Why does most of the civilized world look at all of the Middle East Countries as hell on earth.

[James Regan + 1,776]

On 4/21/2020 at 2:50 PM, ronwagn said:

Yes, buy purchasing their oil we helped them to escalate their population to far beyond what their other resources can comfortably support. We also helped them to promote extreme Islamic beliefs around the world while they repressed their own moderates. 

Just a quip, I was getting a flight from Jeddah to Thailand, we had a long wait over in the airport, 12 hours (cheap flight), while in the airport myself and my wife were able to go into the payer rooms and take a nap, very hospitable people, none flinched. After leaving Saudi Airspace, there was a huge line for the bathroom, what walked in didn't walk out, some very well dressed beautiful people in all the fashion of the day, blew my mind. All is not what is seems with the majority.

We are lucky we or we shouldn't judge a culture or people within said country or others closer to home by its leaders, you may just get surprised...

Edited May 1, 2020 by James Regan

[Ulysses + 21]

On 4/21/2020 at 8:23 AM, UNC12345 said:

Any society or country where the laws are almost completely controlled by and based on religion is doomed to chronic failure and misery.  Simple.

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  - John Adams, October 11, 1798

[UNC12345 + 171]

9 hours ago, Ulysses said:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  - John Adams, October 11, 1798

That's an interesting quote for sure, makes me think about the difference.  To me, I guess it's in the interpretation to some extent.  IF the USA had actually developed such that it was entirely based on religion, I believe it would be a much different place.  And IF the USA had actually developed under a religion where, for example, women were subjugated and people were subject to violence for differing religious views, I believe it would be a much different place.

In addition, the second sentence of that quote is purely an opinion.  I don't agree with it.  I still stand by what I wrote.

[Jan van Eck + 7,558]

1 hour ago, UNC12345 said:

And IF the USA had actually developed under a religion where, for example, women were subjugated and people were subject to violence for differing religious views, I believe it would be a much different place.

Yet, that is exactly the history of the North American continent.  Women had nothing to say.  Indeed, even as late as around 1970 women in Quebec were legally treated as chattel of their husbands, could not own property in their own name, not even an automobile, and had to live wherever their husband decided.  Plus, divorce was pretty much impossible to get.  So the solution, for any woman there who wanted and cherished freedom and independence, was to remain "single."  

That (of course) implied sexual chastity and abstinence.  Or, as one woman stated on her protest sign on the picket line:  "Slut-shaming is denying a woman the right to say Yes."   Oh, well. 

[RSD + 41]

On 4/24/2020 at 12:53 PM, Danny Hangartner said:

Basically, i'll have to go to Iran, one day, and see for myself. 

Actually everyone should - you would be totally amazed at how beautiful the architecture and mosaics are, and how friendly the people are - Iran is very very different from how CNN and Trump portrays it.

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

1 hour ago, RSD said:

Actually everyone should - you would be totally amazed at how beautiful the architecture and mosaics are, and how friendly the people are - Iran is very very different from how CNN and Trump portrays it.

Everything is very very different from how CNN portrays it.  Wolf and Christianne used to give accurate depictions.  Those days are gone.

[Dg56 + 16]

The answer is in the question. 

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

1 hour ago, Dg56 said:

The answer is in the question. 

Not bad.

[John Foote + 1,135]

On 4/30/2020 at 10:23 PM, Ulysses said:

“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”  - John Adams, October 11, 1798

So are moral people separate from religious people?

Certainly there are very moral people who are not religious, and the inverse is also true.

I don't know John Adams, or his intent, but John Quincy Adams famously took his oath of office on law book. His father, like the overwhelming majority of the founding fathers was christian, but he didn't believe in an interventionist version of God. Thomas Jefferson went so far as to rewrite the New Testament being dismissive of the miracles, but embracing the philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth.

The founding fathers were quite the fractured lot. The most famous fracture is slavery, but there were plenty of other issues they didn't agree on. Overwhelming they viewed themselves as christians, but there are a lot of variations in what that means.

"In God We Trust" wasn't adopted as a motto in Congress until 1956. In a wonderful paradox, it first shows up in a widely used coin in 1938 on the Jefferson nickel. What is the saying, God works in strange ways indeed.

 

[Dan Warnick + 6,100]

8 hours ago, John Foote said:

So are moral people separate from religious people?

God I hope so!