Danes feel Obama is greater than Jesus

[kandrathe]

... So over here Christianity is rapidly in decline and being sarcastically ridiculed as a relic of the past by most of the younger generations, where unwashed masses were kept dumb by the church so they could be kept under the thumb better. (We're missing roughly 800-1000 years of scientific advance thanks to Christianity).

...

Well, Pete and I discussed this at length a couple years ago.

What about religion as a social system of transcendent idealism focused on concepts of unity of world culture, bringing principles, mores and a code of conduct? I think there is room in our society for aspiring to abstract ideals of productive behavior versus that notion of ALL religion as simple super-naturalism. Also, socially, I feel there is a need for aspiring towards higher levels of achievement and self-awareness, or a "higher consciousness." Or, as Buddhists would say, a correct way of thinking and acting, versus the fundamentalist (pick a religion) who proselytizes for manipulation, conquest and promotes the worship of supernatural beings.

I see that society has certain fabrics, like "family", "culture", and "traditions". When you destroy them, you leave a void that is filled with... What? Moral bankruptcy? Egoism? Narcissism? Lady Gaga? A return to barbarism? What do you think happens? Does everyone get more scholastic suddenly? I think generally, it turns out more like Russia after the fall of the totalitarian state, (i.e. drugs, crime, and sex). I don't care what the mechanism is, but I feel people need social fabrics with which they build societies.

The Dark Ages came after the descent of Rome into decadence, and thus weakened they were overwhelmed by their intrepid barbarian former allies. The Roman empire collapsed under the weight of its own bureaucracy, and failure to continue expanding. Its economy and decadence were fueled by conquest, where nations were pillaged and the booty carted off to Rome. Once the conquests ended, the coffers dried up, but the appetites did not, and thus the empire crumbled leading to barbarian dominance in Europe for the next few hundred years. If anything, the tendency for monasteries to collect and translate the few books that were around preserved knowledge and led to the eventual rediscovery of the Greek and Roman philosophies, and thus the age of enlightenment and preservation of western civilization.

What scientific advances have been thwarted? I mean consider Darwin, studying Theology at Cambridge who started his journey as a part of this exploration. Or, Mendel and his discovery of genetic inheritance.

Finally, about Islam. I wouldn't have a problem with Islam if it were a peaceful voluntarily selected social construct (such as Sufism), but that is not how radical Islam (Wahabism, or Salafism) works. As is happening in places like Sudan, or France, or Holland, they grow to a critical mass, then seek to dominate regionally, and eventually displace the non-Islamic people through implementation of Sharia law or outright violence(e.g. Darfur, Somalia). The non-Islamic people are subjected to the rules of dhimmitude, where it becomes easier to convert to Islam than to remain a virtual slave with few rights. Terrorism is just the tip of the sword, the sharp edge is the jihad (struggle) to dominate the world. I don't see that these people who are hiding bombs in their panties are very willing to sit down and discuss peaceful strategies for constructive engagement. The Obama (Hope and Change) message has been lost on them, and the lack of Bush-Cheney doesn't seem to have changed their strategies, or tenacity at all. We might capitulate and retreat to our caves(ostrich strategy), and hope they choose to just leave us alone. But, then again, when global dominance is the jihad, then this probably just advances their agenda. Right? This latest attempted bombing reveals that the US has returned to the failures of 2001, and it will embolden the terrorists for another big hit soon. The lesson we seem to have learned from Gitmo is... take fewer prisoners.

The way to win is not to go kicking their butts around Waziristan, Af-Pak, Iraq, or Yemen, but to isolate them there and let the locals deal with them where possible aided where we can. I'm getting tired of the US getting the bad reputation of being the worlds police force, paid for by us with borrowed money. As far as Holland, France, London, Detroit, or other front lines facing internal assimilation goes, the only successful strategy will be a total intolerance for Islamification, which is not an intolerance for Islam, but rather an intolerance for displacing the rule of law, or radicalization and subsequent violence. This means we need to get tough on treasonous behavior committed by our own citizenry, and deportation for resident aliens/non-citizens. We suppress the wrong headed ideas of skin heads by being intolerant of their racist rhetoric, and exposing the fallacy of their wrong headed ideas. The same needs to be done with the wrong headed ideas in radical Wahabbist/Salafist Islam.