Tiglath wrote:
> On Jul 5, 4:53 pm, James Hogg <Jas.Hogg...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
>> And one might ask whether a civilised government should engage in
>> "revenge" at all, especially a government led by a born-again
>> Christian.
>>
>
> It's amazing how few people notice that. Although The Golden Rule was
> postulated by Buddha and Rabbi Hillel before Jesus there is no doubt
> that the admonishment to love our enemy is central to Christianity,
> and sets Christianity apart. There is no qualification saying, "Love
> your enemy unless you really don't like him." It says love your enemy,
> no if, ands, or buts.
>
The word "love" is closest to the Greek word "agape" - a-gawp-ay -
which is much more like "consideration". It's just the Golden Rule
again.
> Maybe it's a hopelessly naive and flawed concept,
No, it just provides for a technique to slow down escalations,
by dissembling to reduce tensions. It's central to what
diplomats do.
> though political
> nonviolence has worked wonders and Gandhi and Luther King achieved
> extraordinary, counter intuitive victories with it. But the point is
> that no nation of Christians has adopted this rule.
Nations aren't people. That rule is a personal one. But I'd say
militarily, the Mongols probably reverted the conquered back to
original status faster than any other conquerors. The taxes
were more than paid for by the networks effects of being in
the Mongol trading systems.
And I'm not sure that post-WWII, this wasn't a somewhat guiding
principle. After all, WWI was an adventure cause by the reparations
demanded after the Franco_Prussian war, and then WWII was based
largely on reparations from *that*....
> All the more
> noticeable in a president who rules with his faith. Bush clearly
> told us that he believes that God wants men to be free and that this
> belief guides his foreign policy.
>
And I believe him. And his foreign policy has shown that.
> I recall "Do unto others as you would have then do unto you." I
> don't recall "God wants all men to be free."
>
Stuff concerning the universality of freedom generally has
more to do with Jefferson or Locke, and it's simple enough
to replace "self-evident" with "God-given" - the speakers
of those phrases mean the same thing.
> And religious people seem to see nothing wrong that their most sacred
> tenets are just window dressing.
>
Ritual? All people have rituals. Some rituals are formal, some
are not.
> Come on patriots, open your mouths wide for big gobs of premium
> bull**** from the very top...
>
> Don't be part of it, folks. Get off the bus.
>
It's a big ole messy world out there.
--
Les Cargill
|
