Can you have democracy without religion?

TEOTWAWKI wrote:You obviously don't understand the scope of the topic....The American Indian has a predisposition to be an alcoholic. I have known a few and let me assure you it's true. So because they have that nature we should excuse them from bad behavior like driving drunk. Moral behavior means conforming to a STANDARD of behavior...like a law. When you break that law you suffer a penalty. Natural laws carry a penalty as sure as man made laws. When man makes a law that conflicts with natures laws guess which one is always still in force and immutable ?....Natures law of course. You can say all day long if we would just accept homosexuals as moral then it would be okay. That flies in the face of natures law. Nature still punishes the behavior no matter what I feel about it.  You are asking all of us to become as mentally ill as you are.

• Mental Health
  
  

• Life Span
  
  

2seaoat wrote:Iceland......arguably the oldest democracy since 900 ad.........Iceland is a very secular country: as with other Nordic nations, religious attendance is relatively low.

2seaoat wrote:Doesn't fit. They have freedom of religion in their Constitution.

Why would a democracy which has freedom of religion not fit.......they have the choice to be mostly secular, which Scandinavian nations have always been.

boards of FL wrote:

SheWrites wrote:Is there an atheist state we could draw on for comparison?  Does it have democracy?  

The United States of America.  

TEOTWAWKI wrote:This is probably the text that most offends those that wish to excuse even promote homosexual behavior...


Romans 1:26-27New International Version (NIV)
²⁶ Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. ²⁷ In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.


July 2014: CDC data shows HIV diagnosis among gay and bisexual men increasing

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It is well established that there are high rates of psychiatric illnesses, including depression, drug abuse, and suicide attempts, among gays and lesbians. This is true even in the Netherlands, where gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) relationships are far more socially acceptable than in the U.S. Depression and drug abuse are strongly associated with risky sexual practices that lead to serious medical problems.

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The only epidemiological study to date on the life span of gay men concluded that gay and bisexual men lose up to 20 years of life expectancy.


In Summary
It is clear that there are serious medical consequences to same-sex behavior. Identification with a GLB community appears to lead to an increase in promiscuity, which in turn leads to a myriad of Sexually Transmitted Diseases and even early death. Youth should be warned of the undeniable health risks associated with a homosexual lifestyle.

TEOTWAWKI wrote:Blaming God for mans weakness and bad choices is nothing new. When Eve and Adam ate the fruit God asked Adam why he did it, Adam said the woman thou gavest me tempted me to do it..So it was Gods fault Adam sinned ? Today is no different, like with you, someday it will be, god why did you make beer taste so good ? Now I have jaundice and not enough brain cells to keep my brain from collapsing.....
You seek to equate the Pinnacle of God's creation , man, with rutting animals, I choose to equate man with the angels....man can truly excel only when he aligns with God.



When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,
4what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
human beings that you care for them?^c
5You have made them^d a little lower than the angels^e
and crowned them^f with glory and honor.

boards of FL wrote:

TEOTWAWKI wrote:

boards of FL wrote:

TEOTWAWKI wrote:

boards of FL wrote:

TEOTWAWKI wrote:

SheWrites wrote:Favorite rendition of that song, ever.  That show was televised just a few weeks before my Dad passed away.  He loved it.  It will always be special to me.

Democracy, Republic, Kingdom of Heaven...I choose the latter.  

Peace to all.  Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

May God bless and keep you and yours in the coming year. I know it's sad and delusional and uncool  to believe now days but i been blessed to much to turn my back on Him now.  I guess Christians are just too cowardly to deal with life without Jesus. We don't have the brains of the average atheist nor see all the evil that "God" allows and blame him for it like we should.  I guess we are just mental basket cases afraid of the dark.  BUT I know in whom I have believed and trust that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.   Merry Christmas.

Well, let's take gay people as an example.  Doesn't your religion tell you that gay people are bad?  Meanwhile, science shows us that homosexuality is a fairly natural phenomenon, occurring broadly across many species and at a fairly consistent rate.  

With that said, doesn't the religious view on this one example promote ignorance about the world around you while also serving as a means for oppressing others?  If that isn't morally bankrupt, what is?  

In contrast, doesn't the scientific view inform us about our environment and provide us with a better framework for morals and policy?

The only person I can with some chance of success control is myself. The only reason science works is because the laws of the universe are fairly dependable and you can for the most part reproduce results in an experiment. Yea some animals even go as far in their life cycle as to change gender when the time or need occurs.  That reliable law of nature says homosexuality is nonproductive and often destructive of those that practice it.  The Bible says the same thing in words.  Those that practice it receive suffering in their own bodies like those that practice drunkeness or take drugs or gluttons . I can tell you that this new car will blow up at 150 mph but if you push it to 155 and it doesn't blow up then you might think I was lying or trying to keep you from really enjoying your new car to the max.  Be sure though that one day it will blow up and probably wreck and kill you.  Then am I to blame ?

Your religion frames homosexuality as a moral issue, correct?  But given what science shows us, we know that homosexuality is not a moral issue.  You understand this, right?  Homosexuality is a phenomenon that occurs in nature across many species.

If goats, pigs, (insert other animals) exhibit homosexual behavior, would you say that that is an example of an animal acting immorally?  

That's why homosexuals were referred to as dogs in that old world. If you want to roll in the mud crap in the street urinate on the carpet and smell each other's butts then who am I to stop you.  Just don't smell my butt I will hit you with a rolled up newspaper.

See if you can stay on topic for a second.  

Isn't it true that your religion treats homosexual behavior as a moral issue and therefore tells you that homosexuals are bad people?  You acknowledge this right?

Doesn't science show us that homosexual behavior is in fact a natural behavior that is present in a vast array of species and that occurs at a fairly consistent rate?

Given what science shows us, can't we deem the religious view as factually ignorant?

If we can deem the religious view as factually ignorant, can we really say that the religious view provides a good foundation on which to build morals?

If the scientific view gives us a greater understanding of the world around us, doesn't it follow that it would be the better foundation on which to build morals?