The great thing about a place like S&L, and more specifically the people who visit it, is that they can disagree freely. I am one of those “more religious posters” (well, readers, usually, but I digress) and guess what… I’m offended by the implicit assertion that religion is purely man-made. That said, I can see the idea of religion as identifier has merit.

Now, here’s the thing that inspired me to post: you knew that you could or would offend some people, but this is a place where you have the freedom to say something I disagree with. And, in a turn of events that the left-leaning blog sites can not comprehend, I’m not trying to shut you up, shout you down, or threatening you with bodily harm. How cool is that? It’s almost like people here are willing to engage in rational, adult conversation. God Bless America, eh?

As regards your last statement, you think that the journalists believe they’ll get a reward? Call me cynical, but I think it’s even worse than that. They don’t think they will be rewarded, because to them, helping is its own reward. They are on the side of right, and the ends justify the means to stop our heresy. I’m with Ann on this one, it’s a religion, and we’re their heathens who must either be converted or destroyed. Now, they’ll never say it in those words, but the truth is the truth no matter how they phrase it.

There is a theory by some credible anthropologists that religions first formed after mankind acquired speech. With speech came a greatly enhanced ability to deceive, because people could say something that was totally untrue and it could be almost impossible to detect it.

The purpose of religions was to help people form cohesive communities with shared valued. Since in most cultures, it was impossible to know everyone in a community and since people were able to move around communitities anyway, the rituals of the religion allowed people to recognize like believers. If a person didn’t share the same belief system (i.e., the religion) than he/she could not be trusted.

I think the fact that the grandiose liars we have seen in the last 80 years almost universally despise religions and religious people is evidence that the theory has merit.

It’s also ironic, I think, that we now have an entire global industry, the msm, dedicated to supporting the lies of corrupt politicians. The only explanation I can think of to explain that is that down deep, the greasy practioners of “journalism” believe that in the end, they will be rewarded for their service by the mob boss they helped to gain power.

~Adolph Hitler

“In war, truth is the first casualty.”

~Aeschylus

(using my best Rod Serling voice) Submitted for your approval, two quotes. Quotes taken from distinctly different periods of time in Earth’s history, yet remarkably modern. The first is the foundation for a government that intentionally delivered decent, honest human beings to deathcamps and the second from a period in world history a couple of thousand years ago when mankind was still learning how to form a cohesive structure for society. It is astounding to reach the revelation that in all this time, in all these centuries, man has neither grown nor changed. Instead, man has entered a shroud of illusion, a mist of lies, a twilight zone of disbelief.

“H.L. Mencken, great quote: “The men the American people admire most extravagantly are the greatest liars. The men they detest most violently are those who try to tell them the truth.”

Sounds like a good bumper sticker.