Time for my annual blog :), or so it seems ...
It is very hard to change minds and hearts of people, sometimes a whole generation has to pass.
Some of us will be strongly religious, others spiritual without further definition, some agnostic, few atheist or with belief in science, karma or logic.
There are also those that just defy classification. Doubt is noble, a virtue.
Any or all are acceptable, what is not is intolerance in the name of religion.
Christianity has somewhat emerged from its dark ages of intolerance where a scientific revelation was deemed blasphemy. Many others, some older .. have not evolved or are in retrograde.
I would not call any religion peaceful if most of its followers disapprove of other faiths or customs, or show hostility when someone disapproves of them, never mind what "The Book" says. Demonstrate peaceful, don't say it .. if you want me to believe.
Science cannot explain all, man has to find a convenient simplistic answer, faith warms the heart and strengthens the soul. Enough said. Let the temples and churches be.
That aside, almost all rules in the holy books were written by men - just regular people, possibly appropriate for the time they were in and based on what was common knowledge.
This is a different world, people outnumber their optimal quantity based on earths biosphere by a factor of 3 or 4. We could suppose homosexuality is natures answer to man's indiscriminate procreation. Maybe, maybe not .. but as said before .. to not be sure of complex phenomena shows more understanding and respect than myopic view of "man and a woman union" and anything else being evil.
What would help is if we put aside petty differences that have occupied our energies and hostile genes thus far, focusing not on making silly cellphone apps for the number of steps we take in a day or better streaming of choice music but more toward seeking ways to cleaner earth, water, energy harnessing power of sunlight, wind, atoms, magnetism among others and while doing so, conserve and preciously use resources we have
It is very hard to change minds and hearts of people, sometimes a whole generation has to pass.
Some of us will be strongly religious, others spiritual without further definition, some agnostic, few atheist or with belief in science, karma or logic.
There are also those that just defy classification. Doubt is noble, a virtue.
Any or all are acceptable, what is not is intolerance in the name of religion.
Christianity has somewhat emerged from its dark ages of intolerance where a scientific revelation was deemed blasphemy. Many others, some older .. have not evolved or are in retrograde.
I would not call any religion peaceful if most of its followers disapprove of other faiths or customs, or show hostility when someone disapproves of them, never mind what "The Book" says. Demonstrate peaceful, don't say it .. if you want me to believe.
Science cannot explain all, man has to find a convenient simplistic answer, faith warms the heart and strengthens the soul. Enough said. Let the temples and churches be.
That aside, almost all rules in the holy books were written by men - just regular people, possibly appropriate for the time they were in and based on what was common knowledge.
This is a different world, people outnumber their optimal quantity based on earths biosphere by a factor of 3 or 4. We could suppose homosexuality is natures answer to man's indiscriminate procreation. Maybe, maybe not .. but as said before .. to not be sure of complex phenomena shows more understanding and respect than myopic view of "man and a woman union" and anything else being evil.
What would help is if we put aside petty differences that have occupied our energies and hostile genes thus far, focusing not on making silly cellphone apps for the number of steps we take in a day or better streaming of choice music but more toward seeking ways to cleaner earth, water, energy harnessing power of sunlight, wind, atoms, magnetism among others and while doing so, conserve and preciously use resources we have
