K
Kaily
Guest
I was talking to this pagan, and he commented this:
presuppose the Abrahamic god, then come up with things to prove it. From that type of argument, you can pick your god or pantheon of gods, and come up with the same answer, so I don’t think it “proves” anything one way or the other.
I maintain that any religious system, whether it be Christianity, Hinduism, Democracy, Capitalism, etc. (and yes, those are religions too) is a way for an individual to make sense of the world. What works for you is fine, what works for me is fine.
As for “democracy never working if it strayed from Christianity,” the philosophies of democracy upon which we base our system were not developed by Christians. They were developed by the ancient Athenians. Also, in Europe the Saxons and the Nordic peoples were “democratic” long before the spread of Christianity into northern Europe. And now, the largest “democracy” in the world is India, which can hardly be considered a Christian society."
However, if democracy presupposes Christianity, then we should stop trying to “spread democracy.” and leave folk well enough alone, no?
As an aside, I might point out that the most progressive social democracies of Europe (Norway, Sweden, Germany, Spain) are as secular as they come, and function just fine.
As for the stimulus package, I think it (and the ones last year) misses the point. The point is that American society in general has put its Faith in the Religion of Continuous Growth, and now we have dangerously “over-grown.” Things are going to scale back whether we like it or not, whether we do anything or not. Keep in mind too, the two other “stimulus” packages last year, under the previous administration-- yet we still find ourselves here."
presuppose the Abrahamic god, then come up with things to prove it. From that type of argument, you can pick your god or pantheon of gods, and come up with the same answer, so I don’t think it “proves” anything one way or the other.
I maintain that any religious system, whether it be Christianity, Hinduism, Democracy, Capitalism, etc. (and yes, those are religions too) is a way for an individual to make sense of the world. What works for you is fine, what works for me is fine.
As for “democracy never working if it strayed from Christianity,” the philosophies of democracy upon which we base our system were not developed by Christians. They were developed by the ancient Athenians. Also, in Europe the Saxons and the Nordic peoples were “democratic” long before the spread of Christianity into northern Europe. And now, the largest “democracy” in the world is India, which can hardly be considered a Christian society."
However, if democracy presupposes Christianity, then we should stop trying to “spread democracy.” and leave folk well enough alone, no?
As an aside, I might point out that the most progressive social democracies of Europe (Norway, Sweden, Germany, Spain) are as secular as they come, and function just fine.
As for the stimulus package, I think it (and the ones last year) misses the point. The point is that American society in general has put its Faith in the Religion of Continuous Growth, and now we have dangerously “over-grown.” Things are going to scale back whether we like it or not, whether we do anything or not. Keep in mind too, the two other “stimulus” packages last year, under the previous administration-- yet we still find ourselves here."