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Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, is the historical figure I find almost always said what I believe. Thomas Paine is another.
I Believe in:
the independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition or tradition;
the oneness of the entire human race;
the condemnation of all forms of prejudice, whether religious, racial, class or national;
the harmony which must exist between religion and science;
the equality of men and women;
the abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty;
the glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society;
the establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all mankind
I Believe that:
Work done in the spirit of service to humanity enjoys a rank equal to that of prayer and worship in the sight of God.
By definition, a person who has faith and conviction in and about God, has his/her faith reflected in his/her deeds and moral choices.
All religious texts and doctrines are to be analyzed by sane mind and solid logic and if there is a discrepancy then the texts or doctrines should be rejected.
The Right to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness" has on it's reverse the responsibility to respect and protect those rights for others.
Liberty is not just freedom to do whatever one wants,
it is equal treatment by the legal system and by the private sector;
getting the same advantages as everyone else;
being treated as an individual, not just a member of a group;
receiving recognition for ones accomplishments and achievements;
having ones rights respected and protected;
having a safe neighborhood to live in.
The Pursuit of Happiness is not just the acquisition of wealth, it is having the opportunity, the financial resources, and the time to learn new things, to travel, to enjoy ones family, to participate in and serve the community, to visit with ones friends and neighbors, to help others.
Progress is the improvement of the health, happiness, and comfort of life.
Science (the acquisition of knowledge) has been the source of all human progress.
Religious and political dogmatism (especially when combined) have always hindered progress and have been the source of the most despicable and devastating atrocities in history.
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." Aldous Huxley, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors.
I agree with whoever said: "…individuals have both rights and duties. No one gets a free ride. While each has certain rights and entitlements that one can claim from the community, there are also duties to one's neighbor and to the community. … Individuals ought to do for themselves what they can, but they need the appropriate institutions whereby they might be enabled to do that. In addition, … justice requires that we also do for others. Justice is not securing my good alone; it seeks to ensure that others have access to the common good as well. Only in such a just society are the rights of all secured and their duties specified. http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=12315
Actions, attitudes, lies, misleading quotes and allegations you would not tolerate against yourself you have the responsibility to not tolerate against others. Failure to oppose actions, attitudes, lies, misleading quotes and allegations made against others is throwing away the responsibility to defend and support the equality and rights of all and with it, all claims to those rights for oneself.
I agree with Lord Devlin who said: "I will uphold your right to do whatever you wish , within the Law, as long as you respect my right to do the same. The criminal law is not a statement of how people ought to behave; it is a statement of what will happen to them if they do not behave; good citizens are not expected to come within reach of it or to set their sights by it … No man is worth much who regulates his conduct with the sole object of escaping punishment, and every worthy society sets for its members standards which are above those of the law. We recognize the existence of such higher standards when we use expressions such as 'moral obligation' and 'morally bound.' Discussion … is too often limited to what is right or wrong and good or bad for society. There is a failure to keep separate … the question of society's right to pass a moral judgement and the question of whether the arm of the law should be used to enforce the judgement. … The line that divides the criminal law from the moral is not determinable by the application of any clear-cut principle. It is like a line that divides land and sea, a coastline of irregularities and indentations. There are gaps and promontories … which the law has for centuries left substantially untouched"
And with Voltaire who said:
"I think that one of our most important tasks is to convince others that there's nothing to fear in difference; that difference, in fact, is one of the healthiest and most invigorating of human characteristics without which life would become meaningless."
In a letter to Frederick II, King of Prussia, dated 5 January 1767 Voltaire went on to say:"La nôtre [religion] est sans contredit la plus ridicule, la plus absurde, et la plus sanguinaire qui ait jamais infecté le monde. "(Ours [religion] is without a doubt the most ridiculous, the most absurd, and the most blood-thirsty ever to infect the world.)
"It does not require great art, or magnificently trained eloquence, to prove that Christians should tolerate each other. I, however, am going further: I say that we should regard all men as our brothers. What? The Turk my brother? The Chinaman my brother? The Jew? The Siam? Yes, without doubt; are we not all children of the same father and creatures of the same God?" A Treatise on Toleration (1763)
Gandhi was on the right track when he said: "There must be no impatience, no barbarity, no insolence, no undue pressure. If we want to cultivate a true spirit of democracy, we cannot afford to be intolerant. Intolerance betrays want of faith in one's cause."
BUT Thomas Paine was more accurate when he said: Toleration is not the opposite of intolerance but the counterfeit of it. Both are despotisms: the one assumes to itself the right of withholding liberty of conscience, the other of granting it. Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man, 1791-1792
These are claims that are always made by those who want everyone to live by their rules and abide by their ideas of how everyone should behave and what they should believe. They are the hallmark of every tyrant and every religious fanatic that has ever lived. They are the arguments used to justify whatever obscene actions anyone wants to take. Never believe anything someone who makes such a claim says; they are either liars or mentally deranged. They have no love for freedom, they do not believe that all are created equal, they have no love of democracy, they do not deserve respect.
Claims to know the will of God;
claims that something is against the will of God;
claims that some event is a judgment of God;
claims that something is a reward from God,
claims that God wants a particular thing done;
claims that God does not want a particular thing to be done;
claims that God favors or loves one person or group more than another;
claims that God has told someone to do or say something;
claims that one speaks for God;
claims by someone that God has spoken to them;
claims to know the mind of God;
More "What I Believe" content:
I Am that I Am November 17, 2016
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