| Author | Message | ||
     Aesquire |
Have to agree. Many "good works" in this world, have negative consequences. An example would be the massive foreign aid to Haiti. After generations of quasi-marxist dictatorships, ( The State is God ) and $billions in well meaning handouts from around the world, the country is still a disaster. True, some people are working as hard as they can and entrepreneurs are pitching hard. But they can't get A LOT of people to get out of the "temporary" tent housing and back to their ruined homes. Once again a refugee camp becomes ( will become ) the only home for generations of people. Time and time again such places are the womb of terrorism, death and despair. Life in the camps is one of utter dependence, gang violence, rape, etc.... It, however, makes no difference if the motivation to charity is a religious text, enlightened self interest, peer pressure, or guilt. Except to the feelings of the charitable. So, it's not that Religion breeds evil BY it's "good works", it's that ANY "good works" can breed evil if it's methods and understanding are wrong. When the "good works" are a deliberate trick to gain power, as much of the Soviet's dealing with this planet, it's not charity, it's just a con. Lot of that around. ( A new group advertising on radio to cure cancer in a certain time frame by focusing the govt. on the problem strikes me as a massive con. Has all the earmarks of a major rip off. ) The true crime isn't that Haiti is a failure. The true crime is that few learn from that failure and correct the method to get better results. In part this is understandable. If you have a hammer everything looks like a nail. If you have an NGO that delivers food, you will deliver food. Those few individuals who see that delivering food is not always the answer to a problem, either leave that NGO or get rejected by those whose job it is to deliver the food. ( lots of money in charity. Lots. ) Religion in the end is NOT the issue. It's a kind of blindness, not accepting reality. That is an across the aisles thing. ( religious/athiest/conservative/liberal...all have this issue ) | ||
| Jon |
Well the pharisees in Jesus day were using God as the cause of all sorts of control actions over the people, but they did not know the scriptures or the God who gave them. They do not negate God or faith by misrepresenting them. | ||
| Moxnix |
Certainly the kargest religion in Haiti is, and always has been, voodoo. How's that workin' out for them? | ||
| Aesquire |
There's a Bob Hope clip on somewhere here..... ( someone please post it here...thanks ) Voodoo. hmmm. I think I'd prefer Rastafarian.  But I won't put down another's faith, unless he's aggressively proselytizing. ( or wanting me to tear down a cross, because he's offended. Then I go straight to ad-hominum attacks.  ) | ||
| Kc10_fe |
The road to hell is paved with good intention. | ||
| Blake |
Great discussion! | ||
| Moxnix |
Chuckled last week at a news story showing a fleet of new trucks being overgrown by weeds at the Port o Prince airport. Trucks sent to help with disaster relief, idle in the weeds because the necessary import duties have not been paid. A young man from our church was heading to Haiti with a group a couple of weeks back. I slipped him a bunch of 1 dollar bills and asked him to keep them stashed in case he needed to buy his way out of trouble. He said, yeh, they'd been informed of how it was in an orientation session. Found a cheap way to send materials for one of my algae-biodiesel systems to a farm in Liberia via back freight from rubber companies in the US and Europe. The farm supports a medical clinic up country in Buchanan County, which runs generators for power. A simple "no brains, no headaches" gravity and hand pressing system for making biodiesel and having self sufficiency . Problem being, again, huge import duties at Monrovia and bribes for the police checkpoints on the roads. Those pesky Christians. Those pesky "rice Christians." And those pesky animists who shake everyone down for bahk-sheesh, and are willing to allow the suffering to continue unless they get it. |
