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Note, this is not as an 'excuse' as it is for war, not an apology; there is nothing separating religion and peace, the two go together, all that can separate the two is the error of Man (and one must point the finger at Man, rather than Woman). Feel free to start sub discussions on particular...

What the Moors (monotheists) did in Spain seems to support the idea that religous wars are linked to monotheism. I would not argue that the Moors killed everything in sight, this is not supported by research, architecture or history. There are many instances of multicultural existence in...

Re: Religion as an excuse for war - early days The Crusades and the Inquisition are ofen used as examples of early religious wars. What about the spread of European culture in general, which always seems to have included an element of 'religious conversion' - from the Spanish conquests...

Interesting fact: when the UK joined in the first war agains Iraq, there was a 'run' on circumcision - keep the sand out and stop from getting sore. Please don't use prhrases like 'wrong end of the stick', circumcision becomes castration if you do that ;-) It seems to have been a cleanliness...

My favourite piece in The Republic is where he orders the slave to go and fetch... Common in Greek writing. Democracy and 'fearless speech' is the right of the few - local men with political power. Women only have a voice in 'fiction', in the plays etc. Although there was a time when...

An easy exercise to help maintain calm - count your breaths. I can get up to 3 or 4 thousand on a good day but when I lose count, I just start again; a good old meditation exercise. Failing that, fall back on asking people if they spend all their evenings comming up with silly things to say...

The scientific explanation of seeing an 'eye' is that it is caused by an irritation on the retina (moving from no light to bright light and back again). The optic nevre becomes excited and it takes a while to settle down again. The eye has a very symbolic meaning. If you want to know what...

Macdonalds and Starbucks have always put the willies up me, now I know why ;-) My God lacks the physicality of a UFO and it would certaily not want to land in some strange outback of the countryside and stick probes in anyone's nether regions. God is (or is not, if you are so inclined), that...

I know someone born in 1957, maybe it's them? ;-) I heard a joke (I think), that scientists had taken to walking down the street with 'THE END IS NIGH' placards, with 'I CAN PROVE IT, I AM A SCIENTIST' on the other side. I have a bias against the Greco-Roman tradition but they seem to be...

Although the Romans had a close afinity with their gods, it did not stop them from ignoring them or disparaging them. Whilst they found it necessary to make sacrifices when Hannibal crossed into Italy, they were perfectly capable of ignoring them when the predictions if they did not meet their...

You can always pull something out of Ovid - and, depending on who marks the paper, you can mention people like Shakespeare. Also check through the index of Nietzsche - always a popular man for the Greek essay ;-7

'America, the Lord and Christianity' - that is some sentence! The Declaration of Independence? I remember a lot of non-white people dying for that a long time after it was written. Does God want to have his/her name tied to one country? One that spends more on armaments than the rest of...

Polygamy is certainly not a product of weath, as many parts of the world can attest. Some of the comments here could be seen as advocating female slavery - an *extra wife to sort out the house*! A lot depends on how many children a society need - some have high mortality rates - how long the...

Thanks for the link; I'll check it out. The Taoist link fits in fairly well with what I was thinking of. One analogy that did occur to me (in very general terms) is the difference between the acceptance of the unity or continuum of the Yin/Yang. What strikes me with Chinese and Indian...

I've just been reading some Psalms from the Hebrew text and they were speaking of a kind, forgiving God. Admittedly, a few pages earlier, I had read a prophet who was speaking of death and destuction to the whole world and the enemies of God - or more precisely, those of the faith who...

You have hit the nail on the head there - the 'Western' understanding and the relation to the soul. There is a significant mindset problem that is very difficult to overcome. I have a list of my library on my computer %-( J dupre, in 'Human Nature and the Limits of Science' points to some...

Hi Sacredstar, someone else said that all it takes for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. Humans are very Darwinian and Newtonian, in that they change because there is a need to and will keep doing something until something else forces them to do otherwise. I would argue that...

What am I asking? mmm, sticky one that. I'm working on the relationship between Deity and Man and Nature. From the European perspective, the Greeks are the founders of civilization but I think they actually changed the relationship they had with the Deity (their gods had very human...

Can one 'choose' a deity? Surely it is the 'Deity' that comes to the soul as a revaltion? We do tend to associate such concepts with modern religions but I am not aware of Pagans swapping religions on a regular basis. The evidence points to religions remaining fairly constant and even after...

Check out http://www.globalissues.org If the world didn't buy make up for a year, it could double spending on education. If it stopped arms production, it could increase it by 120 times. Charity is not the answer, reorganising priorities is the answer. Charity is, in many countires, a tax...