DharmaCatLamp
Member
I have been reading a decent bit of Chris Hedges lately. I recently got his book I don't believe in atheists. It's not about believing or not believing in atheists so much as it is about utopian idealists whether theist or atheist not being what we need in the world. He talks about the incredibly broad brush Sam Harris paints Muslims with, the chauvinism of Christopher Hitchens as well as the blatant bigotry of religious extremists.
I think for far too many of us the solution is said to be one group or another being in charge or too free. That if only we had pure logic or pure religious values we would be better off but the truth is we are all dealing with inherently damaged natures. We are all capable of evil and we should not assume this is merely the best of all possible worlds. Plenty of people will strive for the betterment of mankind whether they believe in god or not.
the idea that evil is completely external to us is a dangerous one and an idea that doesn't prompt growth. We should not be constantly assuming the worst about other groups of people just cause it's easy. I don't get a lot out of Islam for example and have had some bad experiences with the religion in the past but I don't think that makes it okay to suddenly declare all Muslims evil. We need to understand that individuals are just that, individuals.
I think we are too willing to let people get away with things because they are in our in group or too willing to blame out groups. The truth is being a good person is not easy and requires a lot of effort to maintain the willpower needed to continue moving forward. It's far too easy to just give up and claim that any one ideology or group of people is to blame for all the worlds problems.
Mao is just as evil as Franco. Just because one was an antitheist and the other was a catholic nut job doesn't make one better than the other. Stalin and Hitler are bad. Evil people doing evil things are evil and you don't just get to excuse one group of justify another because they " believed the correct things." we are all in this together. We are in this for one cooperation and even though it is not easy we should strive together.
I don't think the world can truly be saved. I think this place will always be dealing with one problem or another because we are fundamentally imperfect creations. We should do our best to watch out for one another and not give in to simplistic ideas about entire groups of billions of people being evil just because we don't agree with them.
You are not any less of a person just because you believe something or not.
Here is one of the debates I was looking at if you are interested.
I think for far too many of us the solution is said to be one group or another being in charge or too free. That if only we had pure logic or pure religious values we would be better off but the truth is we are all dealing with inherently damaged natures. We are all capable of evil and we should not assume this is merely the best of all possible worlds. Plenty of people will strive for the betterment of mankind whether they believe in god or not.
the idea that evil is completely external to us is a dangerous one and an idea that doesn't prompt growth. We should not be constantly assuming the worst about other groups of people just cause it's easy. I don't get a lot out of Islam for example and have had some bad experiences with the religion in the past but I don't think that makes it okay to suddenly declare all Muslims evil. We need to understand that individuals are just that, individuals.
I think we are too willing to let people get away with things because they are in our in group or too willing to blame out groups. The truth is being a good person is not easy and requires a lot of effort to maintain the willpower needed to continue moving forward. It's far too easy to just give up and claim that any one ideology or group of people is to blame for all the worlds problems.
Mao is just as evil as Franco. Just because one was an antitheist and the other was a catholic nut job doesn't make one better than the other. Stalin and Hitler are bad. Evil people doing evil things are evil and you don't just get to excuse one group of justify another because they " believed the correct things." we are all in this together. We are in this for one cooperation and even though it is not easy we should strive together.
I don't think the world can truly be saved. I think this place will always be dealing with one problem or another because we are fundamentally imperfect creations. We should do our best to watch out for one another and not give in to simplistic ideas about entire groups of billions of people being evil just because we don't agree with them.
You are not any less of a person just because you believe something or not.
Here is one of the debates I was looking at if you are interested.