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Good to have you back
HonestIago Started conversation Oct 12, 2006
Shame the first thing you do is try to contrdict me
I hope those links are enough, its frustrating to be without my resources on the topic, just when a juicy debate comes up. Oh well, I've emailed friends and well-wishers who might be able to supply me with the details so I can pass them on.
So, you staying long this time?
Good to have you back
Researcher 188007 Posted Oct 12, 2006
My first reply went into the ether when I tried to send it. [reaches for the nag-champa]
OK, so I think you probably know a bit more about Sri Lanka and its associated ethnic tensions than I do. Which, considering I've actually lived with a Sri Lankan, is pretty poor on my side. Though he was a bit of a geezer, not exactly a heavy temple-goer.
I'm actually reading about Buddhism at the moment. My brother has recently become more committed to Buddhism, and Eastern philosophy and religion was in the background when I was growing up, so I at least have some interest in it. In its purest form it certainly seems to be free of all those fire-and-brimstone hocus-pocus squaring-the-circle shenanigans that Christianity involves.
As it happens, I'm just reading a page called 'Buddhism and Homosexuality', which has this to say about sexual misdemeanors:
"From the Buddha's discourses, there can be discerned three bases on which we can make judgements about our behaviour:-
we should consider the consequences of our actions, their effects on ourselves and others
we should consider how we would feel if others did the same thing to us
we should consider whether the behaviour is instrumental to our goal of Nirvana.
Using these criteria, Buddhist commentators have usually construed sexual misconduct to include rape, sexual harassment, molestation of children, and unfaithfulness to one's spouse. Clearly, these manifestations of sexual misconduct can apply equally to homosexual and heterosexual behaviour. The third precept is not a blanket prohibition, nor a simplistic depiction of some behaviours as wrong and other behaviours as right."
Now that's a sanity break from the "Don't lie with another man else God'll hate you forever" b*lls you get from the Abrahamic texts.
Dunno how long I'll stay - depends partly on net access. I know not to get imbroiled in arguments with people I don't like this time. No, really
Anyway, for the message, and it's good to be back
Good to have you back
HonestIago Posted Oct 13, 2006
I just put a quick explanation of why I used the Buddhist example in the main thread, but I thought I'd give you a fuller explanation.
I got mightily irked when JCNSmith went on about how suicide bombers made Allah happy. Ignoring the whole 'murder isn't part of Islam' bit because it's a mess I'd rather not get into, not many people realise that the Sri Lankan conflict was the first time the world saw suicide bombings being used as a terrorist weapon.
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Actually, I've just realised something as I'm typing this - do kamikaze pilots count as suicide bombers? If so, since most Japanese class themselves as both Buddhist and Shinto, Buddhism has quite a lot of blood on its hands. There's a question - but enough of this aside.
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Buddhists did take part in the Sri Lankan conflict for the Tamils, and it shocks people to learn that, because everyone has the assumption of Buddhists as nice peaceful folk, like most of them are. I like to use that example because it is a mental slap across the face and it forces people to think, which unfortunately not enough people do when it comes to the topics of religion and terrorism.
I like the quote you've given, it's things like that which make me favour Buddhism over the other religions. I like Buddhists
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