Fellas,
Ok. Now I feel I must jump in an add my thoughts to this chain.
Most wars are fought becuase of religious or economic reasons. That being
said,
what we are really saying is that people tend to fight for their own
self-interest. If one believes in God, and one believes that what one
does
could please such a being-- one would willingly do so (seems to make
sense) The
self-interest part of the economic motivation seems self-expalanatory.
However,
many people go a step further saying, in fact:
1. Most wars are fought over religion.
2. Therefore, religion is a bad thing.
3. So, we should get rid of religion.
Very few people say,
1. Most wars are fought for economic reasons
2. Therefore, economics are a bad things.
3. So, we should get rid of eceonomics
I wonder why this is?
My point is, PEOPLE WILL FIGHT FOR THEIR OWN SELF-INTEREST. And certain
things,
like religion, and love of country, arouse strong emotions. However, to
decry
something just because it arouses strong emotion is, I think, in error.
Bobarian--History teacher and interested observer.
RD: You can't get rid of economics. People need food, water and shelter
from the elements as a minimum. Deprive them of these, and they will move,
sometimes violently, to wherever else they can get them. As people become
technologically more advanced, so their needs (or perceived needs) rise.
They will then fight not only for land on which to grow crops, but for
things like oil. Witness the western response when Saddan invaded Kuwait.
I wouldn't suggest for one moment that we get rid of religion. What I would
suggest is, that each person who professes a particular religion should
stick to the basic principles, be open-minded enough to allow people of
different persuasions to go their own way, and NOT be misled by bigots who
use violence to kill or convert opponents.
If you look at the basic principles of any of the world's great religions
(in no particular order): Christianity, Mohammedism, Buddhism, Hinduism - I
think you will find they all preach pretty much the same message: love your
God, love your fellow man. Correct me if I'm wrong, but none of them
advocate killing people who have different opinions, or even forcible
conversions.
The growing Pagan community seem to have it right when they say, 'all the
gods are one God.' In other words it doesn't matter whether you call Him
God, Allah, Jehovah, Zeus or whatever; if you believe in one almighty being,
you believe in the same principle. If you follow one particular path to
your god, and your neighbour goes a different way to his, you may well be
following different routes to the same end.
I'd rather believe that, than that any one sect was right and everybody else
was wrong and doomed to eternal hellfire.
Richard.
