Sd#318

[AEON]

karma question:

how (or does) karma address the problem of evil, or, why do bad things happen to good people?

From my understanding of karma, things done in past lives impacts your present life.

 

[coemgen]

This is when the Karma Police get called in.

 

[martha]

From my understanding of karma, things done in past lives impacts your present life.

Yes. And the things you do in this life impact your next lives.

 

[martha]

This is when the Karma Police get called in.

Only if you talk in maths or buzz like a fridge.

 

[coemgen]

 

[redhotswami]

Thank you for the warm welcome

This list is simply a desire and yes, based on my interpretations. I was asked to dream, and so I did. I wouldn't force this, but I would vote for it as long as a candidate wasn't too wacky on other issues.

I would like to point out - the government does control us. It does enforce a value system. It is part of the bargain we have with it. In return we are suppose to receive protection for a way of life most of us agree to. Today that system is Secular Humanism and I want it changed.

I am not one to say "bring back the glory days" - but I'm also not one to throw everything about the past away. I would want to take the "best bits" of the past and combine them with everything that is great and wonderful about the present age to form a "more perfect Union."

You're welcome

And please don't think I'm attacking your dream. I don't mean to come off so arrogant. I'm more trying to understand it...because it is so very different from mine!

I know the government controls us now...but to a certain extent. Personally, I believe that if only Judeo-Christian values were "enforced", then we as a society would certainly be missing out on a lot. I've gone to public schools all my life (secondary and higher education), and I was really blessed with meeting so many people of different cultures. My spiritual journey has been enhanced by these unique and new perspectives. I'd be afraid to think of what this country might be without these perspectives.

 

[AEON]

You're welcome

And please don't think I'm attacking your dream. I don't mean to come off so arrogant. I'm more trying to understand it...because it is so very different from mine!

No problem. I don't think that disagreement is the same as a personal attack. And I don't think you're arrogant. I know that I come across as arrogant, but I really don't think I am. I'm just a person who thinks in black and white. As much as I've tried to see the gray - I usually can't. It's just who I am.

That being said, I've been known to change my mind from time to time. You can ask my wonderful, beautiful wife It's not often, it is usually a battle for the person trying to convince me. But if I can see the logic, I can be persuaded.

 

[Irvine511]

10) that our university teachers stop usuing their position to spread the hatred of America and Judeo/Christian values.

perhaps we actually need a few more of these professors ...

[q]Find the Illegal Immigrant'
College Republicans' event today incites protest from student groups
Nick Brennan
Posted: 2/22/07

A contest called "Find the Illegal Immigrant" - a mock hunt for a student posing as just that - is being met with widespread protest on campus and receiving local and national media coverage.

The event, sponsored by NYU's College Republicans, is planned for today in Washington Square Park from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The student posing as the illegal immigrant will wear a name tag saying so. Other students will try to find him or her, playing the part of border patrol agents and wearing nametags that say "INS," referring to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service.

College Republicans president and CAS junior Sarah Chambers said the contest is intended to bring attention to the issue of illegal immigration. The hunt is also designed to draw people to a table the group plans to set up in the south side of the Silver Center, Chambers said.

"The event will open up both vocally and physically the issue of illegal immigration," she said. "That it's not right to come here illegally while others are waiting to come here legally and receive free health care and jobs that undercut wages of American workers and people that are living here legally."

The contest's premise has caused an uproar on campus. Student groups - including the ACLU at NYU, the College Democrats and several multicultural clubs - have organized a protest that they expect will draw hundreds of students.

College Democrats president and CAS senior Nora Toiv called the event ignorant and dehumanizing.

"The event is offensive because by playing a game like this, you make light of a real-life situation," Toiv said. "To ridicule what is often a very traumatic experience is hateful."

Chambers refuted accusations of racism and said that the event is bringing debate to the issue.

"We are raising awareness here," Chambers said. "People from around the country have been e-mailing me both positively and negatively, but the fact remains that everytime the American public is polled, immigration ranks among the top three issues of concern, so we're not too far-fetched in our stance here."

"The goal here is to get people talking about it," she added.

Toiv said the College Democrats' largest objection to the event is in the way it has been presented.

"It's the issues they address and the way they address them that seem to always be targeting fellow students and staff at NYU. It's hateful," Toiv said. "Why can't you talk about something that doesn't personally attack several students?"

"Having tolerance for immigration is not a partisan issue," she added.

Protesters from the various other groups will be carrying signs and handing out pamphlets stating "No one is illegal" and calling the event "completely unacceptable."

Toiv said she wants the protest to be peaceful and is pushing for a silent protest.

"We're hoping for a peaceful protest that displays our disgust with the event," Toiv said. "If we come out looking crazier than the Republicans do, then we will have failed. But if the protest can go off peacefully, it will be a victory for us."

In light of the event, TV vans and national news stations swarmed onto NYU's campus yesterday. Many local stations reported live in front of the Kimmel Center, while the story made headlines nationwide, including coverage on CNN, Fox News, NPR and talk radio.

While the College Republicans anticipated the large response from the NYU community, Chambers said she had no idea the event would create this much of a reaction from outside the university.

"The media response was much larger then I expected - the NYU response was not," she said.

In interviews yesterday, several students voiced concern about the event.

CAS junior Zach Lane said he wishes it hadn't gotten so much coverage.

"I think it's better not to give them any attention," he said.
[/q]

 

[AEON]

"Having tolerance for immigration is not a partisan issue," she added.

What the heck does this statement mean?

 

[BonosSaint]

For full disclosure, I do not know what I believe. I do know I don't particularly believe in heaven or hell or afterlife--so grace or karma doesn't resonate much with me.

I don't have too many illusions about humanity. I see its potential greatness, but I see its depravity too. On the other hand, I can breathe, taste, smell, see, hear humanity. The other feels like a whisper, a broken promise, a sprinkle of fairy dust, a wish. Humanity is all I am left with and that's what I deal with and I like to see the best of it.

If you want to say that the world gives too much attention to the banal and the mediocre, I'd agree. And if you want to say that over-reliance on sex and violence to sell lessens us in some way, I'd agree also. Some on a moral base, but mostly I think because it doesn't challenge us much. It's easy. We accept less. We don't demand better. And we accept it across the board. We want quick. Sex is quick (unfortunately), violence is quick, mediocre is quick. I'm not pissed at Hollywood for sex and violence as much as I am pissed at them for incessant remakes and a general lack of originality.

But statistically, I don't see much difference in the day to day behavior of the religious and nonreligious (although I will possibly defer to the religious being statistically more financially generous). I don't see much difference in ethics, work ethic, service, etc., which leads me to believe these are human values.
I admire many Christians immensely. I admire many agnostics/atheists immensely. But when all is said and done, I don't care what drives them to be good people. I only care that they are good people.

The dichotomy presented between Paris Hilton and Jesus is a strange one. What kind of choice do you give anyone when you present the less than the best of one side and pit it against the best of the other? Who would you choose between Carl Sagan and say Jimmy Swaggart or Jim Bakker?

 

[Angela Harlem]

(although I will possibly defer to the religious being statistically more financially generous).

Is this within the US? It made me think of how Ireland takes the crown for most generous nation per capita, and are a fairly religious lot, and Australia is in second place in generosity but we have one of the piss-poorest church attendance records in the developed world. We're a godless lot, but give a lot. Then the Irish are a devout lot who give endlessly. I've not really given much link between religion and generosity.

 

[BonosSaint]

An earlier thread referenced statistics on the topic. Don't remember if it was US or globally. I wasn't motivated to research it, so I deferred out of lack of interest. But if the statistics were accurate, I didn't think it was fair to ignore them.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Damn I missed it. I love statistics.
I got my stats there from either FactMaster or a textbook on globalisation. Cannot recall which.

 

[Dreaming4eva33]

Probably more like 8 billion.

You can't be so much better off than 8 billion people because the world population hasn't reached even 7 billion yet.