there's a difference between being ignorant and being stupid. being stupid means you know better but do it anyway. Religion is in my opinion and to quote Karl Marx,"the heroin of the masses".
It doesn't really matter that all religions call for authoritative governments be established to uphold it's "beliefs".
It doesn't matter that people are classified and marketed to based upon their beliefs.
and it ceratinly doesn't matter that all commercial radio and television is lade(sp)with religious idioms idolistic images and other ways to which the current government can identify itself to followers of a religion and thus gain their support.
I'm not arguing whether any relion is better than the other; whether or not a relion is false; or that god does or does not exist.
WHAT I'M SAYING IS THAT RELIGION TODAY IS NOTHING MORE THAN AN EXTENSION OF GOVERNMENT POWER. and being fundamentally opposed to authority, as anyone who follows the greater religion SHOULD be, I have refrained from my use of media other than the internet, because then i have atleast a small amount of controll over what gets in.

ah fuck you i don't care.

You're opposed to all "authority?"

Even the authorities that keep other people from killing you in your sleep?

What about the authority that controls the guy who controls your heat? You're opposed to getting what you paid for also?

I think doofnoil ia an appropriate name for you. How do you do that emoticon gif that rolls it's eyes....

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and being fundamentally opposed to authority, as anyone who follows the greater religion SHOULD be

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Oh my god....

And it's "Opiate of the People". And you should read Marx sometimes rather than (mis) quote him.

[This message has been edited by dagnabitt (edited 11-26-2002).]

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Originally posted by dagnabitt:
And it's "Opiate of the People".

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It was "Religion is the opiate of the masses" the last time I checked.

Did he say it in English?

I don't think the people/masses distinction makes as much of a connotative difference as the heroin/opium one.

Religion and society, and therefore the authority that controls a society, have always been intertwined.

The separation of church and state has taken place relatively recently in terms of the existence of religion.

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Originally posted by Dark_Magneto:
It was "Religion is the opiate of the masses" the last time I checked.

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I've heard it both ways in popular discussion, but you're right the original quote is "masses". I was thinking less about that than the fact that heroin wasn't in popular use until years after Marx died. But your right if i was going to flame someone i should have been more literate about it.

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Originally posted by Bogey Man:
[B]You're opposed to all "authority?"

Even the authorities that keep other people from killing you in your sleep?
B]

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Why not? There's no authority that keeps anyone from killing anyone else. You're thinking that governmental agencies like the police actually PREVENT crimes, which really isn't true. The threat of being sent to jail keeps no one who wants to kill anyone else badly enough from doing it.

Haven't you ever asked yourself, "Why isn't there ever a cop around when I need one?" Most people have.

The belief in consequences keeps plenty of people in line. Some people are good only by habit, and that habit comes from authority.