[hamdani yusuf]

In Life...Growing Old is a Compulsion, while Growing Up is mostly Optional.

I expect that in not so distant future, growing old will be just numbers, and detached from degenerative processes or physical and mental dysfunctions.

[alancalverd]

Wars nowadays are mostly Capitalism vs Communism.

As in Syria? Iran? Iraq? Afghanistan?

Wars are fought because politicians or religious leaders convince people to fight. Communism died in Russia several years ago, but Der Fuhrer Putin needs a war maintain his lifestyle and popularity, just like Thatcher/Galtieri and Bush-Blair/Hussein.

Politics is just as disgusting as religion.

[alancalverd]

they somehow can convince their followers that it's justified by their religion.

The sole purpose of religion is to justify evil.Good deeds do not require justification.

[alancalverd]

You will never get a bacon sandwich with that attitude Alan, or God fobid, the full English.

My point exactly. Guilty of breakfast, in the eyes of the gentiles.
 

[alancalverd]

Ain't Religion against Greed?

Ask the Pope - the third largest landlord in the UK after the King and the Church of England.

[alancalverd]

Religion provides the Choice of Celibacy, unhelpful?

...and the Sin of contraception. But buggering choirboys is OK if you are a celibate.

[alancalverd]

Does Religion not provide Inner Peace?

Not to those who have to invent sins to confess, or get upset of they miss a church service, or worry about nonmedical circumcision....I could go on....

[alancalverd]

Starvation is a Logistical Distribution Failure.

Or the consequence of mandatory overpopulation or belief in rain gods.

[alancalverd]

Repression of Women is a Patriarchal Society drawback.

And in the absence of any logical basis, what determines that a society shall be patriarchal, apart from a Holy Book?

[Petrochemicals]

You will never get a bacon sandwich with that attitude Alan, or God fobid, the full English.

My point exactly. Guilty of breakfast, in the eyes of the gentiles.
 

I thought it was your own. Lobster sir?

[alancalverd]

Aaaagh! Guilty of dinner too!

So there are two kinds of religions, those that prevent you from doing harmless things, and those that encourage you to kill unbelievers.

[Zer0]

Perhaps the Crux of the issue is Institutionalisation of Religions.

People should be set Free to have an intimate one on one dialogue with their Creator, & middle men & divine agents should be barred from interrupting or meddling in such personal conversations.

If I've Sinned, it should be between Me & My GOD...nobody else's business!

None other should ideally dictate, what i eat, what i wear n how i live My Life!

I Do thou Wonder, Why are most Prominent Prophets(pbut) men.
Be it the Pope or the Dalai Lama...
Why His Holiness is always a Man?

[hamdani yusuf]

Good deeds do not require justification.

There must be a reason why those deeds are thought to be good, and distinguish them from other deeds.
If you can't find any, then your thought is likely being controlled by a more primitive mental processes, such as emotions, feelings, or instincts. That's not necessarily a bad thing, though. Persons with good characters can do good deeds almost automatically/instinctively. There are many online videos showing good people unselfishly risking their own life to save someone else's lives in emergency situations, such as fire, explosion, flood, earthquake, etc.

[Bored chemist]

If I've Sinned, it should be between Me & My GOD...nobody else's business!

If that sin was murder, the victim's family, who actually exist, take precedence over your imaginary friend in terms of whose business it is.

[alancalverd]

There must be a reason why those deeds are thought to be good, and distinguish them from other deeds.

Good deeds are those that make people happier.

There is a degree of altruism in every normal mammal and bird, and it has been observed in fish. Not entirely surprising as it confers evolutionary advantage on the species, and practically every animal has an alarm call that triggers an altruistic response in its fellows (my neighbor studies fish audio communication - but that's Cambridge for you!). It is most easily recognised  in the most familiar species and probably has the widest range of expression in homo sapiens because we put ourselves in the widest range of difficult circumstances (no other mammal gets involved in religious wars or sets fire to its nest).

[alancalverd]

If I've Sinned, it should be between Me & My GOD...nobody else's business!

If that sin was murder, the victim's family, who actually exist, take precedence over your imaginary friend in terms of whose business it is.

I think you have distinguished between sin (invented by perverts) and crime (determined by reasonable people). I'm not sure of the status of dietary laws: kosher and halal make sense as good practice for desert nomads, which have been subsumed into religious texts and turn up as trade regulations in some countries, but personal breach probably isn't considered sinful, whatever the popular press may say about bacon sarnies. But the status of coffee is taken very seriously in Salt Lake City - it  isn't served in most boardrooms, but the unsaved can visit Starbucks.

[Bored chemist]

If I've Sinned, it should be between Me & My GOD...nobody else's business!

If that sin was murder, the victim's family, who actually exist, take precedence over your imaginary friend in terms of whose business it is.

I think you have distinguished between sin (invented by perverts) and crime (determined by reasonable people). I'm not sure of the status of dietary laws: kosher and halal make sense as good practice for desert nomads, which have been subsumed into religious texts and turn up as trade regulations in some countries, but personal breach probably isn't considered sinful, whatever the popular press may say about bacon sarnies. But the status of coffee is taken very seriously in Salt Lake City - it  isn't served in most boardrooms, but the unsaved can visit Starbucks.

My point is that if someone confesses their sins to the priest, that shouldn't be "the end of it".
There are real people involved and they deserve "justice".

[paul cotter]

No caffeinated beverages for mormons is quite true. They do however partake of "mormon tea", a drink prepared from the plant ephedra nevadensis: this plant is closely related to ephedra equisitina, the natural source of ephedrine. Some sources say e.nevadensis contains ephedrine and other sources say there is little or no ephedrine present.

[Petrochemicals]

Good ol Sin City.

https://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2064-mormons-run-las-vegas-5-realities-sin-citys-history.html

[alancalverd]

My point is that if someone confesses their sins to the priest, that shouldn't be "the end of it".
There are real people involved and they deserve "justice".

It isn't the end of it. The priest may require you to atone for your sin by pretending to talk to a nonexistent being, or to commit an illicit act with the priest himself.

But there is a more important aspect  to confession. It is a common constituent of criminal gang practice to acquire some shameful or potentially harmful secret about  a member in order to ensure his continued loyalty to the gang - hence confession ensures continuing bondage to the scum who run religion.