Originally Posted by Katczinsky

Then apparently your experience, reason, and study of religion has been completely blind to one of the primary consequences of religions and their antagonisms; that is, it has been a primary source of division and war among men; NOT unity. I have no idea where you got that ridiculous pipe dream.

The primary cause of war is testesterone.

Also, wars have also been primarily struggles over land, resources and politics. Religion has been USED as window dressing -- or MIS-used as a means by which to whip up the masses. But I think even the Crusades weren't REALLY about religion. They were about those in power wanting to hold on to it.

Your analogy is completely incompatible to comparison to differences in religion. First of all, the 'guys' and their descriptions of the couch are expressions of very broad relative opinion. The main posit behind the world's religion, being faith, expresses a truth value (albeit one without evidence); anything contradicting the set truth value is incompatible with that religion (e.g. Jesus is the savior and son of God and the only way one can be saved is through Jesus [Christianity] vs. Jesus is an irrelevant figure who (if he even existed) preached about a God and about permanent existence that isn't there, thereby perpetuating an ignorance of inherent existence and separating individuals from the universal 'spirit' [many eastern religions, etc.]).


You're thinking just like a religious fundamentalists when you posist things like that. Again, I find the irony very amusing.

If you wish, I can offer you my de-construction the "Jesus is the ONLY way" misconception, all without, IMO, violating the basic, true precepts of Christianity -- just as I have for Campus Crusaders who were trying to evangalize me. However, the analogy I use to do so is rather lenghty, and I'd rather not belabor it if you're simply not interested.

Guy 1 doesn't kill guy 3 because it is a mere opinion. However, if guy 1's religion told him the undebatable 'truth' that it is an abomination to use the couch to 'nail the babysitter', then we have an undeniable contradiction and maybe guy 1 will actually kill guy 3; you know, just like some Muslims in the middle east are killing 'infidels' for not accepting Allah and Muhammad and just like virtually every war and inquisition conducted during the Middle Ages.

And you know what funny (well, maybe not "ha-ha" funny) about that? Muhammed taught:
A: His religion was the affirmation of the past ones. In other words, those who did not believe in Moses and Christ could not truely belive in him
B: There is to be NO COMPULSION in religion.

Likewise they're talking about the same subject (couch). Unlike many differences in religion.

It's a metaphore. You have to learn to think more abstractly. You're suffering from the same problems that limit religious fundamentalists.

The essence of religion has always been lies, as Hev points out (I wouldn't personally say lies as the teachers of religion believe in the same delusion as their followers; I would personally say the essence of religion has been delusion and a false sense of comfort [opium of the masses]); and it's distinct feature is division not unity. It makes humanity focus on each others' differences as opposed to their commonhood.