Uum. As you know I tend to use Dr Jonathan Sack's view of ethics and morality. Dr Sacks sees religion as the very breathe of what it is to be an ethical and moral person. His analysis allows room for the complexity of Confusion,
Taoist and Buddhist teaching versus the much more simplistic dogma of Christianity. Christian dogma supports so much of the American way of seeing themselves and others. Sadly the more complex teachings of Judaism and Christianity get lost with Dogma. In the West we can no longer agree on what defines a Christian. And this loss of substance and clarity also interferes with our ability to understand others.
HI Richard. It has always troubled me that more people have been killed throughout history in the name of God (mostly a Judeo-Christian Western one, though Islam also has a prominent place on the gameboard) than for other reasons.
The Crusades introduced a new doctrine about the forgiveness of sins. Go on the Crusade and have your sins forgiven. I don't think Jesus would have approved.
Janet, though nationalism can simply be positive pride in country (which would include one's culture), in my opinion the term today often has a different, darker meaning. It is politics fusing with an expression of culture that becomes all encompassing, usually shrill, and increasingly dangerous. Culture gets squeezed as a consequence. The spread and impact of the most extreme ultranationalism is something that has been greatly unleashed with the advent of social media and the ease and ubiquity (and at times anonymity) of online discourse.
Uum. As you know I tend to use Dr Jonathan Sack's view of ethics and morality. Dr Sacks sees religion as the very breathe of what it is to be an ethical and moral person. His analysis allows room for the complexity of Confusion,
Taoist and Buddhist teaching versus the much more simplistic dogma of Christianity. Christian dogma supports so much of the American way of seeing themselves and others. Sadly the more complex teachings of Judaism and Christianity get lost with Dogma. In the West we can no longer agree on what defines a Christian. And this loss of substance and clarity also interferes with our ability to understand others.
HI Richard. It has always troubled me that more people have been killed throughout history in the name of God (mostly a Judeo-Christian Western one, though Islam also has a prominent place on the gameboard) than for other reasons.
The Crusades introduced a new doctrine about the forgiveness of sins. Go on the Crusade and have your sins forgiven. I don't think Jesus would have approved.
Yet a good recruiting offer.
can you please address the question of the difference between culture and nationalism? Thank you Andrew.
Janet, though nationalism can simply be positive pride in country (which would include one's culture), in my opinion the term today often has a different, darker meaning. It is politics fusing with an expression of culture that becomes all encompassing, usually shrill, and increasingly dangerous. Culture gets squeezed as a consequence. The spread and impact of the most extreme ultranationalism is something that has been greatly unleashed with the advent of social media and the ease and ubiquity (and at times anonymity) of online discourse.