JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum A word about my absence...

Don't confuse religious education in schools in European countries with religious belief in society. It is often a relic of an earlier age and, frankly, an opportunity to goof off or catch up on sleep. I had religious education at school in Scotland, but that country, like most of Europe is far more secular and less religious that the US. I was pretty sure that this would be the case in Finland too, so I did a little research. According to a Gallup Survey in 2011, 27 % of the Finns believe in a Christian God. Depending on which survey you look at monthly church attendance varies from 4 to 14 %.

I know many "progressive liberals," and have never encountered a single one who wanted "power, authority and complete control," nor one who was a socialist. "Liberal" is not "socialist" by definition. I've seen socialism and it doesn't look like "liberalism" in the US. You can't just say these things and make it so.

Tony, you're not "up against" anything. Some thoughtful, concerned people want to mitigate as far as possible the effects of climate change and reduce the rate in the future. This is not an attack or a threat. Nobody is at war with you. Nobody wants to do this out of a lust for power or a desire to control you. The Pope is not behind it. The UN is nothing more than a useful forum for discussion and can't force any country to sign up to a resolution if it chooses not to. The uncomfortable fact is that this is a problem which will affect everyone on the planet, and, like it or not, it's going to require a certain amount of international cooperation, maybe even between countries that don't have much in common in other respects.