Santosh, Santosh Helekar, in comments concerning the Bible and Christianity, said:
People are not sinners at birth. There is no original sin. The Bible doesn't teach that people are sinners at birth, as you seem to suggest. It does say that because of original sin we have a sinful *nature*, a very different statement. Pardon my simplification: as an example I might look at a newborn baby and say that the baby will grow up and get angry some day and it won't look very pretty. I can make that statement with certainty, because I know that man has a 'fallen nature' and will sin. We are not resigned to our fate. Nothing is pre-ordained or pre-destined. True. We have choices, but we are pre-destined to facing the consequences of those choices, either in this life or the next. The concept of 'pre-ordained' or 'pre-destined' which suggests that we don't make conscious choices is merely an understanding of the Bible by some people who accept Calvin's interpretation of the Bible. We are in charge of our life and our future. God gives us free will, and to take charge of our own life is a choice. Self-righteousness is wrong. Right you are. No religion or system of belief or lack of belief has privileged access to the truth. All religions are equal to each other and to the absence of religion. This is illogical. If one believes the Bible to be true, then one must accept that there is only one way to eternal life, ergo all religions are not equal. They are all equally relevant or irrelevant. Not if you understand that they're actually very different from each other. Religion has no place in the affairs of the state, in the framing of public policy, in healthcare and in education. It has historically had a significant influence and will continue to do so. 'Thou shall not murder', for instance, is a part of public policy almost everywhere. The sanctity of life is also spiritually based. In an evolutionary mindset we'd simply allow nature to take it's course and let people die. People almost everywhere will do all it takes to save a life, even that of an unborn. Unlike many animals which might leave the runt of the litter to die, we humans take even the life of a baby very seriously. I'm glad for a healthcare system which places a value on life. Women are equal to men. That's not what science teaches. ;-) Homosexuals are equal to heterosexuals. Not true. You don't sound terribly scientific when you make this kind of statement. A world full (i.e. 100%) of homosexuals would end much sooner than a world full of homosexuals. There is nothing wrong with contraception. I'm not sure what you're saying here, but Bible does not address the issue the same way Catholicism does. Pedophilia is wrong. Absolutely right. The Bible condemns it. War is bad. It is bad, and sometimes necessary. The cost of avoiding it can be greater, the lessons of the WW II speak to this. In an evolutionary world we'd simply define war as being nature taking it's course/survival of the fittest. International cooperation is good. This is true. I wish we could convince the French. The natural environment needs to be protected. Sometimes the rest of nature needs to understand that. Consider this report from Reuters in Germany: "A protected species of bird is devouring rare fish in the German state of Bavaria and creating a dilemma for local officials who now want federal permission to kill birds that once appeared headed for extinction,". http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/11/13/germany.bird.fish.reut/index.html And so on and so forth. Indeed, as one might have guessed most religions have found themselves at odds with these values. For those who realize this, religion is redundant, superfluous, unnecessary fat. One could even argue that it is an impediment to ethical progress. Stalin and Lenin might have agreed with you on this. Cheers, Peter D'Souza ########################################################################## # Send submissions for Goanet to [EMAIL PROTECTED] # # PLEASE remember to stay on-topic (related to Goa), and avoid top-posts # # More details on Goanet at http://joingoanet.shorturl.com/ # # Please keep your discussion/tone polite, to reflect respect to others # ##########################################################################