From: dgraham@bmers30.bnr.ca (Douglas Graham)
Subject: Re: "mean" witches (and a request for courtesy and tolerance)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 92 05:26:55 GMT

In article <1992Aug12.214547.2216370@locus.com> judy@locus.com (Judy Leedom Tyrer) writes:

>Now, that said, does anything come of this sort of tit-for-tat?  Or can we
>not honestly say that "Humans have been treating one another like shit for
>thousands of years and using everything from religious preference to skin
>color to accident of birth to justify their behavior".  If so, can we please
>try to do just a LITTLE better?  
>
>D.C's ancestors were burned at the stake.  My ancestors were fed to lions.
>Other ancestors were crucified, tortured, held hostage for years, enslaved,
>dismembered, etc., etc., etc.  No religion is free from having been either
>persecuted or persecutor.  No race is free from having been either 
>persecuted or persecutor.  No country, no economic class, no nobody is clean
>and sparkling and free from a very violent and bloody human history.
>
>There are two ways out of this mess.  We can hold one another accountable and
>continue this violent and bloody history into enternity.  OR we can forgive
>and communicate and try to understand and make room and somehow live together.
>I choose the latter.  But, then again, I may not get a choice.

Well said Judy.  But you know, people have probably been saying similar
things as these for thousands of years as well.  After all, not many people
get much joy out of warfare and atrocities, at least not as long as they
are on the receiving end of them.  But unfortunately, not many people are
bright enough to realize that what goes round comes round -- if I lay an
atrocity on you, sooner or later you're going to have the upper hand and
you'll return it with interest.

People also to have this strange habit of thinking that if only the *other*
people would straighten out their acts, everything would be wonderful.  Not
many seem capable of realizing that it just might be possible that some
of the problem lies with themselves.  That's why not much comes of all this
talk.

You'd almost think that human beings were running some rather faulty software.
You might almost think that there is something fundamentally flawed with
our existing cultures, particularly the Jewish/Christian/Muslim based
cultures, since they're the ones that seem big on bloodshed.  You might
almost think that there just might be something wrong with the way we
teach our kids morality and tolerance and the purpose of life.  You might
almost think that teaching our kids morality from a book filled with genocide
and intolerance (even if it is called "love" or "righteousness") just might
be getting the wrong ideas across.  You might almost think that we might be
a bit arrogant in thinking that if only everybody believed the same bullshit
that we do, everything would be wonderful, especially since it appears that
we seem to be the ones making the biggest mess.  You might almost think that
rather than just trying to do a LITTLE better, it might be a good idea to
take a damn hard look at our culture, in particular our prevailing religion,
and try to make it a LOT better  (which might involve throwing most of it
out and starting from scratch).
--
Doug Graham         dgraham@bnr.ca         My opinions are my own.
Newsgroups: talk.religion.misc