War - A necessary evil?

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Well, since it seems such a puzzle, I'll try to make it clearer. You cannot cherry-pick as to what a general class is composed of. To declare that the whole era of the Middle Ages which was deeply involved with Christian control was manipulated by a powerful Christian organization but they suddenly are unqualified to be Christians because Slowmutant is dismayed by their activities. It is evidently his personal judgment that makes them so. He simply does not have that power. History is full of Christians who, in the name of their religion, did horrible things to innocent people. And, in Africa, where ignorance and fear and personal suffering are pandemic today Christians are still burning and stoning witches and people who do not adhere to the local morality codes. It is quite evident that there are good and bad people both within and outside religious groups and religion or lack of religion makes no difference as to their activities.

It takes a certain kind of person to accuse Christ Himself of being disengenous. Posthumously, I might add.

I'm not dead yet.

"Posthumously" does not refer to you in this case, Sand.

Then, what you're saying is that anyone dead is beyond analysis and criticism. You won't find many intelligent people to agree with that.

Even a jackal can bark at a dead lion.

You can say whatever you like about the dead. But I may disagree.

The first arms race, where the nuclear stockpile was built up, was not too scary. No one was really going to hit that red launch button. But the new generation of weapons which will be involved in the coming arms race (relevant to my field) is going to be different. Nuclear weapons, no matter how powerful, do not have any autonomy. The new ones will, and to a very high degree.

And if that sounds absurd, have a look at

http://www.darpa.mil/IPTO/solicit/baa/RFI-SN08-42.pdf
http://www.darpa.mil/body/news/2003/cyber.pdf
http://www.darpa.mil/body/news/2006/workshop2.pdf

etc....



He has a point.

I'd be surprised if there were still humans in the next hundred or so years.

Last edited by chever on 26 Aug 2008, 10:35 am, edited 2 times in total.

The weapons-makers have free will; the weapons themselves do not. I for one could never make a living off the suffering and death of others. It's monstrous! It's un-Christian!

I wonder how many Christians are involved in making and selling arms. Under those circumstances I wonder what "unChristian" means.

In this context, "un-Christian" signifies anything decidedsly against or contrary to the teachings of Jesus Christ, our founder. Christ preached universal love, brotherhood and pacifism. The making of arms, the dealing in or proliferation of arms are all therefore un-Christian, as is war itself. But the necessity of war is another matter.

All those Christians sustaining themselves, some getting very wealthy, acting against the teachings of Christ. Makes one wonder how effective Christianity is.

Yeah, it's not like a thought system like atheism, which invariably produces superior individuals such as Stalin, Pol Pot, and the Gang of Four.

Like I said, neither religion nor atheism seems to have much effect on human capacity for brutality. But at least the atheists don't justify the brutality as in the cause of their non-religious beliefs. It's mere naked power.

Religion or lack of religion has nothing to do with the root causes of violence.

Don't mistake fakes, liars and hypocrites for the real thing! Who are your examples?