Conservapedia - User contributions [en]

Debate:Which is a more powerful ideology, Islam or communism?

2007-03-13T00:04:57Z

Bonki:

== Apples and Oranges ==
[[User:Phist|Phist]]Well, one is a religion and one is a societal structure, so to a degree we are compairing apples and oranges here. You could, in THEORY have a country that is both communist and islamic. While religion was of course banned in communist russia, by that point they were so far from the ideal of communism that it really should have been called something else.

For the record, I like apples better.

Islam is more powerful. Commumism was a good idea in theory but it has failed enough times in real world countries that I'm ready to discount it as a valid possibility. It simply doesn't address some aspects of human nature, and I think it's only real power right now is as an alternative to capitalism for a working class tired of being poor. But one only has to point to the still-smoking ruin of the USSR to discount the validity of that ideal.

On the other hand, Islam carries a supernatural message of hope to an entire continent of anti-american people raised with extremism being a daily reality. When a man with complete hatred of something is told that destroying his enemies is holy, and that there is a place in heaven for those who die fighting, the man is turned into a weapon. Islam is volatile like no other religion in the world, and though I try to avoid bias any of us can turn on the news any day of the week to see turmoil in the middle east. In fact, I cant even think of the last time in history the middle east went 15 years without a major armed conflict.

Considering that there are over 3 billion Muslims, and a good number of them are radicals or terrorists, I'd say it was Islam that is the more powerful ideology. Communism is like third, and the second is Secular Humanism for the most powerful ideology. Unless you consider that Secular Humanism is new age communism? --[[User:Orion Blastar|Orion Blastar]] 23:30, 9 March 2007 (EST)

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Actually, the Soviet Union never banned religion. It suppressed religion quite severely, especially in the 1920s and 1930s. However, the Soviet constitutions always included nominal guarantees of religious freedom. Also, Stalin made a point of restoring the legal position of the Russian Orthodox Church during the Second World War (part of his wartime efforts to appeal to Russian nationalism).

A more accurate characterization of Soviet religious policy would be to say that the regime persecuted and clamped down on official churches, religious leaders and the like, but that its main efforts focused on making religious leaders, priests, imans, etc. agents of the state, and to dissuade religious practice through education. This reflected an official belief (which many scholars would argue had its origins in Enlightenment ideals about reason and progress) that with improved education, scientific achievement and general social progress, Soviet citizens would come to recognize the falsity of religion and would thus turn their backs on religion of their own accord.

Moreover, while many term the Soviet Union an "atheistic regime," this is perhaps technically accurate, but wildly misleading. The Soviet government was "atheistic" in the sense that it did not have an established religion (such as the Russian Orthodox Church), but in this respect it was no more atheistic than the U.S. government has always been, or how any number of other states are, where the separation of church and state prevents the official establishment of a particular religion.

Religious belief and practice never ceased to exist in the Soviet Union, nor did the Soviet government ever formally proscribe it. --[[User:SmithHall|SmithHall]] 03:01, 10 March 2007 (EST)
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"Islam is volatile like no other religion in the world, and though I try to avoid bias any of us can turn on the news any day of the week to see turmoil in the middle east. In fact, I cant even think of the last time in history the middle east went 15 years without a major armed conflict." -Orion Blastar

This is an interesting statement. Does anyone remember history? What about the Christian crusades from 1095 to 1270 that accomplished little more than death and destruction? The third crusade was even focused on ransacking Constantinople, a fellow Christian state, for little more than funding further crusades. The crusades even turned internal targeting parts of southern France and the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II after he was excommunicated from the church by the Pope for returning to port after becoming ill on his way to accomplish the 5th crusade. There are many examples of volatility as well as many current examples of radicalism in Christianity.

"Considering that there are over 3 billion Muslims, and a good number of them are radicals or terrorists, I'd say it was Islam that is the more powerful ideology." -Orion Blastar

Also an interesting statement. Islam is the second largest religion in many European countries and only 20% of Muslims are from the Middle East. If Islam were so innately hate filled and "a good number of them" were radicals, why aren't more areas of the world with prominent Muslim populations "anti-American?" Just as an example, the two largest Muslim nations in the world are India and Indonesia - non-Arab. What is going on here is a gross generalization of Muslims and Islam. Think back to our very recent history here in the US. The KKK (Klu Klux Klan) was a very heavily religious organization. What religion did they espouse? Christianity of course. The KKK was responsible for many murders and terrorist acts and is still alive today. Should we generalize all Christians and Christianity to match the KKK? Should we say that "a good number of" Christians are radicals or terrorists because of the actions of the KKK? I would hope not and I'm sure you feel the same way.

I vote Islam. Or Communism. Wait...what was the question? Who's got the oil? Mmmm....oil.

Mormonism

2007-03-13T00:01:28Z

Bonki:

Mormonism began in the late 1980s as a response to the [[New Romantic]] movement.

Simon Pegg

2007-03-13T00:00:35Z

Bonki:

Simon Pegg is an English actor, famous for the films [[Shawn of the Dead]] and [[Hot Fuzz]]. He is alone in English comedy circles as being an outspoken [[Creationist]] and follower of [[Mormonism]], which has earned him unjust taunts and criticism from his peers.

William Shakespeare

2007-03-12T23:57:41Z

Bonki: /* Trivia */

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is conventionally regarded as the greatest English-language playwright of all time. Many of his plays are required reading in many U. S. school curricula; those taught in schools often include [[Romeo and Juliet]], [[Macbeth]], [[A Midsummer Night's Dream]] and [[Hamlet]].

All told, Shakespeare wrote 17 comedies, 10 tragedies, 10 historical plays, and many love [[sonnets]]. All his plays are freely available on the internet.<ref>
http://www-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/</ref>

Shakespeare lived in Stratford-upon-Avon and is sometimes called "the bard of Avon." Because of sharing the name "Stratford," the towns of Stratford, Ontario in Canada and Stratford, Connecticut have become the homes of Shakespeare festivals where his plays are performed on a regular basis.

Because Shakespeare was not a member of the upper class and did not become famous until late in his life, historians and biographers don't know very much about his life. There are only a few pictures of him, and nobody is sure how accurate they are.

His plays seem to show so much education and erudition that there are even theories that they must have been written by someone else, famous candidates being the Earl of Oxford and Sir Francis Bacon. Like Kennedy assassination theories, most scholars do not believe them, but there are enough questions that new books promoting new theories of Shakespearian authorship continue to keep coming out over the years.

A longstanding theatrical superstition holds that it is bad luck to refer to ''Macbeth'' directly by its name, and accordingly actors traditionally refer to it obliquely as "the Scottish play."

Because Shakespeare's plays are so familiar, there are innumerable references to them in English literature. Sometimes his stories are recast into a different form. Audiences are expected to recognize the musical ''West Side Story'' as a retelling of ''Romeo and Juliet,'' and the classic science-fiction movie ''Forbidden Planet'' as a transformed version of ''The Tempest.'' The motion picture ''Shakespeare in Love,'' which won the 1998 Academy Award as Best Picture is not a history or biography, but is enjoyed for evoking a sense of what Shakespeare's time and place must have been like.

The reverence in which Shakespeare is held, and the somewhat outdated language of his plays (which come from the same era as the King James translation of the Bible) should not obscure the fact that his plays were (and still are) fabulously successful commercial entertainment.

He is also famous for his one hundred and fifty-four [[sonnets]], short poems written in a very strict rhyme scheme. The sonnets fall into series or sequences. Most of them are usually read as expressions of romantic or platonic love; some appear to be written to a married woman known in the sonnets as the "Dark Lady," some to a young man known as the "Fair Lord."

==Trivia==
English spelling did not begin to become standardized until the time of Dr. Johnson's dictionary appeared in 1755. Shakespeare spelled his last name in an amazing number of ways. ''Shakespeare'' is the usual way to spell it now, but it you accidentally spell it "Shakespear" or "Shakespere" you are just using one of the many ways it was spelled. It is almost impossible to spell it in a way that was not actually used in Shakespeare's time! Some of the oddest are "Shaxper" and "Shakspur." However, as English has since been standardised, one must now spell it "Shakespeare" to avoid getting told off by one's English Lit teacher.

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'''References:''' <references/>

[[Category:Biographies]]

John Milton

2007-03-12T23:55:05Z

Bonki:

(1608-74) John Milton was a poet and writer, whose most famous work, [[Paradise Lost]], is one of the greatest poems in the English language.

John Milton

2007-03-12T23:54:44Z

Bonki:

(1608-74) John Milton was a poet and writer, whose most famous work, [[Paradise Lost]],

John Milton

2007-03-12T23:54:27Z

Bonki:

(1608-74) John Milton was a poet and writer, whose most famous work, {{Paradise Lost}},

The Renaissance

2007-03-12T23:52:57Z

Bonki: /* '''The Renaissance''' */

=='''The Renaissance'''==
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The Renaissance was a cultural “rebirth” that began in [[Florence, Italy]], but spread to all of Europe from about 1300 to 1600 (1700 in Northern Europe).

During this time period, Europeans experienced a renewed interest in classical Greek and Roman civilization, and subsequently, in learning science, mathematics, literature, the arts and philosophy. The term “[[Renaissance man]]” has come to mean a man (never a woman) who is remarkably well-rounded and learned in every subject, as this is what was expected of men during the Renaissance. Women during the Renaissance were celebrated for their beauty, but were not expected to be educated.

*[http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Renaissance_Terms Renaissance Terms (1300s - 1600s)]

==='''The Italian Renaissance'''===
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[[Image: duomoflorence.jpg|thumb|left|320px|[[The Duomo]] of the [[The Duomo|Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral]] in [[Florence]]]]

The Northern city-states of [[Italy]] were a perfect location for the Renaissance to occur, as [[Italian culture]] was built off of classical Greek and Roman civilization. They had become important and wealthy locations selling and trading during the [[Crusades]], and [[Muslim]] and [[Byzantine]] learning had been brought to Italy also during the Crusades. Florence in particular was home to wealthy families willing to finance artists, mainly the prominent [[Medici]] family. Lastly, the fierce competition that existed between the different city-states brought out the best in people and created an environment in which initiative and creativity flourished.

This quote by [[Leon Battista Alberti]], "men can do all things if they will" sums up the spirit of the Renaissance well. Three philosophies emerged during the Renaissance: individualism, humanism and secularism. All three contained similarities and overlapped with one another to form the main philosophy, humanism.

==='''Artists'''===
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The most lasting legacy of the Renaissance was probably the outstanding artwork it produced. Especially in Florence and [[Rome]], master artists emerged who produced astonishing works of art in sculpture, painting and architecture. The competitive spirit of the Italian city-states as well as the enormous wealth of families willing to patronize created a perfect environment for the flourishing of art.

[[Image: michelangelopieta.jpg|thumb|right|300px|Michelangelo's ''The Pietà'']]

One of the first artists to incorporate new ideas into his artwork was [[Giotto di Bondone]] (1267-1337) who brought unprecedented elements of realism in his paintings. [[Giotto]], a typical Renaissance jack-of-all-trades, also designed the innovative campanile (bell tower) for the [[The Duomo|Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral]]or simply "[[The Duomo]]" in Florence. Flemish artists introduced oil paints, and the technique of perspective was introduced by artists like [[Tommaso Masaccio]] and [[Brunelleschi]]. Brunelleschi also designed the duomo (dome) for the Santa Maria del Fiore cathedral, a breakthrough in [[engineering]] and [[architecture]] that showed Brunelleschi’s deep understanding of mathematics.

[[Donatello]] (1386-1466) was an influential painter and sculpture of the early Renaissance from Florence. He sculpted a bronze “[[Donatello's David|David]],” the first free-standing nude statue since the days of the Greeks and Romans, and another famous statue of [[Donatello's St. George|St.George]]. [[Tiziano Vicelli|Titian]] (Tiziano Vicelli) (1477-1576) was a painter with an unprecedented use of color and loose brushwork, evident in his stunning masterpiece [[The Assumption of the Virgin]]. [[Raphael]] (1482-1520) also mastered the use of color and painted beautiful frescoes in churches and for private patrons, the most famous of which may be [[The School of Athens]], an interesting painting depicting [[Plato]] and [[Aristotle]] surrounded by their pupils. He inspired the two greatest artists of the Renaissance: [[Michelangelo]] and [[Leonardo da Vinci|Leonardo Da Vinci]].

[[Michelangelo]] (1475) is best known for his statue of [[Michelangelo's David|David]] and for painting the ceiling of the [[Sistine Chapel]], an astounding [[fresco]] including over 300 Biblical figures, that took over 4 years to complete. He also sculpted amazing renditions of [[Moses]] and “[[Michelangelo'sPieta|the Pietà]],” a poignant sculpture of Jesus in Mary’s arms after the [[Jesus' Crucifixion|crucifixion]]. Following Brunelleschi’s model Duomo in Florence, Michelangelo designed the dome for [[St. Peter’s Basilica]] in Rome. Although some say his earlier works (like David) reveal a humanistic outlook, later works (like the Pietà) reveal his deep and devout Christianity.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452-1519) embodied the “Renaissance man.” He was an architect, anatomist, sculptor, scientist, mathematician, musician, and painter. He created masterpieces such as the [[Mona Lisa]] and [[The Last Supper]]. He kept notebooks full of drawings such as [[Vitruvian Man]], and his observations from dissecting human corpses. It is said that Leonardo could draw with one hand while at the same time painting with the other, and he wrote backwards in his notebooks, so they would have to be held up to a mirror to be read. He was way ahead of his time and created conceptual designs for many devices such as a flying machine and an armored tank. He was the first to come up with the ideas of the [[calculator]] and the use of solar power for energy.

[[Image: monalisa.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Leonardo Da Vinci's ''[[The Mona Lisa|Mona Lisa]]'']]

==='''Authors'''===
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Many authors produced influential literary works during the Renaissance. [[Dante]] was the writer whose works some historians date as marking the beginning of the Renaissance, and he is called the father of the Renaissance. He was an Italian writer who wrote in the [[vernacular]], or common language, so his works gained popularity among ordinary people as well as scholars. His most famous work is [[The Divine Comedy]], which describes in vivid detail the author’s journey through hell (''Inferno''), purgatory (''Purgatorio'') and heaven (''Paradiso''). Although called a “comedy”, the book is anything but funny. This is because Dante was using the classical meaning of “comedy”, in which a story is not necessarily humorous, but ends happily and according to the divine will of God. In The Divine Comedy, Dante blends pagan [[Greek philosophy]] with Christian theology, in the tradition of [[Thomas Aquinas]]. Dante’s guide through Hell is Virgil, and the greatest sinners present in Hell are [[Judas Iscariot]] (Jesus’ betrayer) and [[Brutus]] (Caesar’s betrayer).

Along with Dante, [[Francesco Petrarch]] (1304-1374) is considered a father of the Renaissance. He wrote beautiful poetry in Italian, but his books were written in Latin. His works and their focus on the classical philosophers inspired the humanism of the Renaissance.

[[Niccolo Machiavelli]] (1469-1527) wrote ''[[The Prince]]'', in which he explored the means by which a monarch can gain, retain, and increase his power. A prince must recognize the needs of the people, Machiavelli declared, and although his consensus was that it is better to be feared than loved, he

[[Image: michelangelodavid.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Michelangelo's [[Michelangelo's David|David]] ''...Men can do all things if they will.'']]

additionally stated that it is ideal to be both feared and loved. Machiavelli served under [[Lorenzo Medidi]] of Florence, but was exiled. It was during his exile that he wrote ''The Prince''. Today the word “[[Machiavellian]]” has come to mean any unreasonable philosophy by which “the end justifies the means.”

==='''Philosophy'''===
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The primary philosophy of the Renaissance was [[humanism]], which favored the capacity of man to reason and think for himself. This had two effects: on one hand, creativity and independent thinking were encouraged and learning greatly increased. Emphasis moved away from the sole focus on religious, spiritual things that was characteristic of the Middle Ages, to a focus on more tangible, earthly things. The study of nature and science was given its proper place. Art and literature became more realistic.

Rush Limbaugh

2007-03-12T23:52:04Z

Bonki: /* Trivia */

'''Rush Limbaugh''' (born January 12, 1951) is a conservative American radio talk show host.

Limbaugh hosts a radio show famed for its blustery denounciations of anything liberal. He is often at odds with liberal Al Franken<ref>[http://fireside.designcommunity.com/topic-9993.html Forum thread] discussing a NYT Editorial</ref>. Limbaugh's vitriolic style has been credited with "reviving AM radio in the United States, and is considered by many to have been a catalyst for the Republican Party's 1994 Congressional victories"<ref>[http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F10813FA3B5D0C708EDDAB0894DE494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fL%2fLimbaugh%2c%20Rush Radio Talk Show Host Fears For True Conservatism's Fate], New York Times</ref>.

Limbaugh underwent a minor scandal several years ago when his housekeeper was caught purchasing prescription medications, and it was revealed that Limbaugh was addicted to prescription drugs. He has since been rehabilitated.

Another scandal occured when Limbaugh made a joke in which he allegedly referring to Chelsea Clinton as "the White House dog". Chelsea was thirteen at the time. Limbaugh, however denied that he was talking about Chelsea, stating that he was not making a joke, and Chelsea's picture was accidentally put up on the screen<ref>MotherJones: [http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/1995/05/ivins.html "Lyin' Bully"]</ref>.

Limbaugh has also been criticized for his comments regarding Michael J. Fox's participation in Claire McCaskill's 2006 senate campaign in Missouri. In his radio broadcast, Limbaugh criticized a campaign commerical Fox filmed in support of McCaskill's position on stem cell research. Limbaugh accused Fox of exaggerating his Parkinson's Disease symptoms in order to generate sympathy. In the commerical, Fox is visibly swaying and moving in sudden, jerky movements which are characteristic of someone afflicted with Parkinson's<ref>[http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/2006-10-24-limbaugh-fox_x.htm], USA Today</ref>

==Trivia==
*He is deaf in his left ear.
*He has six toes on his left foot.
*He has been denounced as a witch in Cornwall, England for his right-wing views.

==References==
<references/>