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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Katelew who wrote (94798)	11/8/2008 12:31:59 PM
From: Dale Baker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541403

Please believe me when I say my motivation is that I believe there's such joy to be had from a life spent in the pursuit of all those basic religious virtues and in the avoidance of all those things considered to be sins, and I just wish everyone could have this, too. And this belief will always, right or wrong, shape my voting. If the day comes when a majority of Americans believe that there is joy to be had spending one's life free from religion and avoiding all things related to it, would you accept the majority taking away your rights to practice religion as you think fit, as it suits you? They would be voting that way in the sincere belief that you deserve the same joy they have without religion. Voting to push one's views on others is a very slippery slope, and can easily become a double-edged sword. It's the tyranny of the majority over the rights of individuals.

To: Katelew who wrote (94798)	11/8/2008 3:03:04 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541403

The problem is that when behaviors are legalized, these actions end up creating a society's morality to some extent. To some extent it affects attitude. The act of loosening prior restrictions likely softens the condemnation of the behavior. But I doubt it affects behavior. I seriously doubt that there were more drinkers after prohibition was repealed than there were before it was against the law. People who didn't drink pre-prohibition because they thought it was "immoral" were not likely to start drinking just because it was legalized. I've noticed a common thread in your posts which is the use of negative terminology....words like punishment, restricting, denying, forcing, as in forcing my beliefs on others, etc. This is no big deal and is the natural attitude, I think, for you to have. It's just that it misrepresents me. I don't think that your objective is to restrict, force, etc. and I'm not saying so. I'm reasonably confident that your objective is just what you say it is. But the net result is inevitably to deny, force, etc. whether you set out with that goal in mind or not, which makes you responsible for the denial, force, etc. You may not have those intentions but, since they are the inevitable results, you have to own the results.

To: Katelew who wrote (94798)	11/8/2008 5:34:36 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541403

I believe there's such joy to be had from a life spent in the pursuit of all those basic religious virtues and in the avoidance of all those things considered to be sins, and I just wish everyone could have this, too. I took a pass on this the first time but I've decided to address it after all. You have no idea of the joy to be had from being finally freed from the weight of religion--the superstition, the arbitrary authorities, and the bonds of original sin lifted and replaced by a dawning enlightenment, the discovery of options, the self actualization found in setting a path to whatever goodness one defines, and the rewards of moving forward on it. I would wish everyone could have this joy too, but I respect that others cleave to other ways so I respect that and wish them well on their own paths. I also wish they would show the same respect.