h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

>>but if they do anything I would hope that it will be to end the silly bickering and worse that goes on over religion<<

It would be nice to think so ... but I think not.
As usual, looking at history, we see that it's all about power and wealth. Mankind is basically greedy ... most people vote for the party which will give them the upperhand financially, not the one who is morally upright. This can only lead to further moral degradation, and turmoil .. the only way out of this cycle is for the people of a nation to make sacrifice for the ultimate truth of their existence ..
To please their Creator and Sustainer.

People will always bicker and deny, as they have their own agendas, likes and dislikes!

I don't see Bah'ai as ultimate truth, whatever is being said. In the same way, poetry and music can often lull us into a false sense of rightousness and security. Mankind truly represents danger to others, particularly when impoverished or are in fear of loss of wealth and status.

Peace

Well, anyway, the Baha'i do have scriptures. I don't know what they say, unfortunately.

Peace and Best Wishes

I get this distinction between friends and friendly associates that liberal Islam makes. Keep pointing out that the Quran was more for a period of reaction against other proselytizing religions extending not only their beliefs but their oppressive authority over non-believers, and that it did work. I know you didn't say that explicitly, but I can guage that you understand it on some level. If you take it to the next level and pay attention to what rare people like anhaga say, I think you and your family will fare better in life (though I can't say that you can afford to make big changes, not knowing your personal circumstances).

Please don't ever place murder and adultery on the same level. Each act of adultery is probably only worth about one fiftieth of a murder (Certainly in some cases it causes suicides or the severe disruption of childhood life, but a murder isn't the end of a tale either), for example, and I don't even define adultery as all sex outside of or against marriage vows. Open relationships exist and are fine in my book, for example. People move on in life. Sociobiologists will tell you with good reason that humans--being derived from other older species and comparable in some very significant ways to other observable species--are not apt to find monogamy for life to be at a very high frequency. It is more of an aberration than what should be considered normative, natural, and desirable. No book, no theory of ideal human behavior, no RELIGION is ever going to change that. To each one's own. I understand your personal position and your loyalty to others who hold it with you, but I believe you are barking up the wrong tree on it, and people who have studied people formally and scientifically would agree.

> Each act of adultery is probably only worth about one fiftieth of a murder

Purely a guess .. it's what it LEADS to .. "crimes of passion" for example

Being upright and taking sexual relationships seriously, involving family and community is the responsible way. The advent of contraception has trivialised sexual relationship, but in truth, there are still consequences. You talk of animal instincts .. violence is often caused by broken relationships and alcohol.
Peace

I didn't claim it to be more than a guess. My basic point is that if a young person is prepared to take a little bad behavior from other people then the real cruddy stuff doesn't have to happen. Living people change. People can just move on in life, and I think young love followed by marriage with the expectation that it's permanent in this day and age is a tragic joke from a time in the past for people in affluent societies. I'm not kean on bonking your wife, but would you commit a crime of passion against one or all of the three of us if it happened? Would you encourage a friend to take a step back or just lose it if he was cheated on by his wife? Some things are permanent, some things aren't. Saying and doing are two different things. I'm sure that if you had a hint that someone was trying to seduce your wife, you'd warn him away from the possibility in the strongest terms, but, on the other hand, would you tell your son to kill his wife and her lover if he ever caught them? Of course not. Divorce the if things can't be mended reasonably, and try to get even with them both in a more rational way if you can; or else just , point out that you have wasted a lot of time on a lie, and move along with some other woman when the opportunity arises and it's right for whatever children are involved. Women and men are equal, and this is something no religion or modern society has perfected, but religion in its conservative forms is the worst of it all.

In the interest of honesty (and since you could have caught me anyway), I told a couple of our 'enemies' about this thread.