Sunday School
A weekly fix of Atheist related news and information from around the world.
Group Admins
Sunday School August 27th 2023
This topic contains 12 replies, has 7 voices, and was last updated by 
TheEncogitationer 1 year ago.
-
@unseen it’s particularly convoluted in the sense that the Hindu caste system is embedded in their society. Efforts to extricate Hindu preferentialism from the governing structure have to counter both religious and societal hurdles.
India is a mess of a country. Of course, it wouldn’t be a country in the modern sense of a nation-state at all, had the British minded their own business.
Despite it’s status as an artificial nation-state, we in the West need a powerful India to provide an effective counterbalance to China. More power to ’em.
Thus, India also needs to engage in a massive program of moderninization. It needs an extensive highway system, modern ports (both air and marine), and an industrial base.
An economy based on production rather than providing services is sorely needed in India. Every time I talk to a customer service person with a “name” like Jeremy or Allison, I roll my eyes at their thick Indian accent. Let’s not play pretend, shall we? LOL
-
This reply was modified 1 year ago by
Unseen.
The problem with Modi’s move, done under the color of creating a singular national law and protecting women, is that in India, a country with as few as 33,000 professed atheists (no way to know how many are cl0seted), religion is much more ingrained than in the West. To make matters worse, a third of the population practice non-Hindi religions (Islam, of course, but Sikhism, Buddhism, Jainism, and a few others). Thus, imposing what amounts to Hindu standards on a third of the population is oppressive and amounts to the establishment of Hinduism as, effectively, the state religion.
I worked with some Indians on an engineering project a while back. One guy had a screen-saver that was supposedly a giant Hindu god being excavated. Somehow the rest of the planet never got word of this amazing discovery.
Fellow Unbelievers,
Will Modi’s Uniform Civil Code kill Indian ‘secularism’?
I think the basic legal set-up we have here in These United States, when abided by, would solve a lot of India’s religion problems if they adopted it too.
Under our Constitutional system’s Bill of Rights, an individual can believe and peacefully practice any religious creed or ritual that does not violate the equally-held rights of other individuals.
In the pre-Bill of Rights Constitution, religious tests for holding public office are explicitly forbidden and there is no mention of Christianity or any other religion or religious privilege or religious stigma in the whole text.
In the U.S. individuals of the same beliefs can form their own associations and set their own conditions for entry and membership, but may not set any conditions for exit. And as of the Reconstruction Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments, this applies to all States and all Localities.
And speaking of Amendments, the Fourteenth Amendment makes all person’s born or naturalized in the borders equal Citizens before the law, the Nineteenth Amendment recognizes the right to vote regardless of sex, and as long as this is upheld, a legally-fixed caste or economic class is unheard of in the United States.
My Grandfather’s private garbage man made his fortune from many $10 cans at a time and many Dumpster contracts at a time with businesses and as long as he showered, he was not considered an “Untouchable.” 😁
Although there are still States and Localities with laws here and there that violate that set-up, the Legislative and Court systems are there to fight for their repeal. And for the most part, we in the U.S. have avoided the more chronic, violent problems of India, Ireland, and other multi-religious nations where there are continuous struggles for power among believers.
Now if only the Brahmans could put the many-handed Kalis in check and implement something like this in the Indian subcontinent…
-
This reply was modified 1 year ago by TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spelling
-
This reply was modified 1 year ago by TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spelling
Reg and Fellow Unbelievers,
Who I’m hurting by shopping at Walmart.
They must have been having a damn slow news day at Time Magazine. This is not only junkie thinking and junkie journalism, but old-as-dirt, long-since-refuted junkie thinking and junkie journalism.
Short answer: Per Se no one is hurt by anyone shopping at Walmart, Target, Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree, or any other store of your choice, and when I say no one is hurt, that also includes small, independent businesses.
Small independent offices buy stationery and computers from Walmart and other big-box stores.
Independent truckers and businesses with fleet vehicles buy oil, gas and diesel treatment, and auto components from Walmart and other big-box stores.
Small, local restaurants buy plates, cookware, chaffing fuel and pans, utinsils, napkins, and even food from Walmart and other big-box stores.
Convenience stores buy their entire inventory from Walmart and other big-box stores. In jurisdictions that charge sales tax, Walmart, etc. will waive the sales tax for businesses that present their reseller’s license and purchase the goods, which the reselling business will attach the sales tax to when they get the goods to their own establishments.
Offices, truckers and fleets, restaurants and convenience stores also buy bulk items from Walmart-owned membership warehouse Sam’s Club and competitors like Costco and BJ’s Warehouse. Individuals may also have memberships and, depending on purchases, can benefit as well.
Moreover, there are small thrift stores run by charitable organizations, as well as small, independent surplus, salvage, and bent-ahd-dent stores who purchase closeout, clearance, and damaged freight from Walmat, Target, and other big-box stores and resell them. Might I add, the packaging may be damaged, but the quality is still there and it can even be cheaper than retail prices. Individual eBay sellers and Etsy sellers who use craft materials for their art do this kind of buying from Walmart and other big-box stores as well.
Fellow Atheist Libertarians Penn & Teller in their fantastic Showtime series Penn & Teller: Bullshit! also very eloquently came to the defense of Walmart in Season 5, Episode 2 back in 2007:
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0998877/
While there is much to be said in criticism of any particular business and every sector of the economy, while too many businesses seek subsidies, bailouts, cut-outs in legislation, and, yes, trick laws, the criticisms in this article in Time Magazine are simply lame. If Robinson-Patman causes retail prices to go up, everyone including small businesses, will lose out.
Even with today’s high gas prices, there’s always a sale on “Out”™ and Time Magazine needs to “Get Out More!”™
💱 💲 💹 🤟 👍
-
This reply was modified 1 year ago by TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spelling and addendum
-
This reply was modified 1 year ago by TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spelling
-
This reply was modified 1 year ago by
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.