Hi o sung wu,

I'm glad to see that there is at least one other person in this country who can read the writing on the wall.

I've been looking for a seniors' party who will be fielding a Senate candidate at the next election. So far I've found an organisation called Mature Age Party.

I'm looking to give my support to a party that basically has a singular (or at least principal) platform of "Seniors Want More!". Just imagine what could be achieved if the 55+ group - which makes up almost half of the voters - got behind the Seniors' candidates!

Hi All,

o sung wu makes a very good point, its not important what is real or what is myth. What is important is what an individual believes to be real and the consequences of that belief. If a religious belief gives some spiritual comfort, brings one some serenity in their life then that in itself is a good thing regardless of whether that belief is based on reality or not.
There is a very high likelihood that much of what is attributed to "Jesus said", Jesus never actually said it, and others simply for reasons best known to themselves attributed it to Jesus, Given that Jesus wondered around for three years sayings all manner of things, obviously much of it never got reported, and things that were reported may well have been distorted.
Jesus said "Eat pizza on Tuesdays and you will go to heaven." It is not important if Jesus said it or not, if you believe it, and it brings you spiritual comfort, then that is what is important, nothing else.
Unfortunately a lot of what religions tell their followers is not so benign but down right dangerous crap. I believe on balance the bad aspects of religion outweigh the good, and therefore religion is inherently bad, and society would be better off without it.

Dear Paul1405,

I agree that religion does more harm than good. However, religion maintains its grasp because the benefits are uneven. Those that religion serves are generally in control. This is true whether it is a monarch appealing to the divine right of kings or an atheist politician like Gillard who caters to the Australian Christian Lobby. Those who suffer from religion like Australian children who go to inadequate public schools because subsidies to religious schools drain off funds that might improve their schools, women who may have difficulty accessing adequate contraception and abortion facilities, women in Muslim countries who are completely denied an education, men in Muslim countries who are denied a good education because the madrassas concentrate on learning the Koran by rote in preference to subjects more useful etc. Those with power employ religion as a mechanism of control. Those without power suffer.

Dear Paul,

You don't need to be Jesus in order to know that if you eat pizza on Tuesdays then you will go to heaven.

How long you will spend there in heaven is a different question: maybe 5 seconds, maybe 5,000,000 years, but eventually you will need to come back down with a bad taste in your mouth or a stomach-ache.

The pizza-chain could try to sell you that idea of heaven as "religion", but we well understand that all they care about is taking your money.
Religion however, is not about getting such temporary results, but about uniting with God where even the illusion of 'time' disappears.

If you are so naive as to accept the claim of pizza chains that they are "a religion" (because they take you to heaven [and back]), then no wonder you end up with the conclusion that "on balance the bad aspects of religion outweigh the good".

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P.S., What is your idea of "spiritual comfort"? I can understand physical comfort, mental comfort and emotional comfort, but what's "spiritual comfort"?

Comfort is temporary and if it depends on a belief, then not later than when the brain disintegrates and that belief is no longer sustained, so goes away the comfort.

Hi Yuyutsu,

Spiritual comfort, is an inner felling of serenity brought on by a confident belief in the certainty of the outcome. An example of this would be the inner comfort one gets from a religious belief in heaven when one has lost a loved one. The belief that the deceased has gone to a better place, and that one day on your demise, you will join that person again in a loving relationship in heaven with god. A terminally ill person could find spiritual comfort in a belief in the same afterlife brought about by their religious convictions.

For many, religion gives meaning to life, that the purpose of our existence is to please god and ultimately god's pleasurable acceptance will see us move from this temporary mundane earthly existence to a wonderfully permanent existence with god in heaven.

Why do Christians believe in a different god today than the one they believed in say 500 years ago?
The god that is postulated today by mainstream Christianity is a kind, loving, forgiving god, Yet 500 years ago god was presented by the same mainstream Christian religions as a spiteful, vengeful, angry god, always at the ready to smite the transgressor. When did god change his nature?

I've been watching your discussions on religion with great amusement. The only thing I've learnt from them is that you guys have absolutely no knowledge of philosophy, sociology, anthropology and history.