Autonomy

"A Saudi court is considering cutting the spinal cord of a man as punishment for paralysing another man, UAE news website Emirates 24/7 reported on Thursday."

http://www.business.maktoob.com/2009...rd/Article.htm

MacScot

I'm sure that they will find a surgeon to disobey the hippocratic oath...getting as bad as the USA for uncivilised actions and backwardness.

..justice with vengeance rather than compassion.

norsk

Christians used to do this stuff (not cutting spinal cords though) about 2000 years ago. Unfortunately sharia law is still based on principles from these times.

Backward? Yes. Primitive? Yes. Uncivilised? Yes, definitely.

The Islamic principle of retaliation is called Qisas. One of the more absurd details is that the principle doesn't apply if a muslim kills/maims a non-muslim...

Ronnie Biggs

If, as you imply, you think all religion is bollocks, why would you respect it? Purely because they stick to their particular brand of bollocks?

haloola

Not really - it has nothing to do with what brand of bollocks it is. And just because I don't believe in god doesn't mean I don't understand why others do. Really it's a consequence of where you're born. If you're born in Saudi, you'll be muslim, if you're born in the mid-west of America, you're a Christian. Unless you have the privilege to travel and experience different cultures and have an open mind you're unlikely to be any different from the people you grew up around. I was lucky enough to grow up in an environment where I was allowed to make up my own mind without fear - but I can recognise that if I'd grown up somewhere where society was controlled by a strict religion, I'd also follow.

Sometimes I think life would be easier if I DID believe in god - there's comfort in religion after all. But, I just don't see how people can justify picking and choosing - either you believe the Bible/Quran etc is the word of god, or you don't, no?

Charismatic

I think education has a more profound influence over an individuals ability to reason through various arguments. You only need to ask a few very basic questions to figure out that there are some areas science has answers (though by no means complete) that better start to answer questions on topics as wide as the nature of the universe, origin of species, abiogenesis etc.

IMO if we can teach people to be rationalists and they will then tend towards atheism (often, not always) or at least start to ask why various aspects of their beliefs are important so becoming more moderate. This is a change that is happening quickly in some parts of the world but in other places the rate of change is still slow as some societies have not achieved a critical mass of rationalists yet.

Charismatic

There is much comfort in atheism as well however.

littlejimmy

You're basically talking about brainwashing from birth, which is how these belief systems keep growing. It's not to be admired. It's not much better than child abuse in reality. The only concession one can make is that the brainwashers were themselves brainwashed.

Charismatic

I may not get much karma for this but to be fair though there are some positive points to religion especially in local communities. In fact I always found Church of England to be most agreeable. I think it’s a common joke now to say “I was raised Church of England which basically means I’m an atheist” .

Really this is not true. I think those people who know/explore/educate themselves in the alternatives well but still believe are probably the type of followers a god would want. Someone who has weighed the evidence fully and still believes in a god is surely the purest, most devout, loyal, peaceful and enduring followers. If you are ignorant of the alternatives it is easy to remain “loyal” to one religion because you can never really ask the deeper questions or explore the alternative views.

Asking religious advice from someone who has only ever studied the one religion or religious philosophy is like asking for car advice from someone who has only ever driven Toyotas, pretty pointless really. Of course he will think Toyotas are great but how can you trust his judgement? Of course you can't and shouldn't .

Bahtatboy

Of course you should, they're the most reliable cars out there

Charismatic

If you buy a car only on its reliability reports .

Even then you’re getting stiffed, Toyota only make the most reliable cars if you include Lexus otherwise the list would be Lexus, Honda, Toyota...last time I looked.

Bahtatboy

Chill, Winston

seven seas

no, if people grow up and get brainwashed in a certain society, teh educational system and civil institutions are only going to reinforce that barinwashing.

haloola

[QUOTE=Charismatic;8794174]I may not get much karma for this but to be fair though there are some positive points to religion especially in local communities.

I agree completely - I have lived in small, remote muslim communities where the people are generous, hospitable, helpful and where families stay together and work for the benefit of all. They are also accepting and tolerant of non-muslims. Not all of course, but the majority. This is the islam I would like to see everywhere.

I tried to avoid talking about religion but if I mentioned other faiths sometimes people hadn't even heard of them. I don't necessarily think it would benefit them to educate them - if their religion gives them a sense of peace and hope, their culture has a strong sense of community, the people respect each other and judge each other according to character and not what they own, have low rates of crime etc, what good would it do?

Unfortunately there are people who are willing to exploit peoples' faith to promote their own idea of how their religion should be practiced and are unwilling to live and let live. This is the aspect of religion that I can't bear - intolerance.

Dilmun

I am no fan of this man , but IMO Karl Marx was right in saying, that religion is opium for the people.