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What did you do thanks to your faith that you wouldn't have done without it? Please, I'm genuinely interested.
A few examples have been donating a ton of stuff to a local thrift shop that I would have previously sold instead, I started donating blood regularly last year, tried to volunteer for the Special Olympics but missed the deadline, etc. I don't donate much money because we're a single-income household. I've also found that I've become more likely to help out a stranger. Those sorts of things.
The difference between the government and charity is that one is voluntary. If the government takes and redistributes as it sees fit, you're not really choosing to help other people. The government is forcing you to be charitable. Being directly connected to charity, especially by volunteering, is a much more personal means of helping others.
But people have elected their government and most likely based upon the very nature of the party's ideals and stances on social issues and programs. There is nothing wrong with a collective giving help to the less fortunate and doing some charity/volunteer work individually. They are both just as noble and worthy.
The difference between the government and charity is that one is voluntary. If the government takes and redistributes as it sees fit, you're not really choosing to help other people. The government is forcing you to be charitable. Being directly connected to charity, especially by volunteering, is a much more personal means of helping others.
Okay, so I'm beginning to maybe get it....
You NEED to feel that what YOU are doing is helping poor people. If that help comes from a general and mutual decision between your peers, you don't feel so special.
Is that it? I hope not.
Or is it that it's important to discern between the "good" poor people and the "bad" ones? Who decides? You?
Government, and I'm truly sad to remind that to an american citizen is for the people and by the people. In most of Europe, it's an acquired fact. WE (as a People) have decided to care for one another. It doesn't stop further charities to exist and do good, whether it's religiously based or not (the latter, more often than not). If we didn't want it, we could vote for parties that suggest otherwise. Yet, none has (even though there are extremisms coming up, and should be adressed, yet none of those extremists would actually want to destroy all that social base, and wouldn't be elected anyway in the major countries thanks to them being economic fools and mostly uneducated racists).
That you should wish for a society peace based on your voluntary and unique decision doesn't have anything to do with peace. It has to do with self righteousness, not fairness. Do you understand that?
It's OKAY and understandable to want to know where your money goes and if it's useful, but just as it's okay and understandable to wish the murderer of someone you loved killed, not that it's society's job to do it. It is NOT the way a society can work peacefully.
Government isn't necessarily the ennemy (though it can be which is why "for the people, by the people", remember ), individualism is almost always. And I don't get how, as the religious and compassionate person you describe yourself to be, you don't get that. Or you want to "choose your charity". Which isn't compassionate at all.
In an anonymous world a system based on voluntary donations would be very bad for society as a whole. And we would have to donate so much that most people would donate way less than is needed. Plus, people would abuse selective donating as a means to make politics.
A few examples have been donating a ton of stuff to a local thrift shop that I would have previously sold instead, I started donating blood regularly last year, tried to volunteer for the Special Olympics but missed the deadline, etc. I don't donate much money because we're a single-income household. I've also found that I've become more likely to help out a stranger. Those sorts of things.
I do the same and more, and I'm an atheist. I do it because it's the right thing to do, not because a deity compels me to do good works.
I do know, howver, that there IS a higher incidence of mental illness in liberals. This does not suggest causation, as liberalism may have promoted mental illness, or those with mental illness are more attracted to liberalism.
Hell, I'm not even a liberal. You have no proof. In your head, every ****ing thing is liberal v. conservative.
A few examples have been donating a ton of stuff to a local thrift shop that I would have previously sold instead, I started donating blood regularly last year, tried to volunteer for the Special Olympics but missed the deadline, etc. I don't donate much money because we're a single-income household. I've also found that I've become more likely to help out a stranger. Those sorts of things.
Well then good that you did! I'm not sure I understand what god has to do with it or why your faith helped you do it, but it's a good thing in the end isn't it?
What in your faith helped you do those things if you think you wouldn't have done them before? That's what I don't get.
"Is it the atheists, who live short, selfish, stunted little lives – often childless – before they approach hopeless death in despair, and their worthless corpses are chucked in a trench (or, if they are wrong, they go to Hell)? Or is it the believers, who live longer, happier, healthier, more generous lives, and who have more kids, and who go to their quietus with ritual dignity, expecting to be greeted by a smiling and benevolent God?""
You have to feel sorry for people who feel the need to publicly insult others in order to make themselves feel better. If the only way to feel ok about your own faith is to put down those outside of it, maybe your faith isn't actually that strong to begin with.
What in your faith helped you do those things if you think you wouldn't have done them before? That's what I don't get.
Mostly the teachings of Jesus in relation to how we should treat and care for one another. In the past, I may have passed by someone who I saw was in need (it's not my business; I shouldn't get involved, etc), but I'm far more likely to stop today because I'm trying to live my life by his example.
But people have elected their government and most likely based upon the very nature of the party's ideals and stances on social issues and programs. There is nothing wrong with a collective giving help to the less fortunate and doing some charity/volunteer work individually. They are both just as noble and worthy.
And it sure doesn't stop the need for charity (we call them "associations" here but you get what I mean) because certainly no government is perfect and certainly no citizen is happy with theirs
I pay my taxes (and not as much as some americans would think so if I read correctly here) but also donate whenever I can, never throw away any usable-if-not-perfect furniture (i trade or give), recycle, cook food for old people in my neighbourghood once a week and have created a share-all library.
And no, I don't need God or a government for that. Nor do I take pride in it. Lots of people do much more as there are so much things to do!
But I don't discern between voluntary and obligated.
I live in a community that historically decides voluntarily and regularly to be solidary. And I also voluntarily do some more, and sometimes less when I have less time or money (although, you don't necessarily need money or even time. A smile, a word of recognition to someone out on the street, compassion maybe? can be a lot also)
But there are still many things to do, systems can't be perfect. As I'm completely sure of that, I'm also completely sure that the "god" as described by some in this thread wouldn't make it perfect either.
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), individualism is almost always. And I don't get how, as the religious and compassionate person you describe yourself to be, you don't get that. Or you want to "choose your charity". Which isn't compassionate at all.
