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Old 08-05-2003, 06:49 PM   #21
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I don't like to use evil as a word. But when I do use it, I use it to refer to people who hurt others intentionally and/or ignore their own conscience. In that pretense, you could consider Saddam Hussein, George W. Bush, Charles Taylor, Pat Robertson, and other "leaders" to be evil. But evil is a word that doesn't belong in politics. FDR used it in WWII. I'm not sure if Reagan used it, but he probably did. And now GWB has brought it back when people are even less religious, and when it sounds even more outdated. I prefer to use words like "unsavory" or "f%#ed up!". After all, if you believe that anyone can change, it's hard to call anyone evil. So much for Christian forgiveness when it comes to fundamentalists, huh? That's okay. I forgive them for being fundies.
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Old 08-06-2003, 03:17 AM   #22
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[i] But evil is a word that doesn't belong in politics. FDR used it in WWII. I'm not sure if Reagan used it, but he probably did. And now GWB has brought it back when people are even less religious, and when it sounds even more outdated. [/B]
just another way of bringing religion back into politics. the amount of religious references in GWB's speeches is really frightening! a man like him on a holy mission from god with america's resources behind him is not a good thing. and now everything is good/evil from his own little perspective, which is totally religiously based!
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Old 08-06-2003, 04:05 AM   #23
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What is the difference between design and random chance? How does an event such as the earth plunging into the heart of the sun after colliding with an asteroid differ morally from "events designed to destroy life and/or humanity'?
The key word here is "designed", surely. The only way you could say that an asteroid plunging into the earth was a morally outrageous act would be if you believed that someone was controlling that asteroid ('God', aliens, religious fundamentalists bent on hurrying along the apocalypse). Asteroids in themselves have no morality because they are not sentient. The Earth just got in the way. Bang. End of story and no more morality for anyone.
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Old 08-06-2003, 04:16 AM   #24
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I have absolutely no problem with the use of 'evil' in politics. 'Evil' means 'having those desires or interests that disposes one to thwart the desires of others on a large scale.' Evil exists. And evil people make the world a worse place than it would have otherwise been for others.

Ashcroft is evil. I have no problems with that statement. I think it is true. Rumsfeld and Chaney are also evil. If they are acting in service to their God, they do not care who they harm. The only thing that constrains their evil is political expedience. Like a predator who sees his prey, but must hold back because a cop stands nearly, it is easy to see what these people would do if not restrained by the possibility that it might cost them the next election.

It is not really possible to fight evil unless one is willing to point to it and say, "There it is!"
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Old 08-06-2003, 01:43 PM   #25
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Originally posted by Odemus
If he decides he has grown bored with his creation he can wipe it all out.
And that would be evil.

The global Flood of the Bible was evil. Eternal torture (hell) is evil.
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