TAKING THE OFFENSIVE! - wish there was another way

I agree with the fact that you stated it's more of a problem in America. I recently talked to a girl from France on MSN and one of the first things she said to me was: "It seems that a lot of Americans are mainly Puritan/Christian".... I replied, "Yes, I'm not...but it's not a problem to me unless they carry it too far"... And her reply was, "From what I understand the US seems to have less religious freedom than anywhere around the world...Anyway, it's different from here." [by saying that I'm not blaming it on christians, it's just how the conversation started] Anyway, we talked for a while about it and just from her describing how things are around there is extremely different than the U.S. regarding acceptance of diverse religions.

It really sucks that we, Americans, tend to flaunt and brag about our "Freedom"...when really, it's diminishing by the second.

 

"those obsessed with the end-times that pretend and wish the world is getting worse are not doing anything to help the human condition"

-pretend and wish the world is getting worse? ok. first off, NOBODY WANTS THE WORLD TO GET WORSE. if you're going to be serious about this DON"T TALK BULLSHIT. If you want to be taken seriously, don't just make random stupid assumptions. it may SEEM that way, but the truth is that they all want the world to get better, and at this point, probably realize, that first there are way too many people content with their current level of awareness (to do more then make the world worse by their non-chalance) and second, that even if we forced them to become more aware (which is impossible, in my opinion) it is very unlikely we could overthrow our oppressors (cultural, governmental, ideological). However, there are still those of us (yes, the infamous us and them, because even though pi exists, we shall never define it entirely)who actually both know what it would take to re-harmonize ourselves with the earth, and would (and will) work towards it. So where does that leave us? probably off away from civilization making our own self-sustaining, cutting edge, in-tune and harmonized with the earth communities. WE WILL CREATE OUR OWN PARADISES. WE ALL HAVE THE CHOICE OF WHAT WE WOULD CONSIDER A PARADISE, AND WHY NOT CREATE IT? if it's really as good as we believe, better then this world, this civilization, then people will see that and follow example. YOU CANNOT FORCE PEOPLE TO THINK A CERTAIN WAY. so while all of earth's true followers are off being "non-productive", a huge war breaks out in the rest of the world, leaving everyone else to kill each other. If you want to say god did it, and jesus saved us, thats how you can say it happened. oh, and by the way, jesus is back, but in many forms.

"One thing to consider is that the fundamentalists are not too bright and very vocal, while people with commom sense don't go around yelling their point of view all of the time. "

-so perhaps the people who believe in the end of times in a more rational way haven't yelled their beliefs at you. maybe that's why you think they're all insane

"In the end, I think it's just a way certain feeble minded individuals have of making themselves feel righteous and good, even 'chosen'. "

-we must all choose ourselves. we are our own gods.

"I can only hope that the fundamentalists destroy their own movement with overconfindence (and of course inbreeding ) and we can go back to how things were (or are currently in countries such as England)"

-my sentiments exactly, only i hope that the irresponsible and uncaring capitalists destroy their own movement with overconfidence(and of course inbreeding) so we can go back to how things were AND SHOULD BE

"Would it be too much to ask for people to stop pointing fingers that the other guy's religion, claiming that it is THIER extremists who are causing all the trouble"

-perhaps you could do the same...

" The end times frenzy works with a mob mentality and it has momentum, but it has a great weakness: it's insane."
-and tell me oh wise one, what IS sane?
"If everyone who reads this thread can just tell five people about what is going on, and ask them to tell five people, and so on, we can find out what we citizens of this country are really made of. Just maybe, we can prove that humanity really is capable of governing itself. I hope so. The alternative is really ugly."

-the alternative is really ugly, but how long have we had (and failed at) trying to govern ourselves. if i was god, i'd say, i've given you enough chances, you FAIL! and bam, next noah's arc