America seems like such a backwards place sometimes

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I sometimes wonder if we simply have more voyeurs of deviant behavior, which makes it more publicised.

You're absolutely right TallyMan. We need to become more civilized, with mobs beating each other up at sporting events, like they do in Europe.

From what I've heard, we do have a higher crime rate. Higher levels of deviants, while a bad thing, is just perhaps an outcome of higher variation in perspectives or perhaps just risk taking, which are both good traits. America also has one of the more entrepreneurial populations.

We're like the wild west!!

If'n you got no gun, you might as well count your sorry life goodbye stranger....

The super religious folk are mostly in the south/southeast of the country. I live in the pacific northwest, and the nuttiest people we have out here are the very, very small number of neo-nazi survivalist types in Idaho.

Can someone from Europe please tell me what they have against Christianity? Blaming the entire religion for the acts of some extremists seems to be a recurring theme in the world... Believe me, I keep hearing idiots over here talking about "those muslims" as if the entire religion of Islam is responsible for the actions of Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah, etc...

To be honest, I consider myself a christian (I believe in Jesus and all that), but the average redneck christian would say that I'm going to hell for being an unbeliever... Being a moderate is nigh impossible when you're taking flak from both sides... no wonder that extremism is so rampant, whether the nutbags I keep hearing over here preaching about going to hell and what not, or the Super Atheism Patrol(tm) folks such as yourself...

Bottom line, if I leave the country, I'm not leaving my copy of the Bible behind... I will turn off the nukes for you, though... that's perfectly acceptable...




I'm not arguing that religion isn't responsible for turning people into "nutters", but it sure as hell isn't the only way that such happens...

It happens in America too... Zealotry exists in spades in US sports. Recognize the following image?

You have just borne witness to the living symbol of zealotry...

Christian here. To all Europeans: the overwhelming majority of American Christians are not lunatics. It's just that the nutters are a lot more visible. Actually, I think a lot of you would quite like the church I attend. Informed by the Bible, the sermons stress love, compassion, fighting for equality, and doing everything possible to help the less fortunate. Just as with ToadofSteel's experience, many right-wing fundamentals would regard the entire church as hell-bound sinners- we accept gay and lesbian members (even into ordained offices) so, according to Fred Phelps, we are "fag enablers." But as far as I can tell, we're following the commands of Jesus more closely than any fundamentalist group.

Not to mention that the average mainstream christian knows how to make a fundamentalist look dumb... like Martin Sheen in this, the best clip from The West Wing ever...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWqgD7lGneU[/youtube]

Aside from that, learn the Gospel of Matthew. It basically dismantles the entire range of fundamentalist arguments...

Obviously this is a rather extreme example. I would perhaps concede that Americans have a lower general knowledge of the world due to our advanced consumerist upbringings, focusing not on personal growth and achievement, but petty things such as beauty, wealth and personal gratification. However, I would argue that I, personally have a greater knowledge of the world than the average European, so there are of course exceptions such as myself.

However, your European governments (aside from one shining example) are focusing on the people over the individual. Your taxes are ridiculously high, and you have more or less given away your sovereignty with the EU. There is one shining element still left in America, and that is our individualism.

Plus, way too much surveillance. I would not be comfortable with that (just as I am uncomfortable with the increase in surveillance here).

as long as those individual individuals stay nobly and impeccable dressed and live by the virtues of the bible... otherwise: huge fines and/or jail.

At least we don't dress half as bad as the Swedes /:

The fact that you need a book written by bronze age people to be a good person is supposed to make me more relaxed?

As so often you are right and wrong at the same time - In Iran there are certainly at least as many religious nuts as in the USA (most likely much more), on the other side, the USA want to play in league of western civilised and modern countries. Within this league the standards of enlightenment is somewhat different from those states in the Middle East.

Orwell you know better than that.

Remember what happened to the last missionaries /:

Approx. 1600 years of Christian domination. When Europe started to emancipate itself slowly from the bonds of Christianity with the Renaissance the raise of Europe from the poor pit of the world to the world dominating culture and civilisation slowly started. It is not the Christian law in what Chinese lawyers were looking for modern laws instead of the Chinese ones, but in legal tradition of Roman Law.



I do not make a big difference between Christianity and Islam: Both are only to similar in their believe of absolute wisdom and therefore their actions are in history exchangeable.


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There is always the danger that people turn to monsters (or the believing helpers of monsters) - but the problem with the monotheistic religions is that they make this tendency too easy.