Black Churches Hurt Detroit

[Ravine]

Retroit wrote:

"There is nothing in our human nature that has any desire to be a good person. It is only when we become aware of our higher spiritual nature that we seek to do good."

Retroit, for what it's worth-- which is nothing, since it's just one opinion in opposition to another opinion-- I strongly disagree with that statement, particularly the second sentence.

Seeking to "do good" because of something like that sounds, to me, an awful lot like "doing good" because one believes that they are supposed to.
Not everyone who is good, and who does good things, is motivated by a desire to actualize, or manifest, something about themselves, y'know.

[maxx]

Mikeg the religious can believe whatever they choose as long as they dont demand special rights and privelages; break the law and discriminate; respect the seperation of church and state etc....

Special rights like freedom from property taxes?

[maxx]

There is nothing in our human nature that has any desire to be a good person. It is only when we become aware of our higher spiritual nature that we seek to do good.

That's a lot of rot. How you treat your fellow human beings is related to your upbringing.

As far as the superiority of atheistic countries over believing countries, I would suggest that those countries that you label as atheist were probably not always so and their current superior [[by your reasoning) culture and beliefs are based more on their religious past than they are on their atheistic present.

I don't think you can make that claim since the histories of Europe include the reigns of authoritarian divine right kings who governed to maintain their own power.

[maxx]

I went to hear Jesse Jackson speak last Sunday, and I had to sit through about eleven Baptist ministers before he spoke. Fortunately, they restrained themselves. I had to giggle at the "offertory" which in the RC church is when the bread and wine are offered to god. In this Baptist service it marked when we were supposed to offer up our money. The minister who spoke to this even asked the Lord to help out the finances of those who couldn't afford much. They didn't even say what the money would be used for. Jackson explained the subprime morthgage crisis which, I guess, is responsible for a lot of the foreclosures in Detroit rather than unemployment. Attorney Jerry Goldberg gave an impassioned plea that the Governor declare a state of economic emergency in Detroit and a moratorium on foreclosures.