I love you.

Yeah, what the hell was wrong with that Abraham guy? The correct answer when God tells you to kill your kid is "Screw you, buddy!"

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I read a book at some point in the past that floated this hypothesis: Abraham, with family, fled the city he lived in (can't remember -- somewhere in modern-day Jordan or Syria) and crossed the river into what would become Israel because he was accused of pederasty which was taboo in that culture. What was the book? Possibly something by Alice Miller, or Julian Jaynes.

Yes, but it was those three religions that laid the foundations for where we are today.

That they also are responsible for alot of spilled blood is also undeniable - testaments to our enduring tribal nature and of the thirst of many for power (oat sowing).

I would argue that most of what would be considered positive contributions to society from the big 3 religions actually originated with the Greeks.

4. Yes, but it was those three religions that laid the foundations for where we are today.

Right. But couldn't we be somewhere better?

lose custody and hopefully be permanently incarcerated

Seriously? It's not like he followed through.

6: Is that poem correctly reproduced? My memory was that the final line is "Fuck you, Clown!"

1: Well that's a wonderful thing to read this morning; you've put a smile on my face. I love you, too.

I bet you're one of those people who didn't root for the father in that movie Frailty.

I saw the Irish standup Tommy Tiernan telling this story - and telling it very well - finishing up with:

"... and Abraham runs to the altar, he cuts young Isaac free and he picks him up in his arms, and he's shouting and crying "Oh, thank God, thank God! My son, you're safe, you're alive! Don't tell your mother about this."

Anyone thinks a God is telling him what to do needs to be locked up.

5: Did you know the idea that Muslims did nothing more than passively transmit the wisdom of the Greeks to the West has been a common (and mistaken) anti-Muslim conceit in Christendom for centuries?

In fact the modern scientific method is more a product of Christian, Muslim and Jewish thinkers in the Middle Ages than it is of Greek thought. And modern democracy owes more directly to unruly Scandinavian savages than it does to Athens. Of course OFE is right; as we watch the products of modern science wreak havoc with the climate and modern democracy actively being flushed down the toilet by xenophobes, plutocrats and megalomaniacs, it's worth wondering if the ultimate product was really all that shit-hot.

Perhaps. And then the kid would be placed in foster care, where he'd be multiple-times more likely to be sexually molested, and end up being forced to take a large cocktail of psychotropic drugs to ensure that he is well managed and unable to do subversive things like found a new country or lead his people to freedom.

Yeah. If Abraham was a cop and was holding a taser instead of a knife, he'd be a fuckin hero and get a promotion in this civilized era.