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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JDN who wrote (125131)	2/3/2001 6:47:17 PM
From: Thomas A Watson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

JDN, I going to jump into this discussion with this observation. Religion is very like a tool. A hammer is a tool. Give one person a hammer and he will build a house. Give another person a hammer and he will use it to smash in the scull of the person who built the house and take the house for himself. The tool is not good or evil. Evil people do evil with whatever tool is useful and Good people do go with whatever tool is useful. Give 42 Senators a hammer and spikes and they will crucify a good and honest man to send a message. To understand what happens in the world one only has to understand that their are good people and evil people and these people also label themselves as catholics jews hindus etc and as American and German and Chinese etc.... Their are many other labels like reverend and minister and priest and democrat and republican and liberal and conservative that are mostly good and decent people and these same labels are used by a few evil people to cloak and hide there true selves. A good person does good and knows good, maybe? and an evil person knows evil and know good and will use whatever tools required to attain his own good. The limits of evil that a person will employ vary. The nature of evil people is to convince good people that some evil is ok because it's for a greater good. Good is easy. Do unto or treat other's the way one would like to be treated. Evil is sometime obvious but many times is cloaked and hidden in the plan's of truly evil people. The nature of good is to trust and the nature of evil is to use to advantage trust. 42 Senator's did and evil deed. 42 Senator's said a man of faith is a liar who cannot place his hand on a bible and swear an oath and keep. This man we will repudiate his character and integrity to make a political point. I do not think any of these Senators would want to be treated this way. If one understands what I've said above then one is equipped to do good and hopefully see most evil. Evil people who are smart know well that what I have said above is the truth, the whole truth and the way of the world. ToM watson tosiwmee

To: JDN who wrote (125131)	2/5/2001 12:00:35 PM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 769667

India has, indeed, experienced terrible intercommunal violence. China and Russia, though, are not notable for such things, except that the communist regimes have persecuted religious people. England had some loss of life in the contest between Catholicism and Protestantism, but a lot of it was confined to leaders. The religious wars of Germany lasted a long time, but they were actually not very vigorously prosecuted, which is part of the reason they dragged on. France persecuted the Hugenots, for sure, but one of the reasons the St. Bartholomew's Day massacre is remember is because it stood out as being uniquely bloody for the period, not because it was typical. In any event, as I said, it is almost impossible to separate political and religious motives when referring to such matters, given the strong intertwining of politics and religion at the time. The Spanish Inquisition stood out because no other country had such a bloody episode, and it had a lot to do with the Castilian reconquest and reuniting of Spain. The Crusades were as much a matter of adventurism on the part of many participants as they were religious: lesser nobility trying to carve out kingdoms, principalities, and other feudal demesnes for themselves. Besides, how do we weigh the evil associated with religious fanaticism against the good done by teaching orders, spreading literacy among the poor; medical missionaries, bringing medical help to those deprived; charitable foundations, running orphanages, soup kitchens, and other aid for those in need; and the sheer comfort and community afforded by many churches. The church was a source of strength in the black community, for example, providing a locus of civil rights activities. In Poland, the church was the major popular focus of opposition to Communism. Much of the underground opposition to the Nazi regime was religious. In fact, most of those who harbored Jews to save them from the extermination camps did so from religious motivation. Well, that is enough for now.......