I take it that your topic is the apparent turn against democratic values, and to that end you are asking about conservative Christianity. While not solely restricted to the USA, a resurgence of Christianity is not a major feature of the almost ubiquitous turn towards autocracy.Please explain. — Athena
Is there a problem with God of Abraham religions that we might resolve with reason? — Athena
Abrahamic religions are essentially exclusive and intolerant. It's not possible to reason with those who believe they already know — Ciceronianus
You cannot reason with someone who bases their position on a free miracle at the beginning of their reasoning. — AmadeusD
Morally, the premise that 'happiness' must be attained within a theory for it to be Plausible is a common refrain from moralists. It's one I find to be pretty question-begging. — AmadeusD
Abrahamic religions are essentially exclusive and intolerant. It's not possible to reason with those who believe they already know
— Ciceronianus
I am not disagreeing. However, doesn't this apply, even if to varying degrees to: Communists, Capitalists, Racial Supremacists, Certain groups of Academics and Scholars, etc. Note also that while historically, the same might not have applied to "Hinduism," but the Hinduism of Modi? — ENOAH
Book Overview
*Immoderate Greatness* explains how a civilization's very magnitude conspires against it to cause downfall. Civilizations are hard-wired for self-destruction. They travel an arc from initial success to terminal decay and ultimate collapse due to intrinsic, inescapable biophysical limits combined with an inexorable trend toward moral decay and practical failure. Because our own civilization is global, its collapse will also be global, as well as uniquely devastating owing to the immensity of its population, complexity, and consumption. To avoid the common fate of all past civilizations will require a radical change in our ethos-to wit, the deliberate renunciation of greatness-lest we precipitate a dark age in which the arts and adornments of civilization are partially or completely lost. This description may be from another edition of this product. https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/immoderate-greatness-why-civilizations-fail/9180382/item/7370178/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=pmax_high_vol_scarce_%2410_%2450&utm_adgroup=&utm_term=&utm_content=&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwwr6wBhBcEiwAfMEQszmao1Nvr8VQL1R4emGu6cGu0hSDDjBWtbAQhuk2cgBNivMVNrFS6RoCo-MQAvD_BwE#idiq=7370178&edition=8527883
Democracy is underpinned by a liberal system of values. that system was distorted to individualism and greed in the Seventies, and has been exposed to oligarchic alternatives with the opening of trade and travel since then. Libertarian absurdities abound, community institutions are underfunded, the common wealth has been striped to feed private wealth. — Banno
Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people.[1]
Soft despotism gives people the illusion that they are in control, when in fact they have very little influence over their government. Soft despotism breeds fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the general populace. Alexis de Tocqueville observed that this trend was avoided in America only by the "habits of the heart" of its 19th-century populace. — Wikipedia
am not disagreeing. However, doesn't this apply, even if to varying degrees to: Communists, Capitalists, Racial Supremacists, Certain groups of Academics and Scholars, etc. Note also that while historically, the same might not have applied to "Hinduism," but the Hinduism of Modi? — ENOAH
Your posts show this not to be the case.I don't know enough to organize that complexity in my head. — Athena
if God was termed to speak through dreams, they would be, essentially, indistinguishable phenomena. — AmadeusD
If God speaks to someone at all, that person is presented with two different questions, was it God and what is this God trying to say. — Fire Ologist
I am out of time but want to say all this is very complex and it is my hope when have a good understanding of the complexity, we will gain power and avoid disaster. A lot is going on here beginning with evolution gave us some thinking power but enough to manage without a strong way to work together. — Athena
There are well known problems with historicism. That civilisations collapse is a Western notion, an expectation that we must reenact the fall of Rome. The collapse of the British Empire was felt keenly in the decline of Great Britain. It did not bring with it social collapse in Australia, Canada, India, and Africa, these nations seeing it instead mostly as an opportunity. The end of the 'mercan hegemony will similarly have the greatest impact inside that nation. — Banno
Notice the contradiction in "Soft despotism gives people the illusion that they are in control, when in fact they have very little influence over their government. Soft despotism breeds fear, uncertainty, and doubt in the general populace." Does soft despotism give the illusion of control or induce fear?
Sure, there were mistakes made in education, as there were in health, economics, International relations. None of these are determinative of the course of history.
Perhaps the problem is a turning against 'merca's own expression of liberal values. Or were they ever broadly understood? — Banno
Doesn’t mean it might not still be a hallucination or just a dream, or a fantasy wish, but if what was said really meant something, and hit home to you, and it was new, you might have to wonder about God. — Fire Ologist
am currently watching Fareed Zakaria's Sunday program on CNN. During his "Fareed's Take" segment at the beginning of the show, Zakaria discusses religiosity and political events in the US and elsewhere.
It's worth checking out for people interested in this topic. — wonderer1
Sis, it is not an emergency. There are always enough competing selfish interests to balance things out. — L'éléphant
If God speaks to someone at all, that person is presented with two different questions, was it God and what is this God trying to say. If you look only at the question was it God, no one will ever know, because no one can prove the separate existence of any phenomena. — Fire Ologist
Then they might think, this dream couldn’t have come from me because I could not have understood that, yet I understand something new now because of what was said. — Fire Ologist
if it was God, and so you had your evidence in the very content of whatever was making you wonder. — Fire Ologist
it was new, you might have to wonder about God. — Fire Ologist
Which other country could maintain the satellites and earth studies? — Athena
Why would it matter "what God had to say" if you aren't even sure it was God? Seems backward... — AmadeusD
What if what was said was exactly what the person needed to hear and the person didn’t even know they needed to hear it? — Fire Ologist
The words become more important than how on earth the kid knew to say them. — Fire Ologist
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