[OT] Nation bashing

[Fyron]

Originally posted by Krsqk:
Anarchy is not a functional (functionable?) political structure. Government exists to arbitrate disputes arising from the infringement of one person's freedom on another's. Without a government, anarchy quickly devolves into a "might makes right" system. It also relies on all individuals being unselfish, rational creatures. It does not address, for instance, what should be done with the mentally ill, or those who steal/rape/kill for the pleasure of it (as opposed to need/provocation). If everyone is allowed to do what they wish, no one will have any recourse from injustice other than their personal firearm(s). Not exactly what I would call an ideal society.

That is not anarchy at all. That would fall more under something like the theoretical form of communism (though not quite). Anarchy simply means no laws, no regulations, no government, no leadership at all, no rights, nothing. It is of course impossible, as within minutes someone would take charge. It could very well be the guy with the biggest stick (your might makes right), which would be a despotism. Mob mentality will always win over anarchy.

Originally posted by sven:

quote:

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Originally posted by Wizarc:
Hmm, I thought being a Christian was just believing that you believed in a higher power a.k.a whatever the name is for God in their religion.

So now there is a religious class called Christian like Baptist, Catholic, etc?

Depends on who you ask...

I would tend to think that a christian is anyone who believes in the christian god, ie; Christ. However I know certain christian sects have different definitions, for instance my in-laws are born-agains (or pentecostal or evangelical or whatever the heck it is) and according to their dogma only people of that particular denomination are christian.

I'm not sure exactly what they consider the catholics, lutherans, anglicans and all the other denominations to be - but they sure don't consider them "christian".

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Again, being Christian means that you believe in the one God (and a very specific one), and that you accept the divinity of Jesus Christ. Pentacostals, Catholics, Protestants, Lutherans, etc. are all Christians, period. Some sects of Christianity wrongly see other sects as not Christian, but they are just misinformed.

Personally, I think you should only be able to claim Christianity if you go to church regularly, or at least pray a lot. I know plenty of people who claim to be Christian but haven't seen the inside of a church since some cousin got married. It doesn't bother me that much since I'm an atheist anyway, but it does seem hypocritical to claim christianity without actually doing anything to prove it.

Being Christian has nothing to do with going to church or not. There are a number of sects of Christianity that explicitly do not agree with church, and so have no churches and do not go to them. But, they are by all means still Christians. What you are talking about is being religious. Many westerners fall into the trap of confusing "Christian" with "religious" because Christianity is so dominant amongst western cultures.

[ February 13, 2003, 20:13: Message edited by: Imperator Fyron ]