Faith takes up where reason leaves off.

For example, I have to believe it when I'm told that I was born of a chimp. I also have to believe it when I'm told that Jesus was born of a virgin.

Hey thanks for that. :)

Oh but being "the God of Abraham" is the absolute fundamental property. Check this reference out:

Exodus 3:15 Moreover God said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.'

There are three peoples descended from Abraham:

• 1. Israel - through Isaac
• 2. "Arabia" - through Ishmael
• 3. "Christendom" - through Jesus

You're right about Islam not accepting that Jesus is the son God.

I wonder why your post hasn't been given points for informativeness.

I'm from India and a Christian. Here, this is a hard fact for many "staunch" Christians to accept. I'd like to be absolutely clear that I'm not one of them staunch ones.

According to Scriptural evidence (what is left to us - supposedly) of ALL three religions (Islam, Christianity, & Judaism), the God is the same. Yet, strangely, I have yet to observe an explicit attempt by either religious or political leaders to help the masses understand this.

Open acknowledgement of this fundamental truth by religious leaders of ALL THREE religions would do a lot to improve relations and understanding. So why is it not being done? Or am I not aware of such efforts? Do correct me if I'm wrong.

Am I being too paranoid when I assume that most leaders are using religion quite conveniently to herd people about?

Some of my feelings, exactly.

To which a person who is a "believer" would immediately say, "Easy, God wants to test those humans to see if they are willing to obey his commands."

Faith is beyond logic. So it is very difficult to reason with it. Rather, the only thing that works is either of two things: Being aggressive (though not overly) OR being non-aggressive. If you're being aggressive, you better be sure that you really have strength because it's going to be sorely tested. Extremism likes to "swarm". If you're going to be non-aggressive, you have to be ready to prove that too by being very "correct".

What IS respected is the "right" mixture of being "strong" YET "correct". "Strong" can also mean "capable" as well as "savvy". "Correct" just means what is "acceptable" to each group. Each group has its own version of "correct". From what I have read of scientists, it is pretty much the same. Each group lobbying away, clamoring that theirs is the "correct" version. It's the same with politicians.

What I'm trying to say is that it seems to be innate (though inane) and inevitable for any group of humans to start the "pissing wars" - as another commenter has put it - with one or more groups of humans. Country-wise, race-wise, region-wise, religion-wise, street-wise, class-wise, family-wise, any-wise and every-wise, no matter which way we humans group together, we'll have dissentions and further factions.

We, humans, have to change ourselves at a fundamental level. If we're not careful, some sort of crazy population inversion could occur where we're all drawn into partaking of the battle lust no matter who we are, what we look like, where we're from, and what we stand for. There's nothing good down that path.

Whitelisting is indeed much nicer and more straightforward. Allow access only to certain sites. Since Wikipedia is generally not acceptable (as of now), access should instead be given to reputed sites such as that of WileyInterscience, Nature, Popular Science, HowStuffWorks, etc.

Well done. You got the lingo quite right. :)

You hit the nail on the head. What is Humanity to do when everyone just knows "how to get things done" but no one knows "how to do things"?

Universities WOULD have a good record educating people because they mostly take well-educated, disciplined, & hardworking students - in other words, students who have already learnt to be successful - at least in certain areas. The hardest work is in Primary education where it is now recognized that much of the foundation for later life is laid. They are bound to attract criticism. Though, I believe, that there are too many factors involved and too many things to do for just one type of institution to shoulder the entire burden. Parenthood, Religion, Government, Commerce & Industry, Citizens Action Groups, Seniors Groups, etc should all pitch in to shoulder the responsibility for the all-round growth of every new born right from the moment of birth till the age of 15 or so. This needs to include giving worthy Primary teachers the same salaries as their colleagues in Universities with the same qualifications. I contend that when a person is shown how and then facilitated to be successful on their own, they would rather not cheat. The requirements are for people who are as skilled as those who are teaching at University. In fact, teachers at University should ONLY be part-timers who love facilitating young adults so much that they will do it for free. These teachers must necessarily possess expertise and experience in either Research or Application. Society must instead devote its funds and concentration on a person's life from birth to age 15 or 18. That's it. After that, the person, now a young adult, hopefully having been made strong, courageous, disciplined and wise, can now fend for themselves - first in the academic and then in the professional world.

You must be very patient with people who don't use grammar properly.

It should be --> "I couldn't have said it better!" or if you like the double contraction --> "I couldn't've said it better!" The contracted 'have' sounds like 'of' which leads many to make the same mistake. :)

So this traffic jam is like a water dam. Individual cars come and go but the total mass appears constant.

Well said!

Yes, they were quite "green" and now, like the rest of the world, they are hooked on industry, technology, and consumption and are slowly becoming "black" (because of the carbon and NOT because of hip-hop).