Begin quote:

Some while ago, after watching on television the suffering of so many people
throughout the world, I decided to try to write a book--one that would encourage
people of all nations to work together in an effort to ease some of this
suffering. Bringing about constructive changes in this direction will require a
unified world effort which has never been possible in the past. Now, however, we
have satellite instant world-wide television, pocket audible electronic language
translators, and, best of all, the Internet.

Soon after the onset of my research into how this might be achieved it became
obvious that the two biggest stumbling blocks were going to be religion and
nationalism.  And the greater of these is undoubtedly religion. So it would
seem that when it comes to helping people to help themselves the only possible
way to achieve any beneficial results is, first, prove the harmfulness and
absolute futility of religions and to render them all impotent. Expecting the
religions to settle their differences is unrealistic.

Religion & Nationalism: 2 sides of a controlled argument?

There is only one "stumbling block" disinformation (or withholding of
information)

To a true patriot Religion, Nationalism, and Humanity are all the same.

I feel quite sorry for John Bates if the ideas expressed above are his true
thoughts.

Does anyone have a clear definition of Love, or know exactly what it is?

According to Mr. Bates Love as well as God does not exist.

Although I understand his distrust for organized religion, religion is only a
part of society.

Society as a whole is not completely defined by it's religion.

If you look at different religions they all have more in common than they have
in differences.

Honesty, compassion, peace... Sounds like good building blocks to me.

However, there is reason for optimism. Today, people the world over are more
sensible than they have ever been in the past, and logically so. They now have
at their disposal all the past knowledge that others before them never had.
Religious and Political leaders
both used to restrict access to knowledge
that would undermine their power. This restriction is no longer possible now
that the information revolution has provided almost instant access to almost any
information anyone could want to obtain. This fact should make the task
considerably less difficult.

Don't be fooled. Digital information is as much if not
more easily manipulated.

So, after weighing the feelings of the many religious individuals against the
positive worldwide greater gain which could be realized by neutralizing religion
(the mental debate for this decision took only seconds,) we come to the
important business of attacking religion in a constructive but effective way.
(attacking anything is not constructive) That so
many apparently sane and sensible people all over the world can believe in any
part of any religion is a miracle in itself. How can they? Religions are evil!
They have caused and continue to cause more wars, more hatred, more fear and
frustration than all the world's geological disasters put together.

I wholeheartedly agree Organized Religion is bad, but
it is those that live without religion (honesty, compassion, and peace) that are
causing all the problems. George Bush's ideas/thoughts have probably killed more
people than Bin Laden's at this point. Is he really a religious person? (Bush is
a patsy, the real power lays beyond him)

Religion defeats itself. How can it be that each of the hundreds of religions
that exist around the world can be believed by so many when each of these
hundreds of religions claims to be the "one true religion?" The only true
religion is no religion at all! Religions are by far the greatest shackles
Mankind has ever had to endure. To list the atrocities committed in the name of
religions would require a thicker book than the Bible. The money and time wasted
because of religion is truly phenomenal. Think of the cost! All the religious
artifacts all over the World; Churches, Cathedrals, Mosques, Shrines, Paintings,
Engravings, Carvings etc, etc. All the wages for more than 1500 years. Enough to
make every starving child a millionaire. And time! In the time that people and
parsons have stood singing, dancing, and praying they could have built the
Universe. Oh! Praying! When the children are starving don't do anything
practical to help them; just pray! To wait in hope for help from a god is not
constructive, it is positively destructive! The mind blows and more children
starve. These are some of the costs of retaining religions. But these costs
become next to nothing when one considers the human cost. No, not just the time
billions of people have wasted in the churches, not just the money these people
paid that enabled the religions to make a profit even after all the
above-mentioned expenditures, but consider the staggering human mental cost of
these ridiculous useless belief systems. The lives wasted, the fear propagated,
all the religious myths that caused so much hardship and suffering over so many
years: People afraid to die for fear of burning in the religiously concocted
"Hell fires." Even the great teacher known as "the prince of peace" mentioned
the fires of Hell. The effects of this and other religious teachings have caused
thousands of people to burn themselves and to torture others in order to prepare
them for the agonies they expected to endure in purgatory. It is only 200 years
since the last women and children were burned alive as so- called witches. Many
believers lived in constant fear. The diaries of writers and poets over hundreds
of years make horrendous reading. They describe the many tortures they inflicted
on each other, the years they spent terrified, even though they had committed no
crime whatsoever. "Hell" is such a stupid vile concept, devised by greedy evil
people in order to control and exploit their fellow men and women. Religious
sexual laws imposed many additional hardships upon families. Another sad aspect
is the number of people who blame themselves after some tragic occurrence has
taken place. They cry out, "What have I done wrong to offend my God so much that
he would do this to me?" Many people are very badly affected by this even though
they know that they have done nothing wrong. Why do people torture themselves
and blame themselves? Why, oh why? It is because they have been taught the
concept of "sin" by religious teachers who need for their followers to suffer so
that they will seek solace in religion!

Most of this is just a rant of rhetoric.

I do believe the idea of sin was a creation of evil people as a form of control
over their subjects.

"If you don't do what I tell you, you will have an eternity of less than
desirable circumstances."

Have I made bad decisions, Yes... but that does not make me an evil person, or a
"sinner"..

I was just a person who did not have all the information I needed to make a good
decision.

(I am sure god will forgive me for not knowing something, the real question is
can I forgive myself)

John Bates needs to redefine his idea of religion.

People intrinsically know the difference between right and wrong. (this in
itself is a religion)

God does not force you to choose a good life so why do people of god force you
to live by their interpretation of the rules?

(I thought this was world government not religion??)

To be a shift for the good be more encompassing to expect a religion less planet
is unrealistic.

Humans are as much about religion as we are flesh and bone.

A good topic/project would be to blend all religions, we really do have more in
common than we do in differences.

Evil, power, money, global elite exaggerate the differences against us.

If we fight amongst ourselves we will overlook the people doing it to us.

If we are missing pieces of information we will make bad decisions......

See how this works? it is so simple.......

Once you learn to see the "Matrix" you are actually sickened by it. Mainly
because it is so easy to fix.

Just as many fail to see the Matrix at this time, many fail to see God. But yet
they are both all around you.

(Ohh that is GOOD!)  LOL

OK it is late, more later. FF