It's not God that's the problem, folks
It's us.

If you boil down the message of all the great religious teachers from Zoroaster to Buddha to Moses to Jesus to Lao Tzu to Mohammed, they are all saying basically the same thing: treat each other well and remember there's more to life than yourself. Sure there are sections of their holy books that aren't relevant any more - anyone who, believer or not, tries to reduce Christianity (my preferred flavour) to the Book of Leviticus has missed the point.

And what have we done with that core message of, hey, be nice to each other?

"My prophet is the true one. He says we should be nice to each other."

"No, my prophet is the one who possesses the secret. he says be nice to each other."

"Quick, get the thumbscrews and then purify this heretic with fire so that he realises that the only path to being nice to each other is our one."

"Brothers let us begin a holy war so that our path to being nice to each other will prevail."

And so on and so forth. No wonder Jesus wept...
( calgacus Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 12:49, 6 replies)

Really?
You think that all these people were great thinkers, and, at the same time, that they're so crushingly banal?
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 12:51, closed)

"Be nice to one another"
Potential responses:

"Ok, I'll won't rape the people I stab with a stolen fork anymore...because you said so."

or

"Yeah I know, leave me alone."

or

"No *thwack*"
( Extinct Jesus Dossier "...I think it counteracts Hitler's magic...", Fri 20 Mar 2009, 13:02, closed)

Banal?
What's banal about "treat each other well and remember there's more to life than yourself"?
( calgacus Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 13:31, closed)

I'll take that as a joke, shall I?
I can't believe that you meant it otherwise...
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 13:36, closed)

Ah, I see
You think complexity is the key to profundity.
( calgacus Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 13:57, closed)

Not in the slightest.
Profundity doesn't interest me - but the implication of your post isn't profound. It's not even particularly meaningful.
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 14:24, closed)