RELIGION.... hmmmm I'm more concerned about the BRAND of religion.

Lets contrast.

1/ Dalai Lama comes to Australia.
-No demonstrations(except maybe about oppression of Tibetans)
-No Violence.
-No declaration of "We will rule the world"

2/ HAMAS...in total accordance with its Charter, as predicted by me and many others, (in contrast to Keith Kennealy, Anthony Lowenstein,Greg Barns and similiar ilk)
has now TAKEN OVER in Gaza...AND...

Proclaimed the era of 'Islamic Rule'.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=FKH3VZSS51M0LQFIQMFCFFOAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/06/15/wgaza115.xml

I am tempted not to say "I told you so" but I will anyway.

"I TOLD YOU SO"

Now..for another fearless forecast, powerful prediction, meaningful mouth-off...

"THE ISSUE IS THE STATUS OF JERUSALEM." Talk land till the cows come home... it will always come back to this.

Another oft repeated warning I've been sounding..

"The militants/radicals drive the agenda"

People like FH and IRF will be simply swept aside in the midst of their 'friendly Islam' apologetics by Hamas types screaming "get out of the way... the Army of Mohammad is on the move"

In the mean time..... differing from the Article.. 'true' religion is great for our health.
True religion is that which is from God, not from man.

"For God so LOVED the world....that he gave...his only Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life"

The Gospel in a nutshell.

When Jesus said "I have come to bring a sword, not peace" it is the HAMAS sword which will descend on the neck of the peaceful Christian.
Time for the 'Emperor' to wake up.. and act in defense of the State.

I bet you're fun at dinner parties.

Too right Baozy. I'm concerned with brand too. My Brand. "Organs"R Us. We deliver the liver. And never charge for the ice." If you don't like it don't use us to sell your fetus, or extra kidney, or use our service to mortgage your Grannie . Let's not start dictating who gets to do what. Children are a good renewable resource. Lets not put any special value on them just because we decided not to abort these specific children. Think of Africa as a garden of never ending organs. Eternal life for the hard living go getters that keep the world going around. And we're green. How many new businesses can say that.

"by the end of this century, biotech will be redesigning human beings."

there are a lot of points worth discussing in this piece, but this sentence should scare anyone who has bothered to read some human history. it's a "who guards the guardians?" question of fundamental importance to the survival of the human race. the writer imagines that technology questions are of fundamental significance. to paraphrase bill clinton: "it's the politics, stupid."

if a few people, presumably the rich, can upgrade their progeny to superman status, the human race will split in two, or ten, and the prototype will join homo erectus in the museums.

this might be a good thing. i'm not enthralled by homosap, but i bet he would want to be consulted before bioengineers made him obsolete.

religion is just a social mechanism, it provided a living to the old people who ran it, and this injected a 'wisdom of experience' into human society. it may be obsolete. but the people who despise it publicly should tell us how we are going to keep the rupert murdochs from having grandchildren with 300 iqs and 500 year life spans. until we get real democracy, i'm inclined to back george pell whenever he stumbles onto a good cause.

and that is: keep bioengineering out of the hands of technocrats working for plutocrats

Terrific technology for the physically disabled.

However my concern is about the potential global consequences by the resultant increases in human survival rates. The human footprint is already massive, the environment degraded and our are resources depleted.

Concerns are already raised about the increases in the aged population in developed countries, which is also partly a result of advanced medical technologies.

Will biotechnology eliminate diseases that strike the elderly, such as cancers, diabetes, heart diseases etc, thus greatly increasing their lifespans?

Will the new technology be to the detriment of this already fragile planet in the long run?

Oh dear Boaz, I notice the sky is falling again.

>>HAMAS...in total accordance with its Charter, as predicted by me and many others, (in contrast to Keith Kennealy, Anthony Lowenstein,Greg Barns and similiar ilk) has now TAKEN OVER in Gaza...AND... Proclaimed the era of 'Islamic Rule'. I am tempted not to say "I told you so" but I will anyway. "I TOLD YOU SO"... People like FH and IRF will be simply swept aside in the midst of their 'friendly Islam' apologetics by Hamas types screaming "get out of the way... the Army of Mohammad is on the move"<<

If you believe for one moment that Hamas has achieved any permanent advantage, then you really don't understand what is going on.

But, thinking about it, that is probably the case anyway.

This action has been inevitable ever since Hamas won the election. It is a perfectly normal and natural progression of events, and does not signify the final victory of the forces of the Devil, or whatever apocalyptic connotation you ascribe to it.

Of course, in an ideal world people wouldn't kill each other over their religious beliefs, but unfortunately this has been part of history ever since Gods were invented.

Which of course is what this thread is all about.

Whether society should be more concerned about i) the living than ii) the unborn or iii) the afterlife.

Clearly, religious folk of all persuasions are far more interested in ii) and iii), while uninfected folk are far more likely to interest themselves in the conduct and continuation of i)

But the only thing that is "on the move", Boaz, is your irrational fear, paranoia and hatred of everything to do with Islam.

You may indeed be fun at dinner parties, but underneath, it must be a very heavy burden, all that hate.