10,000 reasons civilization is doomed.

[Renew Deal]

DUers will love this. Someone is putting together a list of 10,000 reasons why civilization is doomed. http://www.10000reasons.org

[PointAndLaugh]

1. Hah!

You first have to have a civilization for it to be doomed. McDonald's Burgers and Britney Spears are NOT civilization.

[GOPBasher]

2. Interesting point.

That's very true. Although, on a bright side, we also have universities, good music and art, and people like the ones here on DU! At least that's civilization, right? :-)

[rug]

3. Cool. I posted #1512.

[Briarius]

4. I'm 1527!

:hi:

[NMMNG]

5. Neat

My response:


Reason #1653: A vast majority of Americans think god created humans out of dirt.
By Buffy on August 24, 2006

[billyskank]

6. I don't think that's fair

That Americans are overwhelmingly religious makes them, by historical standards, quite unremarkable. Secular civilisations are much more exceptional.

If you ask me, the top sign that civilisation is doomed is the simple fact that it exists. Every civilisation that has ever existed in the past has always come to an end. I don't see any reason why ours should be any different.

[NMMNG]

7. By historical standards it may have been normal

But by current standards it is anything but.



http://www.pitzer.edu/academics/faculty/zuckerman/atheism.html

Out of 50 nations worldwide, the US is 7th from the bottom in # of Atheists/Agnostics/Non-believers. Sweden, the nation in the #1 spot, has 40-79% more than the US.

That's a pretty remarkable difference.


Another factor that makes the US stand out is the extent to which one particular form of religion has become intwined with politics and public life. Theocracy and democracy cannot coexist, nor can theocracy and human rights. While democracy is not necessarily necessary for civilization some modicum of respect for human rights is.

[billyskank]

8. If you've got a theocracy, it's because you voted for it

And I think calling the US a theocracy is far-fetched. Your country is not like Saudi Arabia. You elect your president and you elect Congress. If a majority of the voters want a religious state then they have that right. If you don't want one, your only recourse is to persuade people that secularism is more desirable. That means persuading religous people - non-religious people already agree with you - and railing against them isn't going to persuade anyone.

[NMMNG]

9. I certainly didn't vote for it

And while it isn't a theocracy yet it's creeping steadily toward it. Anyone who doesn't go around with "God" and "Jesus" on their lips is automatically suspect. If one doesn't kowtow to the will of the Fundamentalists they will be shunned, boycotted or worse. State after state implements laws or eliminates existing laws based on the will of the Fundamentalists.

And while public officials are elected it is often not via honest means. Many of them pander in one way or another to religious people, sometimes outright lying, in order to get votes. People of non-Christian religions, the non-religious, gays/lesbians, pro-choice individuals and others are vilified in order to satisfy a hateful, bigoted segment of the Christian population and win support for the (typically Republican) politicians. The implicit (and sometimes explicit) promise these politicians offer is, "Vote for me and I'll help weed out/crack down on anybody who disagrees with you/us".





I know I can sound harsh against religion at times but there's good reason behind it. Personally I don't care if a person has a religion or what religion s/he has, so long as s/he uses the religion solely for personal guidance/enrichment and perhaps to help others (assuming they're interested in receiving help). However the moment s/he begins to use that religion to harm others or to restrict/direct their lives in any way I have a significant problem with it. Nobody has the right to impose their religion on anybody else--ever.

The faction that is taking over America right now has insidious plans. They want to eliminate all laws protecting gays from discrimination and hate crimes, and for homosexuality to be punishable by the death penalty as per the Bible. They want to eliminate a woman's right to abortion and her right to doctor prescribed birth control, and ultimately return her to the Biblically prescribed role of wife/mother who is subordinate to men. They want God's Law to the the Law of the Land, higher than that of the Constitution. Etc, Etc. I know it sounds like a tin-foil fantasy but it's true.