Paul1405, "What is the difference between the likes of The Ku Klux Klan, Hitlers National Socialism and the Catholic Church"

Irrelevant but does it matter? It is totalitarianism and warping of freedom of speech that must constantly be resisted.

The Greens are Marxist in their philosophy, with the same totalitarian tendencies of all previous forms of Marxism as a political movement.

The lunar Gaian beliefs of Bob Brown and others of the chardonnay quaffing urban intellectual elite of the Greens allows for no compromise. Their way or up against the wall come the revolution!

It is amusing that you consider the Greens principled when you have the numerous examples of treachery of Bob Brown and now Christine Milne against Julia Gillard and Labor. Selective memory?

I believe in religious tolerance and the laws of this democracy require it. However if you are going to exercise the right of free speech it is only right to point the finger when you are selective and display bigotry in criticising Christians exclusively.

So again, what about the Greens' Gaia religion and the vast array of other beliefs not mentioned by you and your protest party, the Greens?

"Good idea - he [Einstein] certainly didn't believe the ridiculous fairy tales in the Bible were true."

I meant Alfred not Albert...I always throw that one in to see if anyone is paying attention.

Guess you don't want to talk about the others?

Thank God I'm an Athiest - grin :)

I want to thank producer for the thread, it has been good.
And to say just maybe runner is the little wooden God we talk about.
Doubt he ever cared much about anything.

onthebeach your diatribe of rubbish against The Greens, nothing I can say will ever sway you in your distorted belief.
"I believe in religious tolerance and the laws of this democracy require it."
You could never find a more insidious bunch of hypocrites than Christians, no more an intolerant bunch could you find in society than these people, wanting to constantly interfere with the lives of others. I say to hell with all religions for the good of mankind.

Dear Paul,

Many people see religion as nothing more than
a primitive relic that eventually will disappear
in the more sophisticated modern world.

However, Emile Durkheim, one of the earliest
sociologists was impressed by the fact that religion
is universal in human society, and he wondered why
this was so. The answer that he came up with was
that religion has a vital function in maintaining
the social system as a whole.

Durkheim believed that the origins of religion were
social, not supernatural. He pointed out that, whatever
their source, the rituals enacted in any religion enhance
the solidarity of the community as well as its faith.

Consider such religious rituals as baptism, bar mitzvah,
weddings, Sabbath services, Christmas mass, and funerals.
Rituals like these serve to bring people together, to
remind them of their common group membership, to reaffirm
their traditional values, to maintain prohibitions and
taboos; to offer comfort in times of crisis, and in
general, to help transmit the cultural heritage from one
generation to the next.

Although religion is a universal social institution, it
takes a multitude of forms. Believers may worship gods,
ancestors, or totems; they may practice solitary
meditation, frenzied rituals, or solemn prayer. Many religions
do not recognize a supreme being, and a number do not
believe in gods at all. Also, obviously religion cannot be
defined in terms of the Western religious tradition alone.

For many years it was widely felt that as science
progressively provided rational explanations for the
mysterieis of the universe, religion would have less and less
of a role to play and would eventually disappear, unmasked
as nothing more than superstition. But there are still gaps in
our understanding that science can never fill. On the
ultimate important questions - of the meaning and purpose
of life and the nature of morality.

Few citizens of modern societies would utterly deny the
possibility of some higher power in the universe, some
supernatural transcendental realm that lies beyond the
boundaries of ordinary experience, and in this fundamental
sense religion is probably here to stay.