Posts by Curtains

I had a very busy day yesterday and was out late last night so need some coffee - hopefully the grey cells will get going and I'll be able to come back to this interesting thread and the points you raised. At the moment though my take on religion is similar to donuthole in his post above.

39

Does mankind need religon to have morality?

by highdose in

jw
friends

an arguement i've encountered recently is: god tells us right from wrong.

if you don't have a reason to do right instead of wrong then no one will have any morals.. i disagree with this entirely of course.

what kind of morality is it when you are only doing what is right out of fear of being punished for doing what is wrong?.

Curtains

Zid I think we need to clarify what we mean by religion. To me religion is closely linked to survival and death. Rites of passage, rituals of mourning, of harvest, submission to a leader - all these I see as aspects of religion and to me are implicated in the development of moral codes. What do you mean by religion?

39

Does mankind need religon to have morality?

by highdose in

jw
friends

an arguement i've encountered recently is: god tells us right from wrong.

if you don't have a reason to do right instead of wrong then no one will have any morals.. i disagree with this entirely of course.

what kind of morality is it when you are only doing what is right out of fear of being punished for doing what is wrong?.

Curtains

good points Zid

animal groups have a leader (although each leader has to earn his role) and I think there is a similarity between the subservience and respect animals show to their leader and the subservience and respect humans show their Gods. However animal leaders have to maintain their postiions and are held responsible for failures (they are ready to fight for the group and give their lives) whilst Gods don't.

But my point about mankind needing religion holds because humans have greater freedom and power than animals.

curtains another She-Devil

39

Does mankind need religon to have morality?

by highdose in

jw
friends

an arguement i've encountered recently is: god tells us right from wrong.

if you don't have a reason to do right instead of wrong then no one will have any morals.. i disagree with this entirely of course.

what kind of morality is it when you are only doing what is right out of fear of being punished for doing what is wrong?.

Curtains

yes mankind needs religion to have morality but perhaps not so much if we have a governmental setup that punishes wrongdoing justly. Religion tends to equate punishment with justice and this works for many people. I'm afraid I'll put my opinion out there and suggest that mankind needs the sorts of deterrents religion provides - people don't act justly all of the time and we cannot leave it up to them to do so. I'm afraid i don't have that much confidence in mankind as would be required to do without religion. But I do think religion has a postive effect on morals generally.

243

Victoria, Australia: Steven Unthank's Press Release: JW's Hierarchy Formally Charged Today With Child Abuse

by AndersonsInfo in

jehovah's witnesses hierarchy charged.

immediate press release: 26 july 2011. link to this press release: http://wp.me/p1g1hc-4o.

worldwide church hierarchy charged with child abuse.

Curtains

I'd like to see Mr Unthank win at least part of his case. But in my estimation Jehovahs witnesses have a very strong case and are likly to win for the reasons I have already outlined.

Mr Unthank needs to get all his ducks in a row of he is going to act as prosecutor.

welcome Joey it would be intesting to hear your take.

150

How many people watched "The Princess and the Frog?"

by garyneal in

how many christians?.

how many jehovah's witnesses?.

what do you all think of it?.

Curtains

shelby - interestingly the "original" story has a black pharoah as prince and a fair slave girl as Cinderella (some traditions suggest she was Greek) plus the greek word translated fair could mean brilliant, striking etc. The Europeans updated the story in order to propagate a white feelgood ideology in that both the princess and the prince are now white. Perhaps Disney could do a version in which the Prince is black and an heir to a kingdom.

You are so spot on in your assessment

3

on neighbourhood watch schemes

by Curtains in

jw
friends

the police are encouraging residents to form neighbourhood watch groups and are trying to get as many people involved as poss.

does anyone here have experience of this kind of thing?

i think i might join but on the other hand i think it may be quite risky and alienating.. the huge police presence after the london riots will gradually lessen and the gangs will be back.

Curtains

Hortensia, I'm thinking seriously about moving. We could make quite a profit on our property especially now because of the Olympics next year and then buy something in a nicer neighbourhood quite easily.

My husband is against moving as all his ties are in this area.

3

on neighbourhood watch schemes

by Curtains in

jw
friends

the police are encouraging residents to form neighbourhood watch groups and are trying to get as many people involved as poss.

does anyone here have experience of this kind of thing?

i think i might join but on the other hand i think it may be quite risky and alienating.. the huge police presence after the london riots will gradually lessen and the gangs will be back.

Curtains

the police are encouraging residents to form neighbourhood watch groups and are trying to get as many people involved as poss. Does anyone here have experience of this kind of thing?

I think I might join but on the other hand I think it may be quite risky and alienating.

The huge police presence after the london riots will gradually lessen and the gangs will be back. They use our road as a link between two main getaway points and on their way through they tend to damage cars and property. They carry knives and are involved with drug pushers and a neighbourhood watch scheme may be a deterrent.

The police have been busy cleaning up. Last night we had an armed police raid in the neighbourhood (this is quite unusual here in London). The previous couple of days police were doing home visits from long lists of people who'd taken part in the looting and rioting. Also knives, cash tills, metal bars and some drugs were found buried in flower beds on public property around here. Police ahve been going around with metal detectors.

Perhaps we ought to just move

78

Science TV Show - AGuest and bohm please jump in

by EntirelyPossible in

i started this thread to get a fresh start.

i know, there is another thread, but it was all over the place.

to that end, i would am going to paste a quote of shelby's from the other thread and try to stick to hashing that out.

Curtains

Scientists are not asking us to be their desciples - they are generally putting their stuff out there to share their own enthusiasm and knowledge and try to convey info in as entertaining and understandable way as poss to facilitate learning and enjoyment. At the same time they may question ideas of God in the context of creation v evolution to stimulate discussion and generate controversy. Controversies helps us to engage with the problems that confront us.