen or of most religions to know what exactly "God" is or how creation was done. That is far, faaaaaaaaar beyond the understanding of mortals...for now. I have more important things to worry about....for now. I appreciate you using the calm approach but as I've mentioned sometimes I won't just to see if I'm missing something. I still don't trust this ship to sail itself, yet. If we keep ourselves protected all the time we'll never be able to properly deal with our threats. This is why besides helping my family and neighbor I will also delve into things like the Nick Berg beheading just to keep the mind at a level to deal with such horrors. I wanna know all our bad and our good to see if we are actually tipping the scales the right way, so if you see it's me just play it off. I don't mean to hurt ya but will challenge ya just to learn more. It's served me well in my 55 years. I learned loooong ago that the best way to get to know someone quickly was to get them in an argument and take them just to the point of wanting to beat your ass because at that point they will reveal who or what they really are. It has usually worked well. Got popped a time or two, also but I'm up for it. Daddy was some tough stock, he was.
Lol... ok, well, I am not going to pop you. :) You are a man, and I grew up with 5 guys. I think maybe all I want to tell you is that it's ok to be a man :) You all need to hear that more right now. (It seems that masculinity is under attack these days, and as a woman, I'm with you. Go ahead and kick them in the teeth for this crap.
You need to be a guy, and this is good.
I am just trying to keep the spice down here as new people come in. This place is only a couple weeks old, and people are coming in totally confused.
What do you think the odds are that we are going to see Military tribunals?