NJS

Not wholly my point - I'm not an "all wars are religious" zealot as some are - they are usually about land, resources, history, politics etc I'm just saying that religion can be a very dodgy factor in them. Other thing can sometimes be addressed but if you're left with we're "x" and they're "y" you haven't got much to go on. A lot of the "old" reasons for wars are becoming redundant as humans generally mix and migrate fairly easily and the world to some extent is becoming less local so I'd just like to see any remaining factors diminish as well.

But they were just the trigger men. Those pulling their strings are very much embittered by injustice, be it real or invented. I don't believe you could persuade an atheist to kill himself in the name of X, but there are some very legitimate political grievances governing the strikes against western targets. Do you honestly think that Atta or Bin Laden really cared/care about the Palestinians? You can argue about the July 7th bombers from a perceived grievance pov (but only then because of religious brotherhood) but honestly think for many Muslims (and as I said extreme US Christians) it is a religious conflict. I would also say that suicide bombing has only become "fashionable" in conflicts where that extra spice I referred to is present. You could argue for example that the ANC had a real grievance but as far as I know they didn't use suicide bombing.

The September 11th bombers weren't Palestinians or from any other country affected by any perceived notion of American foreign policy so what does that leave? It leaves people who genuinely believed that their cause was holy. I would also say that despite background political strings, both Blair and Bush were "influenced" by their faiths - that also applies to many, many Americans. Religions are another layer to gang warfare on a large scale but the problem is that for far too many people they are a base, irrational layer that adds a nasty spice to political grievances. I don't think for one minute that its removal would end conflict instantly but it would help take the edge of things if people didn't classify themselves in this way. Its not just the middle east btw - conflicts in Europe in the last 30 or 40 years show that we are not immune and dismissing these as just "political" is naive imo.

You honestly don't see religion as a problem internationally? I presume you don't operate from a "doesn't affect me so I don't care" pov so I would find not seeing it as a problem to be strange tbh.

There are a few issues for Faith schools for me: Firstly I'd say it imposes the parent's views on the kid - I know that happens generally but I think one thing Dawkins has fundamentally right is that describing kids as "whatever" really grates on me. We impose ages of consent/legality for things like voting and sex but seem okay to just define kids by their parents gangs. Secondly I find them divisive - no matter how much they deny it, having gone to a catholic school I know theres an attitude of "we are right, the rest of you are damned" which goes beyond simple school pride/loyalty and the attitudes can pervade throughout life. Thirdly I find the dishonesty of parents pretending to find God to get into schools to be nuaseating - faith schools get better results beacuse they select (as studies have shown) not because of innately better work ethics as argued. Finally I think despite a set curriculum its easy for faith schools to teach bollocks - including in science - and as someone who cares about knowledge I find that deeply wrong. Overall I think France and even the US in principle have it right - I think state schools at least should be secular and religion should be pushed into the private sphere as much as possible - where I do believe honestly in the right for anyone to believe any bollocks they like.

???? Even in the UK the impact is tangible and wrong imo - elsewhere it's definitely worrying. Perhaps you could say what tangible impact religion has. I can't really prove the lack of impact (like we can't prove the lack of god ) I know Songs of Praise is annoying on a Sunday night. The number of faith schools - including the whackier recent academies thanks to Blair - this also includes creationist teaching - curriculum or not. The Bishops in the lords and also in recent years consultations/exceptions made for Catholics on adoption.

???? Even in the UK the impact is tangible and wrong imo - elsewhere it's definitely worrying.

I think he was on Fox last week with O'Reilly - the description I read just said O'reilly ended up shouting over him about "no morality without God".

Speaking personally they condense and illustrate the evidence and arguments. I found Hitchens' book to be the best as I found his widespread intellectualism and occasional nastiness refreshing.

Incidentally I bought The Greatest Show on Earth on Saturday but haven't started it yet. I did however read one of the appendices where he quotes the poll that 39% of Yanks and just as worryingly 22% of people in the UK agree with "the world was created as is within the last 10000 years" and he also mentioned a UK poll where 19% of people defined a month as "the time taken for the earth to go around the sun". Now I perfectly understand its possible to dislike science in school to a large degree but that later one is fucking incredibly worrying imo.

I find it depends on the subject - if its a "how can you be so stupid as to believe in fairies" then it can look "strident" but given his background I think if someone says that evolution is a lie then they deserve abuse. On the root of all evil in particular people criticised him for his conversation with Ted Haggard but the idiot was in full on "we are not descended from monkeys" mode.

Born in the early 70s but an Everton fan smacks to me of glory-hunting the Kendall years. Everton and Villa are the two sets if fans I realy despise for the use of "You've never won fuck all" - they've both only won 3 or 4 more trophies than us but act like its a Man U Vs Boro type of count - it's fucking not.

It's history and politics as well but when people believe in a divine right to land, it's a bad starting place. A normal stratgey would be to involve discussion of the history and suggest power sharing - and yes within a secular framework - but neither side would contemplate that which is why they are fucked.

They keep mentioning "American backing" but that's as far as it goes - it does seem strange that if they were well loaded they would risk losing the whole deal for a measly £10m or so which is why I think it's bollocks and he is stretching himself thus far. I suppose Shearer being on board with probable demands/conditions does however suggest he has some plan for January at least.

Get this shit off the football forum

Kills me to say it but Stevie's right - Man Utd are the best. (Man Utd being the best, not Stevie being right is what kills me )

Up till now I'ved used WinDVD (upto version 9) to play DVDs and other viseo files but I've just upgraded to a Blu-ray drive and so I'm looking for a Blu-Ray player. The problem is the new version of WinDVD (2010) doesn't support playing files from network shares which makes it a non-starter. Can anyone recommend anything?

Even the one they made up that did well (Mormonism) is Jesus based. I've read some stuff that suggests the religiosity goes back to the pilgrims being persecuted fundamentalists but that can't explain it all as lots of immigrants came for other reasons (though Irish, Italian, Polish and Mexican immigration doesn't help from a Catholic pov) I've also read that the existence of the secular constitutional clauses which as outsiders we all admire have actually made it easier for insanity to propogate unlike Europe where notional state religions are both more universal but at the same time relaxed.

It works both ways - I can remember when I started work people found the idea of travelling around England to watch football absolutely amazing as quite a few of them had either never been out of the NE or maybe had been to London once on holiday. Of course for all our boasting of passport holders compared with the US, how many have only been to Spain?

There is a culture difference - it would be hard to imagine a British newscaster doing an opinion piece to camera as they do in the states. Those I find fair enough even if they are bat shit crazy but as mentioned actually reporting stuff you've arranged as spontaneous for News purposes is dodgy.

Last time I was in the US we were regularly presumed to be Scandanavian or German.

I met an American once who was telling me how much he'd impressed on his kids the need for travel to broaden the mind (fair enough) which he said he'd decided after one two week trip to Europe when he was a student. I guess that means my two one week trips to the US mean I can tick that box as done.

I think people who call Obama a Communist or Nazi (or both at the same time) can be designated as stupid pretty fairly imo.

I would also add that Keegan's take was that even knowing the size of the squad, he considered Gonzalez not good enough and a waste of time - we also know the idiots didn't even expect him to play in the first team by their evidence.

Taken in isolation that's a fair enough take - it sounds OTT to walk out. I think now people accept that that was either the final straw or a convenient excuse depending on your pov.