ABOUT THE PHILOSOPHIES, THE SCIENCES AND THE ARTSMany thanks to everyone, especially those who wrote any of the 2,129 replies to the thread that, with the help of my son, Turner, came into being, Fri Feb 02 2007, and at this point has received over 6,700,000 views.
Not much room for naming a real title that makes sense. Why the limitation, I wonder? In other forums there seems to be lots of room to spell out a title. How come the rationing, here?
What I would like to know is: What is your philosophy of religion. Atheists, you opinion is also respected.
Regarding this topic, I may choose to just sit back and read. But I will read, and listen. Meanwhile, I will add to the other and current thread, as is appropriate.
Edited by Turner (Fri Feb 02 2007 09:21 PM)
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YES, IMMEDIATELY IT GOT ATTENTION. Here is what D.A. Morgan wrote
Philosophy of religion?
My philosophy is that there are two types of religion. One in which people have personal belief systems both moral/ethical and with respect to the nature of reality and their environment and the good sense and culture to treasure them as personal beliefs.
And then there are those who are self-annointed, self-righteous hypocrites that use people's inate "need" to know the answers to life's big questions to parasitize them for their personal financial gain.
Just once I'd like to find someone publicly proclaiming they have all of the answers with one hand who isn't holding out the other hand asking for money and the power to offer up advice on how you could improve yourself if you just did what they want you to do.
Let me give you a perfect example. We have a troll here in this group selling fuzzy thinking and vague ideas, on subjects of which he is truly as ignorant as my cat. He tries to quote authorless scripture he has never read with one hand while asking for money with the other.
And anyone who actually looks into the so-called Reverend's background quickly discovers that his actual skill set is as a hypnotherapist (well if that doesn't qualify him to speak about and for god I can't imagine what would).
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DA Morgan
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I learned a lot from DAM, and others.
Yes, every new birth--human and non-human--has its risks, that's LIFE. IMO, every normal human child is born a PHILOSOPHER--one who loves to learn whatever truths, warts and all, life has to offer.
IMO,IT TAKES A WHOLE COMMUNITY TO RAISE A CHILDHowever, once the child is born, it is, or ought to be, the joyful opportunity of parents (hopefully caring ones), teachers--all our social leaders, whoever, to help children become knowledgeable--increase in "wisdom and stature" (In Luke 2:52, Luke said this about Jesus)--and become the healthy, responsible, creative and wise human beings Life intends and we all value.
So here we go with child # 2 PHILOSOPHY-thread.
Now let us talk about human families: Interestingly, in my family I was # 7--born in January 1930. It was at the very beginning of the "Dirty Thirties" and THE GREAT DEPRESSION, which probably helped trigger WW 2.
Poor and unemployed Germans, of all races, became desperate. They needed and asked for help. But it was not given it. Instead they were threatened and victimized.
Had the political leaders of England, the USA and other well-off nations at the time been wise enough to offer this help and direct the banks so to do. Everyone would have prospered, including the rich and powerful.
Probably even the obviously mentally ill and insane dictator-in-the making, Adolph Hitler, would have gotten the psychiatric-medical help he needed. Who knows! He could have been employed as a captain of industry, and not the insane master of destruction he did become.
This raises many important and philosophical questions:
Now, may I ask the economists, the leaders of business, and I mean the BIG & small, financiers, union leaders, the
media, educators--including the leaders of the great religions--all our social leaders:
How come World War 1--the so-called "war to end all wars"--did not bring us a LASTING kind of PEACE--the kind in which everyone gets the opportunity to create and share the wealth?
Instead it brought a selfish and greed-based kind of prosperity for the few--in the ROARING TWENTIES. And let us not forget the DEPRESSION, eh? How come? Any answers from the wise ones? How come we did it all over again, beginning in 1939? More booms and more busts. At 9, I was old enough to be aware of and to begin to think about such things. The thinking continues.
NEWFOUNDLAND WAS VERY MUCH PART OF THE BATTLE OF THE ATLANTICIn 1942, at 12, I witnessed 2 attacks by enemy subs. The attacks caused the deaths of 65 merchant seamen, and the destruction of part of the piers not far from my house. For details of the two attacks on Bell Island, NL, check out
www.bellisland.net --famous for the iron-ore mined (2,100 miners) on the island. There is an essay on the event.
BTW, early one morning in 1942, we found two enemy rifles in the ditch near our water well, which took us (4 brothers) months to dig--over 20 feet deep, in solid rock.
Obviously, an enemy patrol, off a sub, was looking for fresh water. Had they knocked on the door, someone would have probably said: "Come in and have breakfast and tea, eh me sons!"
Quite a story.
