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Politics : Should God be replaced? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Solon who wrote (7163)	3/24/2001 7:20:26 AM
From: Solon	Respond to of 28931

stcloud.msus.edu The following article by Albert Einstein appeared in the New York Times Magazine on November 9, 1930 pp 1-4. It has been reprinted in Ideas and Opinions, Crown Publishers, Inc. 1954, pp 36 - 40. It also appears in Einstein's book The World as I See It, Philosophical Library, New York, 1949, pp. 24 - 28. Everything that the human race has done and thought is concerned with the satisfaction of deeply felt needs and the assuagement of pain. One has to keep this constantly in mind if one wishes to understand spiritual movements and their development. Feeling and longing are the motive force behind all human endeavor and human creation, in however exalted a guise the latter may present themselves to us. Now what are the feelings and needs that have led men to religious thought and belief in the widest sense of the words? A little consideration will suffice to show us that the most varying emotions preside over the birth of religious thought and experience. With primitive man it is above all fear that evokes religious notions - fear of hunger, wild beasts, sickness, death. Since at this stage of existence understanding of causal connections is usually poorly developed, the human mind creates illusory beings more or less analogous to itself on whose wills and actions these fearful happenings depend. Thus one tries to secure the favor of these beings by carrying out actions and offering sacrifices which, according to the tradition handed down from generation to generation, propitiate them or make them well disposed toward a mortal. In this sense I am speaking of a religion of fear. This, though not created, is in an important degree stabilized by the formation of a special priestly caste which sets itself up as a mediator between the people and the beings they fear, and erects a hegemony on this basis. In many cases a leader or ruler or a privileged class whose position rests on other factors combines priestly functions with its secular authority in order to make the latter more secure; or the political rulers and the priestly caste make common cause in their own interests.

To: Solon who wrote (7163)	3/24/2001 8:37:01 AM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 28931

That's the image I have come to concieve Solon. That statement of " My God , why hast thou forsaken me " has always haunted me , Solon . He was not all the way there ... He was a young rebellious , passionate , wild and reckless firey red-haired country preacher .... that probably got thrown out of every village he went into. He was a minor irrratant that swallowed up and martyred in the hotbed and chaos of his time , and the archaic laws of exclusion that haunt them still today. He was dispatched forwith by the greedy businessman of the town who desired him gone , when he finally went and challenged the authorities , and spent one week of raising cane. The Middle East of that time ? No great saint or prophet with true equipoise could have been born or thrived in all that madness. That area was a lunatic assylum, period. And all this monumental effort of the monlithic church thru the centuries to elevate this poor chap to Godhead , is finally nothing more than just an affront to my senses , and one, huge collosal "front" and facade which rings so hollow to my inner eyes. As I have grown , after being a student of christianity thru my youth , and in many discussions with seminarians , priests & nuns , and examining the the scriptures and absorbing the influence of christianity upon the world , am completely sure now it is only just a complete fabrication built out upon worn and torn precepts, meant originally to hold a crumbling, deteriorating and morally shattered Roman empire together. I witness with regularity ones like Chris Land and Greg trying so desperately argue about this and this ....always forgetting the "love" they are supposed to be sowing . I can tell you one thing Solon , that this religion and it's completely outmoded scripture and thought will not be around nuch longer. Or all the forms of fundamentalism in it's warring siblings of Islam and Judaism . One of these days they'll all wake up and realize what was always at the heart of all these myths and stories that were first created set themselves apart , look with suspicion on their neighbors and pretend to have some claim to a higher standard. And with all that teaching , they could only manage to seee that they were brothers a handful of times in how many centuries? The change~over is already happening with the youth around the world , finding their own destiny is within their own potentialities , and there will be a morphing of it all very soon . They don't want outmoded and outdated supersticions and ancient prophesies , they need to feel they are part of something eternal and real today. And it's right their in their own hearts . Just a little longer is what I see , maybe fifty uears , and something very new begins maybe . Exciting to be part of ? ;-) regards mars

To: Solon who wrote (7163)	3/24/2001 9:32:36 PM
From: Chris land	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 28931

solon, your link www.infidels.... is just what I would expect from a bunch of infidels. I read through the one on Voltaire. What a pack of lies. That noted infidel found out he was sick and became absolutely horrified that he was going to die without the blessings of the church. He labored greatly trying to convince the church that he was never officially ex-communicated. There was the written recantation which he had prepared, signed and saw witnessed. It was not the comic strip approach where he egged on the priests and played games with them as your infidels portray it. As a matter of fact I hear that he refused to even let his infidel friends even in his presence. He claimed that they were the ones who kept goading him into rejecting God. The truth of the matter is he became scared out of his wits when he was given just a glimpse of the judgements that awaited him on the other side. Yes, he died a horrible death in the end, without friends, without the hope of eternal salvation. Chris