Good Things Religion has Done

[Dakota Bob]

Yup.  One of my friends put it this way: Islam is basically Christianity, with a different savior, and polygamy instead of pork.

And getting virgin wives in paradise.

Isn't that just some mistranslation? I remember hearing that it would actually be 72 dried grapes or something like that.

Well that's a pretty glaring error that nobody has bothered to correct in a later printing then =P

[Dynamic Dragon]

Thanks to their religion, the Ancient Hebrews came up with the idea of the law being a power unto itself.

[Caitshidhe]

I never heard of the 72 virgins being the result of a mistranslation. I did find out from a Muslim-born (but no longer practicing) classmate from my college years that Muslim paradise is different for men and women. Men get virgins to boink, women apparently get their own grand house, sometimes also land and servants. Kinda telling of the cultural beliefs about what matters to men and women based on that--men wanna get their dicks wet, women just want to keep house.

[Sigmaleph]

The "72 white raisins" thing is an argument by essentially one guy, as far as I can tell.

@Dynamic Dragon: Can you expand on that? Intuitively, one would think that a law that is dictated and enforced by an omnipotent deity is not a power unto itself.

[Jodie]

http://wikiislam.net/wiki/72_Virgins

The article above may help.

Also, I learned something new when reading that. I already know virgins are promised to devote muslim men, but the um... priapism part... well ouch. That sounds like a punishment not a reward.

[Meshakhad]

I like the joke where it's 72 Virginians, which results in Osama bin Laden getting the crap beaten out of him by the Founding Fathers.

[Dynamic Dragon]

*snip*

@Dynamic Dragon: Can you expand on that? Intuitively, one would think that a law that is dictated and enforced by an omnipotent deity is not a power unto itself.

Basically, the idea is that the Ten Commandments are a force in themselves, and no government is needed to enforce them.  Hence, the Hebrews didn't have kings until the Philistines came along.  Instead, they had judges, people selected to enforce God's laws.

[Meshakhad]

*snip*

@Dynamic Dragon: Can you expand on that? Intuitively, one would think that a law that is dictated and enforced by an omnipotent deity is not a power unto itself.

Basically, the idea is that the Ten Commandments are a force in themselves, and no government is needed to enforce them.  Hence, the Hebrews didn't have kings until the Philistines came along.  Instead, they had judges, people selected to enforce God's laws.

Yeah, the Hebrews saw a king more as a leader of their military than as an enforcer of laws.

[Sigmaleph]

*snip*

@Dynamic Dragon: Can you expand on that? Intuitively, one would think that a law that is dictated and enforced by an omnipotent deity is not a power unto itself.

Basically, the idea is that the Ten Commandments are a force in themselves, and no government is needed to enforce them.  Hence, the Hebrews didn't have kings until the Philistines came along.  Instead, they had judges, people selected to enforce God's laws.

I'm not sure it's better to have your laws dictated by dead religious leaders rather than living political leaders. Not sure it's necessarily worse, either.

[Dynamic Dragon]

Religion has motivated people to do great things.  For example, Islam helped to turn the Middle East into a land of culture, learning, and prosperity.  It remained that way for centuries.

[ironbite]

And now look at it.

Ironbite-all in the name of Islam.

[Dynamic Dragon]

And now look at it.

Ironbite-all in the name of Islam.

I just wanted to point out that Islam has done good in the past, and probably will do good in the future.

[Reality Warper]

Yeah, that's like judging all Catholicism by the horrible things the church did in the Renaissance.

[Dynamic Dragon]

Exactly.  Did you know that Iraq was once a great center of culture and learning?

[Reality Warper]

I think religion managed to reform a brutal conqueror in India.  I can't remember who it was right now.