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Smoking kills
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10.       Abla
3648 posts
 07 Mar 2012 Wed 04:42 pm

Quote:scalpel

Another question:

Aren´t religions more deadly than tobacco?

 

 

Who can count the victims of religions, those who still live and those who have lost their lives?

But there is also the other side of it. Religions bring good things to people’s lives as well. They encourage to high moral, honesty, brotherhood, sobriety and mercy against the weak. These are things that we can’t read about in the news but they exist.

Egypt is a very religious country. I mean people are truly religious. Of course in an environment like this hippocracy blossoms also but my experience is most people are sincere in their beliefs. As a European it is a new experience for me.

When the results of Egyptian elections were reported in Finnish news the victory of Muslim Brotherhood and the salafists was explained mainly as the result of poverty and illiteracy. In my opinion this is only part of the truth and maybe not even the most important part of it.

I will tell you an example. Public schools are a problem in Egypt. Teachers are badly paid, they don’t take care of their duties as they should. They may leave the classroom and children on their own if it is hot and the air conditioning doesn’t work. Classes are huge. Physical punishment is forbidden but usual. It is an endless list of problems. Ok, many of them could be solved with better money and resources but people also have a lot to improve in their attitudes. Anyone who can afford it puts his children to a private school.

My 5-year old son goes to a private religious madrasa. It was close to home and there was a place for him. The madrasa is in an ordinary apartment. There are more than a hundred pupils in four rooms, no playground or yard, just a tiny balcony. But the people who work there are something else. They are all veiled women wearing black. They show affection against children, they don’t hit them or even threaten them. One lady is taking care of thirty 5-year-olds in one room. They don’t play, they study: recite the Qur’an, learn Arabic, English and maths sitting on their small chairs shoulder to shoulder. And they enjoy it. They admire the teacher and tell about her at home. They learn: my child didn’t know even Arabic letters when he came and now he can read. He can count ultil thirty and compare numbers. He recites big parts of Qur’an by heart. It is a kindergarten which makes amazing results for 80 Egyptian pounds (10 euros) a month per a child.

The teachers, these believing women, do their work in conditions which no kindergartner would accept in my country. They do it with their heart, hoping for a reward from Allah. My point is, if the candidates of Muslim Brotherhood and salafists were half this dedicated, disciplined and philanthropic one doesn’t have to be illiterate to vote for them. In Egyptian society believers often represent such personal qualities which every common man and woman would like to bring into his own life. This is the good fruit of religion. 



Edited (3/7/2012) by Abla
Edited (3/7/2012) by Abla

11.       alameda
3499 posts
 07 Mar 2012 Wed 07:34 pm

The fact of the matter is most of the persons shown and listed were smoking long before the health hazards were even known about.

I mentioned before how much smoking was promoted in the past. There were even doctors endorsing it. Many became habituated to smoking during this time. I smoked and did enjoy it. I found the social pressures and actual quality/taste of the product changed

Smokers have become the new socialy acceptable scapegoat. Look here how much vitriolic abuse has been heaped on smokers. 

The reality of the situation is American Indians smoked, without the addiction and harmful effects highly adulterated commercial products cause. So many other additives are added to the tobacco that it´s difficult to see what causes what. In fact the American Indians didn´t smoke only tobacco, they added other herbs to the mixture that countered the negative effects of tobacco.

I do feel that words can also cause harmful results as well. Telling a person you will get sick is like putting a curse on them. It sets in the power of suggestion. Instead one would better say you may get sick.

I personally find all the sanctamonious self rightous criticism of smokers highly offensive.

While I´m glad I stopped smoking, I must admit I enjoyed it a great deal for many years as did many others. Billions of humans were born, to grew up and lived full lives during that time.

I suspect all this is actually more of a diversionary tactic to take our eyes off of other issues.  If you really care about the health of the enviornment, what about using some of that energy working against the chemicals spewing out of the exhaust pipes, from smokestacks, factories, radioactive fallout from nuclear products, unhealthy food additives and the list goes on? The fact is, it´s easier to go after smokers. When I still smoked I was amazed at the vitriol leveled against me when I was quietly having a smoke.

You know they are even trying to make it illegal to use our fireplaces now.

 

Quoting si++

I wouldn´t call those who do being wise (or call them unlogical, insane whatever) when they still do it while seeing this warning everywhere.

 

Many later admit that they were indeed dumb doing it.

 

 



Edited (3/7/2012) by alameda [edit]
Edited (3/7/2012) by alameda [add more info]

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12.       vineyards
1954 posts
 08 Mar 2012 Thu 03:06 am

Religion is not something we can judge, restrict or even question. Even in secular regimes, religion is sponsored by governments this way or another. Let alone questioning the belief of the masses, even a minute criticism directed at the religious belief of a minority group causes tension and this tension sometimes turns into hatred in the long run.

There are a number of assumptions, although we are born naked, it is inconceivable that we go naked in the streets. Targeting a religious group is comparable to the previous act in terms of the shock it causes.

As for the main question: is religion deadlier than smoking? I would say no, we live the lives of humans and die the deaths of humans. Religion is a part of our societies and therefore it is an essential part of our personalities. It is not one religion written in a certain holy book I am talking about, instead, myriad of ancient religions still manifest themselves in our languages and folklore, in other words, it is one of the main ingredients of our cultural foundation.

One would conclude, smoking can be avoided, it was not a part of our lives until a couple of centuries ago. Smoking habit has gradually become rampant and it has turned into an oddity where the number of smokers constitue a sizeable portion of entire population. This is a new experience. We can predict an enourmous increase in the number of smoking related ailments. Will scientist come up with a cure? I think it is very unlikely. As a results, millions of people will have to die of lung, bladder or similar cancer types directly linked to smoking habit.



Edited (3/8/2012) by vineyards

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