28th September 2005, 8:15 AM
Quote:I think it is true that Christians as a whole do give more, serve more, and are more content than people who don't believe in God. I'm not saying that only Christians do good things or anything like that- I know that is not the case. But either way, stats don't prove it and I have other reasons why I think that. If anyone is curious, I'll explain.
Your whole response to that article was one of emotion much more than any facts... that's why it would be hard to argue with, because it's not really about the facts.
And, of course, there's the fact that this all ties into politics... like how I would say that conservatism is part of the problem -- that article blames religion for why the US is behind Europe, but we could look at gun laws (banning handguns goes a long way to reducing murders), healthcare (health care for all reduces death and increases the overall life expectancy of a country. Health care for some (the richer ones), like we have, has a major negative impact on the overall health of a country. And as a result, despite the best healthcare in the world for the most privilidged, we're behind a lot of European countries on average. Taxes? They don't matter on their own, they just allow you to do those other programes that make such a big difference... (schools are another problem, American schools are by and large seriously underfunded... yes, you shouldn't just throw money at them, but you gain nothing by forcing schools to do with not enough.)... and from my perspective, religious people, usually conservative, are on the wrong (that is, worse for the public at large) side on all those issues.
Of course, it's not like everything is fine in Europe... they have many problems. But in some ways they are better off than we are.
Quote:CoconutCommander, will you tell me more about what you believe. I did a little research on that just now, but I'm curious how they form these leylines. I saw something about Seattle having a map made that shows the leylines in the city. How did they pick these sepcial spots to draw lines through? What can you do with this energy? What are the practical uses of this?
Don't listen to him, I don't think he's ever serious...