hi guys!
i'm doing a research.
well, i need everybody's personal opinion(either positive or negative)

*Do you think that is okay to use religion in politics?

*How do you know what is right and what is wrong?

everything would be appreciated.
thanks!

whoops sory bout that first one..i mean
"do you think it is okay to use religion in politics?"

No, I don't think religion and politics should be mixed; its a little like mixing oil and water. You just can't do it. Religion is all personal belief and politics has nothing to do with enlightenment and finding peace. (I sure hope not, anyway, because if it is, they are not doing a good job of it).

I don't see what this has to do with music, but I am always happy to help! At first, I thought you were asking what place music has in politics and religion... I hope I can still read!

1)
This is not flute related and most likely could cause stiff arguments that aren't music related.

2)In answer to your question "*Do you think that it is okay to use religion in politics?".

We should have a seperation of church and state in the U.S. "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"......... Otherwise one specific religion or sect will take prominence over others consequently we will loose one of our fundamental freedoms in the bill of rights.
I do feel that religion was used to manipulate the outcome of the last US presedential election. It clouded the seemingly naiive religious voter's judgement because they were interested in a few specific issues and didn't seem to look at the whole picure. So, I believe that any politician or political party that uses other people's religious beliefs for their own gain is being deceitful and should not be allowed to gain office.

3)"*How do you know what is right and what is wrong?"

This is a learned experience. You learn from your parents, relatives, teachers and society. This is why what is right and what is wrong varies somewhat between individuals, societies, countries and religions. As an example, I don't believe that if a child were brought up in the wild without human interaction they would have a problem with them killing other humans say, for something like a scrap of food.
Any person having a problem with these concepts should read religious books, the various laws of their countries and ask respected individuals for their opinions on specific points of concern.

~Bilbo
N.E. Ohio

woah! i love those answers.
ah thankyou!
your opinions are great

<Added>

sorry guys,
i know i asked something that is not even related to music.
i'm just cramming with my research and i really need to finish it before deadline.
your opinions are really a big help.
i don't mean to offend anyone:(

Kishi, you will really open a can of worms with this one

*Do you think that it is okay to use religion in politics?

Sure, but it depends on the religion! <G>

*How do you know what is right and what is wrong?

This is something you are taught. (And you can be taught badly too, which means you can err by any possible degree..)

In the scheme of the universe...Which way is up?

Joe B

"(And you can be taught badly too, which means you can err by any possible degree..)"
Aha JB,
..... but aren't we all fallable and aren't we all ultimately searching for the truth? Our paths may varyin the maze but we are attempting to all end up at the same point in the end.
Assuming that to be a truth, is our mortality a curse or ultimately a blessing?

you are right patrick..

after i've read all your opinions i've realized that what i did would only result to an argument...a sensitive and a personal one

i cannot deny that your opinions were really helpful to my research,i am thankful....
but i'm feeling really guilty after realizing what i just did and i apologize for bringing up such topic.
sorry guys

--kishi

*Do you think that is okay to use religion in politics? *How do you know what is right and what is wrong?

No, I don't feel it is ok to use religion in politics, however it is going to happen.

I don't honestly think you can say you "know" what is right and wrong. There are some things to us that come off instantly wrong because we have always been taught that by society like murder. However, if you look at older religions and societies there were sacrifices made to gods and it was considered ok. I think the best way to look at it as a whole is you have to make a decision what is right or wrong for you. The only way to make that decision is by what others have said, what you are taught by others, and what you learn on your own.

I personally don't mind the question posted at all. It never hurts to stretch the mind a little.

..... but aren't we all fallable and aren't we all ultimately searching for the truth?

That was basically the point of my point <G> People are searching for "a truth" but not necessarily "the truth" as your first codification of my thought demonstrates. (i.e. "aren't we all fallible?"). There are many who still postulate whether or not there is "The Truth"

Our paths may varyin the maze but we are attempting to all end up at the same point in the end.

Apprantly no, even though, that is what the truth is for some people, but not for others..

Assuming that to be a truth, is our mortality a curse or ultimately a blessing?

Well you have to define curse and blessing. If you go by the Spinozian types of reasoning, those terms really have no meaning.

...which leads to...

If one asks "What is Truth?" then in this context, one must also ask, "What is Relativism?" or "Subjectivism", (since one man's curse is another's blessing...)

Bilbo, maybe we need a philosophy forum...

Joe B

Beautiful words, Joe and Bilbo (and Patrick, too, I suppose, with his can of worms statement!). A philosophy forum... that is a good idea... Hah... Musicians have such tortured souls, don't we?
The search for truth is futile, the search for knowledge never-ending, but the search itself is what leads us to what our soul needs for support and comfort. The heart just needs to tag along on the trip and try not to get lost! If the heart gets involved, you're done for! But, wait, isn't love a helpful tool in searching for truth? I don't know...
The only thing I really have to search for is my keys... I always forget them somewhere. Well, I will start seeking enlightenment after classes end. I
know what you mean, schoolgirl! I am up to my nose in college papers... gah.

<Added>

Mortality is a blessing, I think, because if a person would be anything but mortal, then the knowledge they might find throughout the generations and generations of living might be enough to destroy the world. No one person should be so close to knowing the secrets of life as to be immortal.
But what is love besides immortality? Love will always live on, right?

<Added>

It's okay, Kishi, we seem to be enjoying this topic! :)

My take:
Truth and knowledge are basically the same to me. However, one person's truth is not the same as another person's. I may like country or rap as the ultimate art forms. I don't BTW. At least not until the are both combined into one.

Mortality gives us a need to be more careful with our relationships and how we live. We cherish life more being mortal. We respect each other more and try to be respected more in our short lives. As an example, I appreciate that Mozart did so much in only 35 years. If he were immortal, he may have waited a few millennia until he started writing.

Religion on the other hand may be a attempt by our human nature to provide some sort of collective morality with a strong incentive based fundimentally upon our mortality. Ie: Be good in life or you won't go to heaven in death.
Governments become an entity or organism in themselves requiring people to promote and protect them at any cost. Does not work well then mixing religion and government.

~Bilbo

Truth and knowledge are basically the same to me.

This is defined as gnosticism

However, one person's truth is not the same as another person's.

Yes the ultimate subjectivism in the great philosophical errors as found in Spinoza, Aristippus and the like which equate ethics for a morality based upon a usurpation of the meaing of "good". These exist completely in contrast to the Socratic and Platonic true understanding of ethics. That is the one that equates a true ethics with moral good which is rooted in Natural Law and is timeless, cultureless, and is not subject to personal "taste".

In this is rooted the true definition of "good" that distinguishes Man from animals.

Be good in life or you won't go to heaven in death.

Pascal's Wager..(where's my stick?) A worthy wager, but without any meanigful depth of understanding into the question..which leads to...

Religion on the other hand may be a attempt by our human nature to provide some sort of collective morality with a strong incentive based fundimentally upon our mortality

Except that religion is not the creator of morality, it is only the messenger. If this were the case as you frame it, then this basis resides with Man who sets himself up as the messenger. And yes, there are many false religions that do just this, including government, in it's own religion of secular subjectivism. It becomes the messenger rather than just a messenger and replaces itself apart from true ethics or morality.

The problem lies not with religion therefore, but with Man's usurpation of it for it's own purpose, which is forged in that error of the misplaced definition of "good". And so it becomes as you have rightly said:

Governments become an entity or organism in themselves requiring people to promote and protect them at any cost.

Does not work well then mixing religion and government.

Too late, your argument already merged these two together, and governments of this sort consequently doom themselves to eventual failure for the reasons I gave, which all begin with a subjective definition of "good"... (in the classic fundametal error of modern ethical philosophy). Your last two statements here demonstrate that perfectly..

Egads Bilbo, I think we solved it..!

Joe B

*clap clap clap clap clap*

Was it "elementary," as Sherlock would say?