Paranoia in Authority

Yes the only realistic way to deal with the issue of any religion that is not in keeping with that societies view of the order of behaviour is to ban it. Public displays of and any form of promotion or preaching of Islamism has forever been banned in Japan ergo they don't have an issue with Islamic terrorism but they do have their own brand of nutters (sarin on the underground by Aum Shinrikyo). We are seeing a similar ousting of Islamism in Burma, or whatever the fuck they call it these days and in countries in the Middle East the filthy Christianity, Hinduism and Bhuddism have been outlawed as a public religion for some time - so they haven't had a Crusade since George Bush and his son tried and failed.

European countries are generally declared Catholic, Orthodox or Protestant Christian nations (in itself an example of the folly of blaming other religions: the same religion has mad factions!) with a high degree of tolerance of other religions. And that is the issue: it's supposed to be "tolerance" not "bending over backwards for". Any one caught promoting or attempting to coerce, force or promote any other type of lifestyle on any section of the general public should be eliminated either by removal or death. Now you can see I have moved from promoting "tolerance" to a branch of "tolerance" that could very easily encompass "Naziism" and still be regarded as "tolerance" on the basis individuals can practice it.

Basically we're all fucked and the most brutalist leaderships will win and historically the most brutalist has been Christianity: most weapons of mass death, be they bombs or gasses, have been developed by Christians and one of the most infamous leaders of the 20th century was schooled by Jesuit Priests in Austria.

I already said they're not doing it in the name of god.
However, they profess to be a good, god fearing Christian country but look at the things they do to each other.

I do live in a country of broadly Christian values and I'd much rather live here than in the US.

So many things I just don't know.

Every day is a school day, eh?

Careful, you're in danger of talking too much common sense. 

Massive delays on the A19 the other week due to a vehicle breakdown on the inside lane of the dual carriageway, and we're not talking about it just happening, it had been on the radio 30 minutes previously. Police standing round looking at it but the thing was it was only 100m short of a layby. Just drag the fucker out the way for Christ's sake. 

I have heard a lot from those of the deity faith persuasion and to be straight about this, it stinks. Have your faith by all means but pretending that your faith should not be criticised for its shortcomings while criticising those who do not share your belief is to put it mildly stupid. I chose not to indulge in the confession and absolution of those who think it is OK to indulge in what faith groups call 'sin' as long as you seek the absolution of a deity in the from of a mere human being. Faith groups are political parties no more and no less.

"I'd also caution being dismissive of religion, to not believe in 'God' or the concept makes you an anomaly in the world now and historically. Actually formal religion is on the downturn and has been for a while now".

"Regardless of why it is important to people, it gives many comfort and it gives many purpose so I personally find it quite disrespectful to be dismissive of that. It is without doubt part of the human condition and it could probably be argued that those who don't believe are the more likely to have the mental health condition. I include myself in the latter. So you like to poo poo other people's beliefs while expecting yours to be put on a pedestal and deified".

Christianity preaches at the rest of us telling us we should this and not that, pretending it has the right to do so. Charlie off the beeb news channel stated that without a deity based faith, we could not have morals. faith groups Judge others every day but denying judgement on themselves. Christians murdering doctors and nurses for not observing christian values ref abortion etc.

"As you brought the US into this I suppose you should ask yourself if you'd prefer to live in a country of Christian values or an Islamic country and share those. I know which I prefer". The limitation to one or the other demonstrates the weakness of your argument. I would rather do without BOTH of the options you think are the soul options. Pun intended.

I am happy to have my own belief system, minus deities and priests of ANY description, to limit myself to the ideology of deity based faith which has as little impact on my life as it does the most base forms of life on this planet. Overpopulation has been driven largely by deity based faiths which merely want more followers. While my father had a priest at his funeral, the absolute garbage said priest came out with made me even more determined to avoid anything like for myself. If I am laid to rest in ANY kind of religious ground there are moves in place to seriously haunt those responsible. A lot.

It strikes me that anything faith base is pointless as it just gets heated for no reason but I have worked in Saudi Arabia and talked for some time with people who are followers of Islam rather than those extremists that Christianity also has. There are some fantastic people on all extremes of the human condition and one I met a long time ago is a chemist in south west London. He was the victim of a hate crime and is very badly facially scarred but he STILL a supremely decent human being but wait a moment, he is a follower is Islam so according to some cannot be a decent human being. That man has for thirty years been between mistakes by doctors and the people his pharmacy serves. He gives advice and help to anyone and does not ask if you are a Christian or Muslim. I believe, as part of MY faith, that one day humankind will be able to live without all the crap and hate.

Or the mice, they get everywhere and there are literally millions......

I would be surprised if that were true across the globe but isn't the point I was making anyway.

Again, if you read what I actually wrote you'll see that I've said it's more likely I'm the one with the mental health condition for not believing in god - unless you think that's me expecting to be deified?

Once again you haven't understood what you've been reading or the context. It's now a weakness in the argument, it's the frame of the healthy debate of Islam vs Christianity Tim and I were having. The reason it would be more desirable to live in a Christian country, and the specific point of that is that it was posed to Tim who seemingly doesn't subscribe to a religion, is that Christianity has had a 600+ year head-start on Islam and so now is a more tolerant interpretation as a result. My brother lives in Saudi, he earns a fortune and pays little tax. That's the one upside compared to the many civil liberties his wife is denied, such as driving, wearing the clothes she wants, doing the things she wants, etcetera.