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Dear Yuyutsu,

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You ask :

« Nice in theory, but who is to decide what is or isn't moral?
Or what does the freedom of others include (say their "freedom" to rid the world of cows, including other people's cows)?
Or what indeed is harmful (in fact, the debates are raging about male and female circumcision and about the suffering of animals under kosher/halal methods of slaughter)? »
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Democratic courts of justice settle disputes.
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You state :

« … it would be a mistake to try to define ourselves according to the beliefs in our mind. »

I don’t see it as a mistake. I do not like labels, but the question often arises, sometimes even in casual conversation, regarding religious belief.

As I indicated in my previous post, for most of my life, I reserved my judgment on whether to believe or not in the supernatural and God until I had finished studying the question. During all those years I replied that I considered myself to be just an ordinary person.

When I finally came to the understanding that there was no God nor supernatural, I did not adopt the term atheist because I thought it was a bit silly to define myself by reference to belief in something that did not exist. I felt that “freethinker” would be more appropriate, but it sounds a bit pretentious, so I tend to continue to say that I am just an ordinary person.

I never had any religious belief, despite my very long, and intensive Christian background, and since my enlightenment, just a few years ago, I now know that there is nothing to believe.

I have not had “a change of mind” as you suggest. If anything, I have had confirmation that I was right in not believing “blindly” by putting the cart before the horse as it were. I took my time, the best part of my life, to study the question thoroughly. I felt that it was too important to take lightly.

Now that it’s settled, I can die in peace.

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Foxy,

While all religions have extremist elements Islam has by far the most terrorist groups and murders. This combined with support for many of these groups from governments and adherents makes Islam a special case.

Their treatment of non-Muslims and minority groups is atrocious.

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Dear Yuyutsu,

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Re : God as a cinema screen …

Please be assured I understand your interpretation of the analogy, Yuyutsu. The problem is it is not the only possible interpretation. The interpretation I indicated is also possible.

Here is a little more about cinema screens :

http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/movie-screen1.htm

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Shadow Minister,

Ali Rizvi writes:

"I don't believe Islam is inherently or necessarily
violent and I think a broad view of history justifies
that claim. But there is, at this moment an inordinate
amount of chaos springing out of the Muslim world.
Much of that is due to political and economic, social
and historical factors. And I'm sure some of it has to
do with specific religious doctrines."

However, as he points out - " I don't feel equipped to
assign weight to these causes and I'm about as far from
an authority on Islam as one can get, so I struggle to
say anything definitive or useful about these problems."

Perhaps we all should take a page out of his book?

There's more at the following link - explaining why we get it wrong about Islam:

http://www.vox.com/conversations/2017/7/7/15886862/islam-trump-isis-terrorism-ali-rizvi-religion-sam-harris

The ideas that occupy ones mind and the passions that produce actions and desires is one's religion, and it does not need to be theistic. Buddhism is a religion and is does not identify a being of god. Is it wrong to criticize another's religion? - religion in the general term means ones world view and what motivates one's behavior. Everyone is religious just their values are different, this results in different behaviour.

"I think that all of us have the right to believe
what we want, and we must respect that right, but that
does not necessarily mean we have to respect the
beliefs themselves." so writes Ali Rizvi in the link
I've cited.

He continues:

" As far as Islam is concerned we need to make a distinction
between Islamic ideology and Muslim identity and explore
how we can have an honest conversation about ideas and
beliefs without descending into bigotry against those who
might challenge or hold them."

The link is worth a read.