[Rhodes22-list] Religion: - Is any religion inherently hostile?

[Robert Skinner]

Bill, your turn to take it easy...

Bill Effros wrote:
> Robert,
> Please.

Now, don't go parental on me.

> This piece casts little light.

Matter of opinion.

> Is Christianity inherently hostile?

If we look at the crusades, the inquisition, etc. we 
would have to say yes.  If I recollect on my experiences 
among the southern baptists while riding my motorcycle 
through Atlanta, Selma, and other hotbeds of liberal 
activity, I'd have to conclude that the dividing line 
between proselytizing and hostility is thin.  All-in-all, 
the only completely unhostile common belief structures 
that I have personal knowledge of are the Amish, the 
Quakers, and the Buddhists, having lived among them.

> Christian groups passed a constitutional amendment in this country
> outlawing alcohol.

Was a dumb idea then, and still is.

> Some pharmacies refuse to sell birth control pills.

Yeah.  I disagree with that position unless there is a 
sign on the door that warns possible customers that 
the pharmacist is a religious zealot, whose personal 
beliefs outweigh even-handed public service.

> Let's not talk religion.

Can't avoid it, once we open the Pandora's box of 
Iraqi politics.

> You want to talk politics?

No.  I'd sooner think about them and engage in 
reasonable discourse.
 
> The cops can confiscate a taxi that contains marijuana.  Taxi drivers
> can refuse to take passengers who are transporting marijuana.  Is that OK?

The analogy is flawed.  MJ is illegal.  Alcohol 
is not.
 
> Is it OK to refuse to take 17 year old passengers with alcohol?

Probably.  Depends on whether the cabbie is 
presented with circumstances that make it impossible 
to ignore, and provides certain knowledge that 
the person is both underage and in possession.  In 
that case, it makes him/her an accessory to a 
crime -- if underage possession is illegal in that 
state/city.

> How about drunk 18 year olds?

Any drunk can be refused service.  I've done it 
myself when tending bar at a fire house.  I got
beaten up, and the guy went BACK to jail.
 
> How about a guy carrying a gun?

What's the local law?  What kind of gun?  
(Little far out here, aren't we, Bill?)
 
> Why can mothers take milk on airplanes but not anyone else?

No choice.  Comes with the breasts.
 
> That's politics.

No QED here, Bill.  You'll have to do 
better than a list of quasi-relevant 
questions.  Socrates you are not.
 
> But suggesting that somebody else's religion is inherently
> hostile...mixing religion with politics...boy has that led to a lot of
> trouble.

It's even worse if it is a fact, Bill, 
and that is what I'm putting up for 
comment.  The religious war has already
started.

> Bill Effros

Robert Skinner, Tournament Debater.