Even if theism is a failure, it's still superior to atheism

[Pat Mustard]

What I get from this little gem from Root is that saying all men are sexually predatory is an excuse for bad behavior.  

They can't help it so it must be the responsibility of women to not tempt their weak selves.

smh

Pretty much. It is a medaeval and ultra tribal worldview that most of the world has dispensed with but fundamentalist religionistas haven't unfortunately.

[Pat Mustard]

Not completely true. There is a LOT of mathematics and early science that was developed under Islamic regimes. The Bayt al Hikma was a center of learning for centuries before its destruction by Mongols (who were also not nearly as uncivilized as the stories say).

The problems arose when the fundamentalists took over. That is what destroyed anything good in Islamic intellectual culture.

The Mongols, who caused the World's population to decrease by 10%, and who slaughtered 100,000 human beings over the course of a single day can never be rehabilitated; they were monsters, in spite of their road building and communication infrastructure.

The Mongols were no different than any other warlike people in those days, except for they were more effective at conquest. And in some ways they were more restrained than other people, if you surrendered for example the would let you live and only impose a relatively minor tax. Contrast that with the behaviour of those who lead the first crusade or the Cathar ceusade.

And the Mongol conquest of Persia and the Central Asian steppe was precipitated by the sultan of Khwarezm murdering an embassy Chinngis sent without any provocation.

[Ranjr]

Walk a beach in the US, you'll see that whether you want to or not.  And believe me, much of it you don't want.  It's a normal, natural setting.  

Bold mine.

You're right, it's a natural, primitive setting. That's why Islam recommended that women cover themselves, so we can finally move on to a higher, more civilized setting.

Looking -intently- at a woman in bikini lights up the ventral striatum in your brain (the part responsible for reward processing) and, unsurprisingly, triggers a dopamine release. In other words, your brain interprets the scene as some "time for your reward, you win" moment, even though you're telling us it's just an innocent, natural moment. And when you get used to staring at women at beaches, your brain eventually creates an association between those scenes and intense feelings of pleasure. Would you like your wife to trigger intense feelings of primal pleasure for other men ? I assume not?

Of course Trish the Dish excites men.  No brainer.  I'm secure in the reality of beauty.  You're not.  You need a fabricated religion to tell you how to behave.  You're afraid of allowing women to be themselves and afraid of having an equal partnership with a woman.  You and your kind are insecure.

[Deesse23]

That's why Islam recommended that women cover themselves, so we can finally move on to a higher, more civilized setting.

I just love women covered in clothes, especially black, the more the better. Those Hijabs really turn me on.
What are you your sister gonna do about it?

Forcing clothing on others because of your own failure to control your urges, thats not really civilized. Controlling your urges, that would be civilized.

[Gwaithmir]

To put it more bluntly : All men are, by their very nature, sexual predators....

Yeah, and I'm King Isildur.  

[Angrboda]

To put it more bluntly : All men are, by their very nature, sexual predators....

Yeah, and I'm King Isildur.  

[Jehanne]

The Mongols, who caused the World's population to decrease by 10%, and who slaughtered 100,000 human beings over the course of a single day can never be rehabilitated; they were monsters, in spite of their road building and communication infrastructure.

The Mongols were no different than any other warlike people in those days, except for they were more effective at conquest. And in some ways they were more restrained than other people, if you surrendered for example the would let you live and only impose a relatively minor tax. Contrast that with the behaviour of those who lead the first crusade or the Cathar ceusade.

And the Mongol conquest of Persia and the Central Asian steppe was precipitated by the sultan of Khwarezm murdering an embassy Chinngis sent without any provocation.

Among certain historians, there has been a recent movement to rehabilitate the Mongols, which is the view that you are presenting (defending?); in my book, they were/are mass murderers, even if they lived in an era of mass murder.

[Anomalocaris]

Actually, without the mongols, the age of discover would probably be greatly postponed.   There would probably be no modern world as we know it.    the modern world is born out of the Mongol conquest every but as it was born out of the Black Death.

Also, the Europeans caused the native population of the Americas which they crave to drop by 90-95% between 1500 and 1600.    That is about 20-25% of the world’s population in 1493.    The mongols were comparatively ineffectual amateurs in depopulating the lands they crave.

[polymath257]

The Mongols were no different than any other warlike people in those days, except for they were more effective at conquest.  And in some ways they were more restrained than other people, if you surrendered for example the would let you live and only impose a relatively minor tax.  Contrast that with the behaviour of those who lead the first crusade or the Cathar ceusade.

And the Mongol conquest of Persia and the Central Asian steppe was precipitated by the sultan of Khwarezm murdering an embassy Chinngis sent without any provocation.

Among certain historians, there has been a recent movement to rehabilitate the Mongols, which is the view that you are presenting (defending?); in my book, they were/are mass murderers, even if they lived in an era of mass murder.

Very true. I'm not disagreeing with that.

But, along with that, Ulug Beg created a first class observatory that outdid anything until Tycho Brahe. The scholars there did some of the mathematics preliminary to Copernicus. There is even some suggestion that Copernicus used, without attribution, the Tusi circle required for some of his calculations.

It is not unusual in history that mathematics and science advance during times that are otherwise brutal. To deny the achievements is being just as dishonest as denying their destruction.

And, once the wars were over, the civilization thet was created was remarkably peaceful, especially for the time. it is said that a young woman alone could travel from one end of the empire to the other wearing gold and never be harassed. That is probably an exagerration, but it does convey the views of that empire.

[Jehanne]

Actually, without the mongols, the age of discover would probably be greatly postponed.   There would probably be no modern world as we know it.    the modern world is born out of the Mongol conquest every but as it was born out of the Black Death.

Also, the Europeans caused the native population of the Americas which they crave to drop by 90-95% between 1500 and 1600.    That is about 20-25% of the world’s population in 1493.    The mongols were comparatively ineffectual amateurs in depopulating the lands they crave.

The European explorers never intended to spread the infectious pathogens to the New World that decimated the indigenous populations who were living there, unlike the Mongols who deliberately and systematically butchered defenseless women & children.