For what it's worth, I read recently that the Soiux people believed 'good' and 'evil' were two forks of the same tree and that the binding together of their inherent paradoxes was neccessary for the preservation of a whole world.
Many problems have come from the duality adopted by many christians and others, the ensuing fight or struggle often being a greater manifestation of any evil than that which was origionally perceived. Look at the Inquisition. And Fallujah.
It's a question of personal belief as to whether evil exists in the world outside of human behaviour, ie whether or not our actions are subject to influence from outside forces, for better or worse. But i think it's worth remembering that the imagination is a powerful thing, that the view we choose to accept helps determine the world we live in.
'Light shines out of the darkness, not against it.'
I found the programme really interesting. It explained to me the nature of the Easter story more clearly than anything I'd been subjected to before. I can't help wondering what the scenario would be this time if the man was amongst us again...
<James McIntosh>
Posted
Hmmm, maybe 'Fallujah' needs some question marks/qualification...
What was reffered to was some of the reports I saw at the time where US soldiers refferred to their adversaries within the city as 'satan', which may in turn have helped account for some of the verocity of the fighting. A bit of a sweeping analogy though, perhaps...
<Chris Brown>
Posted
Whatever the programme was, it wasn't an "investigation" as advertised.
The range of views of evil that could have been presented was not.
Throughout history it has been all too easy for one faction to justify its position by defining the other side as "evil".
Evils now seen as such done by those who were confident they were doing good: does that make evil a cultural and historical relative, rather than an absolute? This was hardly touched.
As others have commented, this appeared more an illustrated sermon than anything else.
What is evil? One personal and relative definition: To know what is right by one's own standards and beliefs, and then do differently.
Originally posted by humblebum99: No, I meant the bit where you implied that holding religious beliefs in a childlike way makes you the same as the Taliban.
That wasn't what I said. When the Taleban held sway, one would have expected superstition and ignorance to pop up at regular intervals. It's depressing to see it here as well. I never accused the poster of being the same as they were at all. If you find it offensive, delete "The Taleban in Afghanistan" and insert "The palaeolithic era" or something.
Originally posted by Deirdre: I believe that most people do have the capacity for evil, and are particularly likely to indulge this tendancy when in a group situation. Its something we all really need to be aware of, see when maybe some minor predjudices we have can develop into real hatreds. Maybe part of being a thinking being with the capacity for doing good automaticaly involves having an equal capacity for evil.
yeah i totaly agree! i thnk everyone has some evil in them, as well as good. depending on your experiences and situations your in, u tend to lean to either side.
Originally posted by shaun_halden: I think there is evil in all of us, just take this story for example. You will notice that you did not hear of it in the news. I cannot think why...
I can. Because its a perfect example of how the justice system sometimes works well. Boy killed, murderer caught, tried, imprisoned for life. Where's the news? In the gory details of the killer's crime? That's not news, its information for ghouls.
In the case of Stephen Lawrence, we were dealing with a gang of known racists, with witnesses who saw the attack but were too intimidated to come forward, and an institutionally racist police force who didn't give a sh!t. That's news.
It has been said above several times, and I concur with those who say anyone is capable of acts that can be described as evil. But I do not believe anyone is inherently evil. Some people are moulded by circumstance and influence, while others may have diminished responsibility through mental illness, but they are not born evil.
Good and evil are concepts by which we measure the behaviour of others. They are not ethereal forces that shape our lives.
Originally posted by julia bard: Do you agree with the Bishop of Durham that we all have evil within us or do some people become wrongdoers because of things that have happened in their lives?
A particular action is judged good or bad (evil) according to its effect on other people. There is no "force" of evil lurking inside us waiting to pounce.If an action makes people unhappy then it is judged bad (in extreme cases - evil) but we have the option of not doing it. Turning the other cheek works where the wrongdoing is petty, but who in their right mind turns the other cheek to a murderer? To forgive your enemies results in their escape from culpability merely by repenting - genuinely or not.
To "cure" evil we must embody morality in law and enforce it rigorously.
No virtue which is not possessed by the lawmaking powers will ever be absorbed into statute. Such an act would be an admission of guilt on their part. Moving on - I think you are right that the Buddha has it right.
Originally posted by julia bard: Do you agree with the Bishop of Durham that we all have evil within us or do some people become wrongdoers because of things that have happened in their lives?
There is no fundamental right and wrong. Point in case, you carry a link to a page about 'A' holocaust. Israel would be the main pusher of the legacy of this Holocaust, any country which refuses to mark it is labeled racist and anti semetic by the Israeli government and its cohortes who never stop ranting on about it. Yet Israel refuses to recognise the holocaust commited against over 2 million Armenians by the Turks in WW1, a former Israeli prime minister described the holocaust as "a matter for historians". Israel and its fellow travellers push heavily for people who describe the holocaust against the jews in similar terms and who refuse to recognise it, to be jailed, silenced and shunned. In many cases they have been successful such as Belgium, Germany, France and Austria where anybody who made comments about the jewish holocaust similar to the ones an Israeli primeminister made about the Armenian Holocaust could be jailed. Further to the point histories largest massacre took place under the communists in China after the second world war. the army which liberated the nazi death camps was headed by Stalin a man who is responsible for over five times the number of deaths that Hitler was and millions have been massacred right up to the 90,s in Rwanda. Yet you seem to value the lives of some people more than other. Where do the others get a mention even?
Good / Evil really depends on your point of veiw. Hitler didn't think him self 'evil' he thought he was doing the 'right thing'.
I bet the Inquisition did not consider themselves evil, look what they did In 'Gods' name. History is littered with examples of people doing things to others that can be considered evil, but it comes down to what side of the moral fence it is seen from.
Ah well, I think there is a fundamental right and wrong. You could come up with a stupid arguement that sounds clever about justifying why its OK to kiddie fiddle.
I think generally it would be universally accepted that line of reasoning is foundimentally wrong, I would not just say wrong, but evil.
A culture that agrees with that perversion is all fu+ked up.
If that posts annoys you then deep down you probably know I'm right, but remember the best time doesn't always win...fact ( what are you on about)
I don’t think there is an objective definition of evil. I would say that the definition of evil is determined by a society and its values. As societies and their values diverge and evolve so do their definitions of evil.
Yesterday I witnessed an act of unprovoked violence on a homeless person by a man showing off to the group of men he was with.
My first emotional response was to think this was 'evil', but thinking about it more clearly, I realised that this unacceptable act was just a variation of an animal display of dominance.
Civilization is such a fragile thing. Fair laws not religious fairytales, are the things that will hold it together
