Your favorite religious or political quote.

[herbivor]

"Contrary to Greenwald’s assertion, my condemnation of Islam does not apply to 'all members of a group or the group itself based on the bad acts of specific individuals in that group.' My condemnation applies to the doctrines of Islam and to the ways in which they reliably produce these 'bad acts.' Unfortunately, in the case of Islam, the bad acts of the worst individuals—the jihadists, the murderers of apostates, and the men who treat their wives and daughters like chattel—are the best examples of the doctrine in practice. Those who adhere most strictly to the actual teachings of Islam, those who expound its timeless dogma most honestly, are precisely the people whom Greenwald and other obscurantists want us to believe least represent the faith."

Sam Harris

Good quote. You can insert "Christinanity" in place of "Islam" everywhere in that statement and it would still ring true.

[evandael]

^thank you

[gwb72tii]

I'm not religious but you must mean in a historic sense no?
I don't see Christian's murdering women and children today.

[tjts1]

[Fourbanger]

I'm not religious but you must mean in a historic sense no?
I don't see Christian's murdering women and children today.

Every month you can find a story in the news about parents killing infants by letting God take care of their medical needs. You can also often see Christians doing things such as condemning homosexuality, lobbying against birth control and women's rights, and stifling scientific progress because of what their religion has told them.

[funcrew]

Good quote. You can insert "Christinanity" in place of "Islam" everywhere in that statement and it would still ring true.

Seems to me the difference is that Christian culture, on average, has modernized in a huge way, whereas Islamic culture has largely not. Even at the far backwards end of the spectrum, anti-science fundamentalist Christians are not calling for stoning gay people to death, beheading petty thieves, destroying ancient artifacts, etc. The fundamentalist Muslims still adhere to the same cultural values they did in the dark ages. The reasonable way that Islam is practiced in the USA has little resemblance to they way they do it in the Middle East.

[Fourbanger]

Seems to me the difference is that Christian culture, on average, has modernized in a huge way, whereas Islamic culture has largely not. Even at the far backwards end of the spectrum, anti-science fundamentalist Christians are not calling for stoning gay people to death, beheading petty thieves, destroying ancient artifacts, etc. The fundamentalist Muslims still adhere to the same cultural values they did in the dark ages. The reasonable way that Islam is practiced in the USA has little resemblance to they way they do it in the Middle East.

Kind of funny how these religions which are supposedly the ultimate source of moral behavior actually require people to employ morals gained elsewhere in order to selectively follow whatever aspects are deemed socially acceptable.

[herbivor]

Seems to me the difference is that Christian culture, on average, has modernized in a huge way, whereas Islamic culture has largely not. Even at the far backwards end of the spectrum, anti-science fundamentalist Christians are not calling for stoning gay people to death, beheading petty thieves, destroying ancient artifacts, etc. The fundamentalist Muslims still adhere to the same cultural values they did in the dark ages. The reasonable way that Islam is practiced in the USA has little resemblance to they way they do it in the Middle East.

Read the original quote by Sam Harris again. It applies to both religions. Notice how the poorer a group is, the more fundamental they are in their religious beliefs? Think about why that is.

[Farbin Kaiber]

Frankly, I don't know what it is about California, but we seem to have a strange urge to elect really obnoxious women to high office. I'm not bragging, you understand, but no other state, including Maine, even comes close. When it comes to sending left-wing dingbats to Washington, we're Number One. There's no getting around the fact that the last time anyone saw the likes of Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, Maxine Waters, and Nancy Pelosi, they were stirring a cauldron when the curtain went up on 'Macbeth'. The four of them are like jackasses who happen to possess the gift of blab. You don't know if you should condemn them for their stupidity or simply marvel at their ability to form words.


-- Columnist Burt Prelutsky, Los Angeles Times

[Fourbanger]

"My last vestige of 'hands off religion' respect disappeared in the smoke and choking dust of September 11th 2001, followed by the 'National Day of Prayer', when prelates and pastors did their tremulous Martin Luther King impersonations and urged people of mutually incompatible faiths to hold hands, united in homage to the very force that caused the problem in the first place."

Richard Dawkins

[cale]

Seems to me the difference is that Christian culture, on average, has modernized in a huge way, whereas Islamic culture has largely not. Even at the far backwards end of the spectrum, anti-science fundamentalist Christians are not calling for stoning gay people to death, beheading petty thieves, destroying ancient artifacts, etc. The fundamentalist Muslims still adhere to the same cultural values they did in the dark ages. The reasonable way that Islam is practiced in the USA has little resemblance to they way they do it in the Middle East.

The west has modernized in a huge way, as have people involved with religion around the globe. Do not confuse people changing their ways with religion beliefs being changed, the Bible and Qua'ran are still very similar to how they were when they were and are used to justify heinous acts. In many parts of Africa there are still extremely vile acts committed with Christianity as either the fuel or scapegoat, it's no different than Islam. Sick, twisted and primitive individuals will behave as such no matter which god they pray to.

[gwb72tii]

Let me make the superstitions of a nation, I care not who makes the laws.

Mark Twain

[Dozyproductions]

Haha. Nice twain quote.

"Having courts, lawyers and opinions does nothing to make robbery any less of a crime."

The 'state' is not a natural phenomenon. It is man-made and exists only in the mind.

The law is nothing more than an opinion or belief by one man, or a body of men, backed by violence and a gun.

-Mark Stevens.

He isn't an anarchist even though he references Lysander Spooner. I think that showing our system for what it is is what gets these people such ill reputations.

But whether the Constitution really be one thing, or another, this much is certain - that it has either authorized such a government as we have had, or has been powerless to prevent it. In either case it is unfit to exist.

Lysander Spooner

[Dozyproductions]

http://politicker.com/2013/04/bloomberg-says-post-boston-interpretation-of-the-constitution-will-have-to-change/

These are quotes from the comments to this article. The irony is overwhelming.

"We're going to suspend your rights to protest, bear arms, privacy, and trial by jury."
"Why?"
"To protect you from terrorists."
"Why do we need to be protected from terrorists?"
"They hate you for your freedom."

"We know there are people who want to take away our freedoms." - Bloomberg, for example.

[gwb72tii]

"Almost all people are hypnotics. The proper authority saw to it that the proper belief should be induced, and the people believed it properly"

Charles Fort