In the Middle Ages (700 years ago) the people of the church were the people in (political) power. At least in Europe and some other places. So, religious intolerance was then comparable to today's relations between political opponents. Today - in Western Europe - religious belief is the personal choice of each individual, hence not a subject in the political/democratic debate.
But it's not like this everywhere. In a globalized world consisting of many different kinds of societies the different positions of religion (being a political or public matter or not) in different places are causing huge problems. The current dispute about the publishing of rather blasphemic drawings in a Danish newspaper (for which the Danish government IMO has no direct responsibility) has caused severe political problems all over the world. These problems - I believe - has something to do with the different political position of "religion". It also has something to do with the fact, that the Danish legislation concerning blasphemy has not been used (in a Court of Law) since 1938. The reason for this is of course that the religiously powerful people in Western Europe no longer have political power. The Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen has today said, that - in his opinion - religious matters should not be the subject of political debate concerning the administration of the country. I can't say that I disagree. But this statement/opinion is only valid in our own part of the world. Not everywhere else. As long as religion in some parts of the world is taking the place of a political ideology, there will be some degree of religious intolerance. That is the nature of politics - that people disagree. But this should not necessarily mean that we should not be able to treat each other with respect. Perhaps the Danish government should consider using the old blasphemy legislation again - from time to time. Regards Jens Bladt http://www.jensbladt.dk -----Oprindelig meddelelse----- Fra: Adam Maas [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sendt: 16. februar 2006 02:03 Til: pentax-discuss@pdml.net Emne: Re: Religoon, Christ vs. the Other Guy The Orthodox aren't exactly innocent there (See Balkans, the current group of religious intolerants who are on top are Orthodox [Serbs]). neither are the Jews (might want to look at some of the stuff they pulled in Palestine in the 1920's, or what's coming out of Israel's far religious right). Everybody has their religious wacko's, except maybe Shinto, and that's just because they mostly got killed off in WW2. -Adam Mishka wrote: >afair, neither eastern orthodox church, nor jews (in the last 1000 years anyway) >did that (unless you count nikonian reform in russia, which was pretty much >an internal affair, and more of a power grab by a secular czar). > >in fact, religious intolerance has always been limited to >western christians and islami > >which is exactly what we have right now. > >best, >mishka > >On 2/15/06, Thibouille <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >>Sure.. every religion did the same at a time IMO. >> >>---------------------- >>Thibouille >>---------------------- >>*ist-D,Z1,SFXn,SuperA,KX,MX, P30t and KR-10x ... >> >> >> >> -- No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.15.9/261 - Release Date: 02/15/2006 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.375 / Virus Database: 267.15.9/261 - Release Date: 02/15/2006
