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Originally Posted by concheet
Poverty as part of renouncing the world is a common theme in Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity. As Jesus put it in Matthew 19:21 Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. 24 And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.
Begging as a means of allowing the religious/spiritual to live a religious/spiritual life is a time-honored tradition among many religions. No one requires anyone to give to the Buddhist monk or other monastic. It is a voluntary thing. Jews have always helped struggling Jews. That is one of the things that the religious community does. I really can't see your problem with this. Indeed, as I said, it is high time the Muslims provided the bulk of charity for their Muslim 'brothers' in Palestine.
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Judaism is the religion that looks first and foremost at the religion of the recipient.
Donating to charities has nothing to do with spirituality.
Quote:
Originally Posted by concheet
Those desert religions didn't spawn anywhere near as many murders as have atheistic power mongers like Stalin. Hitler in truth was an atheist as well, though he pretended to religion in order to influence the religious. The Roman Emperors and others wanted nothing to do with the desert religions either. They were Gods to themselves. Not being affiliated with a religion doesn't make you one iota better or brighter than someone who is. I can assure you that religion doesn't have a monopoly on neurotics, and being an atheist doesn't mean you aren't one.
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Being an Atheist does not preclude being neurotic but being religious means that you definitely are neurotic. Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot all shared a messianic vision of spreading their form of political message. Turning Politics into a religion.
One of the main Roman religions was Mithras. Which is a corruption of the Ahura Mazda or Zoroastrianism.
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Originally Posted by concheet
If you despise the desert religions because they are nihilistic, why is it that you seem to accept the idea of Islamic dominance over countries that support freedom of religion, such as in Israel...? Why would you be willing to enslave so many people, as the poor people of Iran are, for example, by not speaking out against the repressive Islamic regimes in the middle east?
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When Iran decides to invade another country and oppress another people then I will speak out. Until then only Israel in in the position of invader and oppressor.
Israel does not support freedom of religion. Israel uses every glib phrase in the book to deny any religious expression but Judaism. Sorry but I don't subscribe to the medieval conspiracy theory of the clash of civilisations.