hiccup
above us only sky
I’m not sure just how much harmony an actual terrorist can have within him. But his religious ideas are fanatical.
I don’t much about Mandela. But did he destroy/murder thousands of human lives out hatred and revenge.
A terrorist is also the teenage boy who brings a gun to school and starts shooting murdering many.
I agree with you there. But in the example I gave, the man was actually selling drugs for profit ILLEGALLY.
…for their alleged roles in a scheme to fraudulently obtain and distribute oxycodone.
…is among the 16 individuals charged with a single count of conspiring to possess and distribute oxycodone, a Schedule II controlled substance, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey
…Using confidential sources, physical surveillance, and recorded text messages and telephone calls, investigators with the DEA discovered that members and suppliers of a drug trafficking organization secured prescriptions for oxycodone and other controlled substances from various doctors in New Jersey, filled them at pharmacies in Belleville and elsewhere, and sold the drugs for a profit.
supplied Horvath and the DTO with oxycodone and other controlled substances even though he knew the prescriptions were fraudulently obtained and that the DTO would illegally distribute the controlled substances.
I don’t really want to judge him and died. I liked him a lot and his wife but that’s what I meant by we are human beings.
The social and legal system is not evil though there are some laws which might be better changed. Don’t go throwing the baby out with the bath water. He knew what he was doing though I do understand why he did it, for the money, because of medical bills. I don’t condone what he did. And no, he wasn’t an evil man and i was actually very surprised when I found out about it.
Arcturus Descending
Well, that would be your experience. I look to the individual. Though it is true, that some spiritual people are really great people.
Again, that’s hard for me to say. I would judge each case differently. We’re all capable of corruption if we allow it. We have to remember this.
I know some religious, really good solid christians who would have no problem buying stolen good if it suited their fancy. This is why I said that we tend to separate our beliefs from what is advantageous to us. God’s sacred laws seem to go out the window at certain times. Someone always suffers, gets less when people buy stolen property. I’m an agnostic I don’t know if there is a god or not but my code is not not to steal which to me includes NOT buying stolen property. It’s not a morality thing, it’s just a me thing.
I have a friend who believes that she is a good christian a really good person but I knwo for a fact, she has said it and means it, that if she found a wallet with a thousand dollars in it, she would keep that money and throw away the wallet.
Now perhaps if it was a highly rich person’s money some might think that there would be less harm in that - but it’s still taking what isn’t yours. I’ve tried to explain to her that that money could be someone’s mortgage payment, something really important but to her it makes no difference. She found it and so it is hers. lol Anyway…
I want to hiccup too… 
Trixie,
No, Trixie. At first he legally sold drugs for medicinal purposes. He was a pharmacist. Then he later on succumbed to temptation and became corruptible as we are all capable of by reason of our humanity.
His only intent at some point was in selling these illegal drugs illegally for money. He became part of a drug ring.
There’s no black and white when it comes to morality and ethics. But the reality is that he was breaking the law and also as a pharmacist I’m sure he knew the dangers of the wrong medicine getting into the wrong hands or mouth. His behavior was not based on altruism. It wasn’t even based on “to do no harm”. It was simply based on MONEY. He forgot who he was.
And no law doesn’t always equal good nor does illegal always equal bad. But in this case it did.
you got it zoot
Religious Examples: ISIS, and the rest of Islam; Medieval Europe
Pseudo-religious examples: North Korea, Stalin’s Russia…
Non religious societies: Most of Modern Europe.
No, if society were any more religious than it already is, we’re fucked. Dude, we’re already fucked… A very visible nature denied for a very invisible deity that is worshiped. Nature destroyed to please the “god” who was never there. Ironic isn’t it? Religion creates conformity, judgemental attitudes, a halt to new discovery because of the simple answer for whatever is unknown at that time, and other problems. All these negatives for what? So people can “cope” or commune? there are millions of alternatives for both of those that would leave society BETTER than what it is… So no, I think religion only fucks society up and will continue to fuck society up, until the human race goes extinct from destroying nature, the mother of all.
Yeah, and most non-religious societies are better than religious societies in tons of aspects.
Hello Dude, thanks for participating in this discussion.
There are two videos about religious societies or religious people which I found very touching:
How to Get to Heaven with the Hutterites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2omDlZlO_s
Tibet pilgrimage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJvRbot0lM8
You asked: “Is a religious society better?”
If you agree to my statement that religions are misunderstood spiritual exercise systems, then you also agree to the statement that this spiritual exercise systems are one of the typical human systems and can merely disappear with the humans. So there is no areligious society possible, because religion means a spiritual exercise system. Religion does not only mean “tradition” and so on and so forth. Religion means a spiritual exercise system. It can be as modern as other human systems. Modern religious systems are, for example, ideological systems, regardless what they claim.
So, actually, you asked: “Is a society better?”
We all know what religion is. Run along and find out.
You do not know what all the others know.
Try to think about the definition of “religion”.
Ok， Here comes the definition:
I define religious societies as a society where the majority of the people believe in one religion, and I use the definition of religion in its most common usage: religions are the major organized believes system, it includes Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism…
Therefore, Hong Kong is a secular society while Tibet is a religious society where most naitive people there practice Tibatan buddhism, Or we can say New York is a secular society while the Mormon community is a religious society.
Religions can also be secular. Oh, yes. Very much.
Religion is the structured and systematic way of believing as a community or as an individual in a supreme being, entity or ‘god’. Then also worshiping that entity that is believed in.
I don’t mix Buddhism with other “religions” such as Christianity or Muslim, because Buddha never claimed to be a god or even related to a god. He never asked for worship. He never asked for a systematic way of following him either. There is no force in Buddhism as there is with other religions where “god” is involved.
I don’t include those civil religions like North korean Juche ideas in the definition of religions.
Buddhism is a religon whether Buddha accepted or claimed it or not. Look at those Buddhist countries, and who can deny that it is a religion? In the same way, Jesus never claimed that he will start a religon called Christianity.
The form of belief in “all those Buddhist countries” is the result of a syncretism between local religious cults and the philosophy of Buddhism.
Most ‘religious’ aspect of Buddhists come from practices that pre-date him.
No but Jesus claimed he was the son of god or pretty much “god” in human form… he stated he went around performing miracles. Buddha didn’t do anything outside of the normal, that he stated. He didn’t claim he was the son of a god, or god in human form. Agents went and fucked Buddhism up and turned it into a religion, but that isn’t real Buddhism because it doesn’t follow what he taught, but what people want to believe he taught, just a poor wanna-be representation and butcher (by people who do not understand fully the point) of what could have been potentially good for human society/species.
I have seen people putting fruit in a bowl to offer to Buddha… what does this have to do with the self, what does this have to do with treating life with respect and keeping good karma/energy and clear consciousness. What does that have to do with ANYTHING the REAL Buddha taught? Nothing at all, just a fucking waste of food offered to a man who pretty much said he did not want worship, but just the betterment of humanity and life.
See, when you find a man humble enough to reject worship, greed, wealth, etc. Who just want to help out people and life for the greater good, you have people that come in and mess it all up by twisting their ideals and what they stood for.
Religious rituals have profound meaning, and the meaning is very simbolic. Like political rituals, religous rituals have no pratical use, but it helps the followers to express their believes and determination to live according to those believes.
I give you an example: in Mahàyàna buddhism, there is a ritual that the followers bought some small-size animals like golden fish or birds from the merchants and then set them free on a certain day.
I argue that religions is a force for good. and there are lots of examples.
For example, the Hutterite society is a group of love and harmony.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2omDlZlO_s
This is a video about the Hutterite society, you may want to watch it…I wish to move there and join them…