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Just a reminder tjat The Golden Rule does not state to treat others exactly like you want to be treated or to only treat others in the way you wished to be treated.
Most of us wish to be treated according to our wishes and with some respect. That would mean for a doctor to not force a blood transfusion upon an adult JW or a host providing onlynpork for ther Jewish guest.
For a theist to offer prayers to an atheists might not showing their respect for the atheist if they know they are one or an atheist to beupset at a theist who offerred a prayer not knowing the person was an atheist.
If I am in rhe store and a felliw customer for whatever read cannot reach an item on the shelf I will help them because Id like to be helped when I need it. Not that the person who I assisted getting an item off thr shelf should in turn help me reach an item.
I don't think people who subscribe to "all paths up the same mountain" or whatever are so naive as to think this makes the leap to all religions getting along, or even people within the same religion getting along. OBVIOUSLY, that's not the truth.
But there are a lot of people who do think that way and strive to work together with that type of thinking, even in small ways in their daily lives. It's not that it IS that way, it's that it's an ideal, and they seek others of like mind.
I am one of them. Every year on the 9/11 anniversary, I publish on my FB and Linked-In pages something I wrote in that regard as a survivor of a place where a lot of people of different races and religions DID get along, not in a newsworthy way, but in the mundaneness of daily living, only to be whacked by a group that saw us all as a monolithic "them". I ask people to look to our commonalities rather than just focusing on our differences.
Is it so terrible a thing to hope that more people can put down their defenses and weapons and see one another as fellow human beings rather than throw up our hands and say there is no point?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ElijahAstin
You’re not one of the posters I’m referring to. There was an exchange in the middle of the Ask an Atheist thread where the oneness meme I’m referring to arose.
I agree with your ideal, and as you recognize, it is just that—an ideal. Nor do you purport to claim that the irreligious are the source of religious strife and division.
I refer to The Oneness all the time.
It refers to Anything and everything (in totality, both animate and inanimate) as just One Thing (The Oneness).
Oft known as Reality/Existence/The Universe/etc.
For many...The Oneness is perceived as God (The Divine)...and is not just Religions as "One", but Anything and Everything (obviously inclusive of all Religious/Spiritual Concepts) as "One".
Whenever the 9/11 strikes are mentioned in this forum...I feel compelled to note something about the nature of those strikes.
They may have seen it as striking a "monolithic them", but that "them" is Americans/The United States...not a Religion.
They did it because the U.S. went to their part of the world and waged war against them...based on our disagreement with the way they conducted their society.
The strike here was a RETALIATORY military mission.
They hit the Pentagon (and tried to hit the White House or maybe Congress) and the buildings that trade the financial instruments that support the corporations of the Military Industrial Complex that design and build the armaments & weapons and provide the financial backing for the military OFFENSIVE that the U.S. waged against them.
In war...you win some battles, and you lose some. Each side is usually able to successfully accomplish missions and incursions against the other.
For decades (especially the 10 years starting with the Gulf War) it was the U.S. going there and raining down destruction on them.
9/11/2001 was the most successful of the few counter-attacks they were able to stage with their limited resources.
That's how it goes in war.
And no amount of propaganda to claim that it was a unprovoked Religious based terrorist attack against non-combatants, will change that.
It is common in war to strike non-combatants. Like when you bomb villages, towns, cities while prosecuting a war...many killed in those strikes are "noncombatants".
I refer to The Oneness all the time.
It refers to Anything and everything (in totality, both animate and inanimate) as just One Thing (The Oneness).
Oft known as Reality/Existence/The Universe/etc.
For many...The Oneness is perceived as God (The Divine)...and is not just Religions as "One", but Anything and Everything (obviously inclusive of all Religious/Spiritual Concepts) as "One".
Whenever the 9/11 strikes are mentioned in this forum...I feel compelled to note something about the nature of those strikes.
They may have seen it as striking a "monolithic them", but that "them" is Americans/The United States...not a Religion.
They did it because the U.S. went to their part of the world and waged war against them...based on our disagreement with the way they conducted their society.
The strike here was a RETALIATORY military mission.
They hit the Pentagon (and tried to hit the White House or maybe Congress) and the buildings that trade the financial instruments that support the corporations of the Military Industrial Complex that design and build the armaments & weapons and provide the financial backing for the military OFFENSIVE that the U.S. waged against them.
In war...you win some battles, and you lose some. Each side is usually able to successfully accomplish missions and incursions against the other.
For decades (especially the 10 years starting with the Gulf War) it was the U.S. going there and raining down destruction on them.
9/11/2001 was the most successful of the few counter-attacks they were able to stage with their limited resources.
That's how it goes in war.
And no amount of propaganda to claim that it was a unprovoked Religious based terrorist attack against non-combatants, will change that.
It is common in war to strike non-combatants. Like when you bomb villages, towns, cities while prosecuting a war...many killed in those strikes are "noncombatants".
Um, yeah, I'm aware of all that. They still saw the USA as the monolithic "them", yet they killed people from 90 countries and of pretty much every race and religion while they were at it. Their main point was that by hitting the WTC, it would be spectacular and visible. They'd had their eye on the WTC since the 80s, hit us once in the 90s, and finished it off in 2001. Tenacity.
I don't see it as a "religious-based attack", although religion was used by those in power to recruit participants, as often happens.
Um, yeah, I'm aware of all that. They still saw the USA as the monolithic "them", yet they killed people from 90 countries and of pretty much every race and religion while they were at it. Their main point was that by hitting the WTC, it would be spectacular and visible. They'd had their eye on the WTC since the 80s, hit us once in the 90s, and finished it off in 2001. Tenacity.
I don't see it as a "religious-based attack", although religion was used by those in power to recruit participants, as often happens.
Yes...they had been wanting payback since the late 50's.
We went to that area and imposed our will by military force on them...and kept it up. Even previous allies because enemies. https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order...e-middle-east/
Soldiers that are Religious make great troops for those kind of "lay down your life/one way" missions...they have that necessary level of dedication in their heart.
Pure Nationalism can be sufficient or just fully obedient to authority...but add the Theological devotion factor, and you have a fighting force that will carry out any mission...even sure death/suicide missions, without reservation.
On our end...it showed what a great, integrated, free, County this is.
I also find the oneness meme recently adopted by several religious posters here to be very curious.
It is probably a way to avoid the fact that there are different religious beliefs, just as the Christians say the knowledge of God is written on our hearts. It is implicitly saying other people have false beliefs about the one and only god, and only the oneness people are wise enough to know the 'truth'.
It is probably a way to avoid the fact that there are different religious beliefs, just as the Christians say the knowledge of God is written on our hearts. It is implicitly saying other people have false beliefs about the one and only god, and only the oneness people are wise enough to know the 'truth'.
It is basically appropriating other religions.
Or it may be something else. One of the first posts I read this morning by one of the most prolific posters on the pro-religionist side suddenly reminded me of when I was in high school and would always go to the Friday night high school basketball games. Even when our team would do something stupid, our cheerleaders would run out on the floor and do one of their cheers to remind the stands how great our players were. Suzy, the head cheerleader, didn't have a clue about basketball. She just cheered about how great out team was, even when they were doing stupid stuff and dramatically losing. But that's what cheerleaders do.
And that's what some of our religionist posters do, as well. Cheer on the religion-team and make weak excuses. And that's okay, except for one thing -- them honestly critiquing their religion(s) is not part of their cheerleading status. And as a result, when it comes right down to it, they offer no realism to any discussion. Thankfully most of our posters who are religious can be at least a little honest about religion's shortcomings. But not x, y, and z; no, x, y, and z are like the Suzies of religious cheerleading.
Just a reminder that The Golden Rule does not state to treat others exactly like you want to be treated or to only treat others in the way you wished to be treated...............
Jesus replaced the OT Golden Rule (Leviticus 19:18) with his New Commandment found at John 13:34-35.
We are now to have the same self-sacrificing love for others as Jesus has.
In other words, we are now to love neighbor MORE than self, more than the Golden Rule.
Jesus replaced the OT Golden Rule (Leviticus 19:18) with his New Commandment found at John 13:34-35.
We are now to have the same self-sacrificing love for others as Jesus has.
In other words, we are now to love neighbor MORE than self, more than the Golden Rule.
You're one of my favorite posters. You're a very nice person. But I think in some ways you're very naïve. So I'll offer this challenge to you: I'll help pay for the air ticket, and perhaps we can do a gofundme, for you to fly to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, to stand outside the Hajj and talk to people going there about YOUR religion. The airfare won't cost us much; it'll only need to be one way.
I get called naive a lot, especially on CD politics and on TikTok, so it is probably true.
But maybe even if you are correct in what you are saying, we are all one whether we all realize it or not.
I've ALWAYS been able to get help from strangers when needed. Probably because I try to be honest, caring, smiling, and have paid attention to doing friendly cues so people feel good. So in return I always try to be friendly to strangers in need.
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Exactly.
