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Originally Posted by aceventura3
If you do things (or avoid doing things) based on your principles, what difference does it make it you attribute your principles to God, a little invisible man on your shoulder, or a rag doll in your closet. The point is to understand your guiding principles.
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The difference, of course, is when you try to convice other people of your principles, or even worse, force your principles upon them. When doing so, it's one thing to say, "And these principles of mine are founded upon my own learnings and understandings," and another thing entirely to say "And these principles of mine were given from God, and it is His will that you follow them as well." All the more so, when we're talking about something as world shaking as engaging in a full-scale war.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aceventura3
What about the people like Mother Teresa who felt she had an obligation from God to help people? Is she a religious fanatic? How do you measure it? Everyone has some basis upon which they make moral or value decisions, for those who don't use their religious teachings, what do they use? why is what they use better or worse than the use of religion?
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Whether or not Mother Teresa was a religious fanatic is beside the point. Mother Teresa saying God called upon her, personally, to live a life of servitude, to help out the poor and the wretched, is a HUGE difference from President George W. Bush saying God called upon him to lead the nation and its allies into a bloody war in Iraq.