There is definitely no loving God. Fact.

If two hundred years are not several hundred years but four hundred years are several hundred years, what's three hundred years , nearly several hundred years ?

I would agree, several hundred years has to be at least four, two hundred odd years, like the U.S. is a new country!

probably!

ie a group of several children used to be about 6 or 7 children when I was young, but now I am several decades older a 'group' of two children is feels like 'several'. And three is 'very many'.

No I am not saying anyone is a right-wing Australian. Just used them as an example because they were already part of the discussion.
Summing up the Middle East as Joan did is racism:-
Racism is treating someone unfairly simply because they belong to a different race or culture.

Did she treat all the races and religions of the Middle East unfairly by saying that we should not interfere (which is what I thought she was saying)?
How exactly has she treated someone unfairly and how is it racism?

You don't have to answer.

Telling someone they are best gone because they have a different viewpoint and reading something into their post that was not intended is just plain rude - or was it racist because she is Australian?
(which is just as daft a statement.)

My young Grandson is 8 and at times he does seem like several children!! He can talk for England (or Australia!!) I adore him, but he can be wearing!!
From the little anyone talked to Joan, she sounded anything but racist. A caring concerned person, well aware of her adopted country's history, keen to help redress wrongs past and present and not deserving of the reception she received on this thread.

This is not what this thread was supposed to be about. and

Why don't you start your own threads to have your stupid arguments on?

If you don't understand that the people of the Middle East are as diverse and varied as any other part of the world and comprise people of every and no faiths then you won't see it as racism. Racism involves seeing only stereotypes and not appreciating the diversity. But then some people never realise when a racist remark is made. If I was to say all Europeans had problems with alcohol you would rightly tell me I was wrong, but apparently it is OK to say all people in the Middle East hold grudges and have feuds for years.

You would be wrong, but not racist!

nigglyneillie You say "I feel that anyone should be able to voice their opinion and in return get a reasonable, thoughtful and respectful answer".

I believe Joan's first contribution to the original post relating to the existence or not of god, was:

The question of whether there is a god is just so damn boring. Some people have need of an imaginary god friend, others like me have a scientific world view that ignores superstition and the supernatural.

As I have stated on many occasions, I'm not at all religious but I would suggest that such a dismissive response hardly represents a "thoughtful and respectful answer".

She then went on to say:

In the Middle East people seem to revel in ethnic and religious hatreds and then refers to our civilised industrial nations ...

As anniebach pointed out, our "civilized industrial nations" were responsible for shipping orphaned and disadvantaged children off to Australia to be used as servants (or worse); creating and sustaining apartheid in South Africa and a form of apartheid ("the colour bar") in the US.

Just because you have been to Australia nigglynellie and have relations there does not guarantee that you are any more knowledgeable than me or anyone else about Australia. Many of the white people who visited South Africa or emigrated there during the period of apartheid thought it was a wonderful country - because that was their personal experience and it suited them not to look any deeper.

The below link is from the Human Rights Law Centre and demonstrates that apologies without reparation and a commitment to equal access to health, clean water, modern sewage systems, education, etc., is meaningless.

www.hrlrc.org.au/files/fact-sheet-indigenous-rights.doc

jingle You made the original post and Joan said the issue you had raised - i.e. the existence/non-existence of god - was "so damn boring". So, if the thread has gone "off piste" it is because she raised the situation in the Middle East.

If you don't understand that the people of the Middle East are as diverse and varied as any other part of the world and comprise people of every and no faiths then you won't see it as racism.
That is precisely why it is not racism. Do you not see that trisher?

jings, sorry, and it is probably because your OP is right that all this is happening in the Middle East - in the name of God!!

Just can't stand unfairness and posters telling other posters they shouldn't be on GN, they have no right. If people can't agree to disagree on here in an amicable way then what hope is there for the world?

Eloethan your post re Australia and relatives there did not specify me too, but I would just like to point out that, just because one may have family in Australia you should not infer from that that they are all exclusively white, or that, if they are, they are of British origin, or that they do not work with Aboriginal people, are not friends with Aboriginal people.
One of my relatives works closely with Noel Pearson.

Just because you have been to Australia nigglynellie and have relations there does not guarantee that you are any more knowledgeable than me or anyone else about Australia
Really? Have you researched it? Spoken to people there of all origins?

Do not assume that the Australians are racist. Some are. So are some British people, people all over the world, and people in the Middle East certainly have their prejudices, otherwise there would not be the wars that there are in that region.

^ I would suggest that such a dismissive response hardly represents a "thoughtful and respectful answer".^
Lots of posts are not thoughtful and respectful but that is not a reason to hound someone off GN imo.

Eloethan
she raised the situation in the Middle East

FYI Yemen is in the Middle East.

I think you've summed it all up very well Jalima, and as far as I'm concerned that's the end of what has become a rather pointless conversation.

Eloethan I am confused about what you say. Joan said, "I’m pretty sure we all agree that the Middle East is a place of horror, and no-one, let alone little children, should be suffering as they do, just because of matters out of their control,"

Nothing to argue about there. And she is right. The existence or otherwise of God isn't really the important thing here.

The times that joan has posted on threads, has always been interesting and sensible, but I don't blame her for ignoring this thread now, having read all the comments. Jalima I have enjoyed reading your comments, equally interesting and sensible.The 'racism' card often comes out when people have nothing else to say!

This thread was dead for over 2 months and I wish it had stayed like that. It's gone way off topic.

Yes, this thread was'born under a wandering sky' all right.

Wilm I suppose that is what happens wuth long threads, but in fact I think the essence of the OP was still there.

While the eyes of the world are on Syria and the dreadful events there, in particular Aleppo at the moment, the situation in Yemen is just as desperate.

If there is a God he seems more like the angry, vengeful God of the Old Testament, not the loving God people imagine him to be. Though why he should feel vengeance against little children is beyond my comprehension.

So, no, how can there be?

Sorry, typos, cannot get to change them on this tablet
(Including your name Wilma)

Jamila, do you believe God arrange the wars in the middle east, arranged for children to be targeted ? Vengeance comes from man not God, we condemn the violence in the Middle East but accept the sale of arms.

Have the west no responsibility for the hatred which is the root of much ?

Let us suppose God steps in to sort out the Middle East, does he support the west ?

God cannot be blamed for the evil done in his name

ab your reply to joan's completely innocuous post was unnecessary. I don't think you can expect to carry on a serious discussion after twisting the thread in the way you did.

I too wish this thread had died a death long ago.

Strangle it now Jingl? It may be the kindest thing to do.