Here are some Secular charities from the UK.


Age Concern – www.ageconcern.org.uk
Amnesty International – www.amnesty.org.uk
Kiva (Humanist Lending Team) – www.kiva.org
Oxfam UK – www.oxfam.org.uk
Medecins Sans Frontieres – www.msf.org.uk
National Aids Trust – www.nat.org.uk
One Laptop Per Child – http://laptop.org/en/
One World Action – www.oneworldaction.org
Plan UK – www.plan-uk.org
Sparks – www.sparks.org.uk
WaterAid – www.wateraid.org/uk
UNICEF – www.unicef.org.uk
Abortion Rights – www.abortionrights.org.uk
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament – www.cnduk.org
Children’s Rights Alliance for England – www.crae.org.uk
Dignity in Dying – www.dignityindying.org.uk
Fairtrade Foundation – www.fairtrade.org.uk
Foundation for International Environmental Law and Development – www.field.org.uk
Friends of the Earth – www.foe.co.uk
Republic – www.republic.org.uk
United Nations Association – www.una-uk.org

 

Good lord, does every single topic that you get involved in inevitably go back to the freakin' Bell Curve, whether it has anything to do with the original topic or not? It's one thing to accept some of Murray's theories, but when you parrot the same data, the same talking points day after day, it's obviously become some sort all consuming obsession for you. How does any of this stuff pertain the original topic of religion? It would almost be laughable if it weren't so tiresome.

And nobody calls Asians "Orientals" anymore. Are you going to start referring to them as Celestials next?

 

"Oriental" is a usable word. "Asian" includes Arabs and inhabitants of India. "Mongoloid" can refer to people with Down's Syndrome.

 

They are not religious the way the Salvation Army is, but most do not seem to be atheist either. Several, like Abortion Rights are advocacy organizations. I know that there are Christians in Amnesty International, because I used to be a member.

 

Mathew 5: 43-44 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.

We live happily indeed, not hating those who hate us.

- The Dhammapada (Buddhist scripture)

 

The term Oriental is every bit as vague as Asian. In the German usage, the Orient refers more to the near east, including India and the Middle East. Many Asian Americans consider the term to be antiquated and derogatory.

 

By the same token, many atheists and agnostics will support charity groups that have their roots in Christianity (or other religions) if they're doing good work. None of this changes the fact that the groups Dave cited were primarily secular in nature.

 

i see your handle there is afrikankarma, interesting. if you ask me, karma is a people thing but if it is really divine, then surely nobody knows it is until they find out for themselves without any logical explanation to back such an experience up.

why do you use the word trigger? we are our own worst enemy because man is destroying man and this world with him.

 

Leaving aside the glaring contradictions that run between the Old Testament and the New Testament ("an eye for an eye" versus "turn the other cheek"), there is a world of difference between the spiritual teachings of Christ in principle and the way that they are practiced and often twisted around by the mechanisms of the Church. I think there is wisdom and beauty in all of the major spiritual traditions of the world, but as with any human institution, there is also corruption, bigotry and evil enacted in their name.

 

There is no real contradiction.

Forgiveness has always been a commandment according to the Halakah. It required to forgive those who have offended you who have repented of their sins.

That being said, Jesus did not come to destroy the Law. A sense of justice still prevails and one would "reap what [one] sows" [Galatians 6:7]...

 

But when Jesus says to turn the other cheek, he does not require that the offending party must first be penitent. He's saying that you should forgive them even if they despise you. Studying the Old and New Testament, it's very hard not to reach the conclusion that they present strikingly different tones and messages. The Old Testament is often brutal, full of fire and brimstone, vengeance and righteous anger, while the teachings of Christ in the New Testament take a decidedly more compassionate, peaceful, loving approach. It's often hard to believe that they're talking about the same God, which leads me to believe that it's more of a reflection on the humans who were writing the Bible than the God they were worshiping.

 

lets give a round of applause to AfrikanKarma and put 5 stars on this mother fucker

 

If a religion condemns hatred, and some of its members hate anyway, I do not see how the religion can be blamed. If the haters did not belong to that religion they would find some other excuse to justify their hate.

What I do see in this thread and elsewhere on XNXX is that posters who hate Christianity are looking for excuses to justify their hate.

 

Christianity is everybody's favourite scapegoat, mostly because there are so many scriptures that can be taken out of context and twisted to suit the person using it for their own good. And that's where the crux of the matter lies - people 'using' Christianity and other religions for their own agendas.

 

I am merely pointing out that even within Christianity's own sacred text, there are plenty of obvious contradictions, so it's easy to see how some of its adherents might pick and choose from various different books of the Bible to reinforce their pre-existing biases. And in some cases, as with the great homosexual scourge, the religion itself encourages such prejudice, even though homosexuality got only a few passing mentions in the Bible (Meanwhile, other arcane Old Testament prohibitions are conveniently ignored). As far as I know, Christ himself never mentioned homosexuality and I am inclined to believe that he would have been tolerant of gays.

I do not hate Christianity, but as I said before, human institutions are almost inevitably flawed and should be regarded with healthy skepticism rather than blind faith. I think this gets down to the particular problem with religion: It tends to demand unquestioning obedience from its adherents which makes it more difficult for "the flock" to assess it objectively.

 

I hate all religions quite impartially :satisfied:

They are power structures.

Lots of individual believers are lovely people, but the use of Faith to separate belief from evidence guarantees they will just be worker ants in somebody's totally selfish army.

 

There's a big difference between "Religion and the individual faith of the individual followers", where the individual lives their lives adhering to the scriptures, and teachings of their faith according to their individual interpretations, and "Organized Religion", which follows dictates, and agendas of a select managing group, such as the Pope, Bishops, Priests, and Ministers, etc. which is governing it's operation, not unlike a corporation, which tends to bastardize the interpretations to accommodate their agenda, as well as making the managing and teaching of that religion vulnerable to corruption, and abuse.

 

They are still secular charities whether Christians give to them or not. Likewise atheists frequently give to charities which are not secular.

 

The bible is both so vague, and so contradictory, that you can use it to say anything you want. People endlessly debate about context, metaphors and the like. Why are some parts of the bible set in stone, the literal meaning must be adhered too, while other passages are not?

It is one thing to believe in a creator, an entity that set the universe in motion and has now taken a back seat. To the deists I say "As our knowledge grows, there is less and less need for the god of the gaps."

It is completely another thing altogether to believe in a god that interferes with the laws of physics, one that leaves the realm of supernatural behind, to talk to people, to listen to prayers, to watch over and guide people. Even if Jesus was born of a virgin, crucified, and resurrected, that does not mean he was divine, that is not proof he is god, or the son of one. The moment religion starts talking about morality, it is overstepping the line. Where is the evidence?

Science, Philosophy, reason, rational debate and discussion are responsible for everything in the world we cherish, and everything we take for granted.

Compare that with revelation, which hasn't brought anyone anything.

 

The hostility some XNXX posters express for Christianity is nothing other than religious bigotry and deserves no more respect than antisemitism.