I did a poor job of communicating my point, Brett...

I meant to say that all politicians and all corporate leaders go to church/synagogue/temple yet they all push the CONSUME mantra to the fullest extent possible. The televangelists work very hard to have money sent to them.

Their (they are the guys in charge and making decisions to do it) advertising is what pushes people to WANT NEED the products or services.
Once you have the "need" you have to "do whatever it takes to get it" and situations like I explained earlier.

Combined with acceptance of concepts like "business has no morals" and "all that matters is the bottom line" and you get what we have today. remember, the political/business leaders all appear to accept the "business has no morals" and "all that matters is the bottom line"... they certainly act like they do. They might try to say no, but their actions betray otherwise.

So YOU feel safe in this environment, helped by the beliefs fostered by your church. But it is clear that you MUST go to a different "church" than our political and business leaders go to, because they keep right on pushing people into doing what your church tells you is bad.

Do you see the problem here? Do you see that the end result is that THEY WILL WIN because they have all the tools INCLUDING RELIGION, at their disposal.
Until they see the true meaning of honesty and morality and altruism they will merrily go along collecting way more money than they can ever spend by implanting false wants/needs.


>Materialism is a very good thing to look at, but I will still say that my religious beliefs warn me about the abuses of materialism. So I would look at it in this fashion. My religious beliefs are the guard dog keeping materialism (and satan's other temptations) at bay. That does not mean that I will not fall for some things, but it means that my religious beliefs have warned me. So it is up to me to choose. But with out God then the young people do not have that advantage and thus may (and often will) fall for what society is throwing at them.
>
>>Hi Brett,
>>
>>I don't want to get into a discussion about religion, but rather simply offer a possible alternate cause for society's downward trend.
>>
>>I think it is CLEARLY materialism - the pursuit of the almight buck!
>>
>>America in particular (with Canada almost on a par) has marketing/advertising/promotion as a pillar of business and economics, making CONSUMPTION the mantra. Gotta have it, and gotta have it NOW!
>>
>>
>>
>>So how can you possibly blame someone, especially a younger person, for following what society is constantly pushing at them.
>>
>>So wouldn't it be a good first step to have the politicians and the business owners/shareholders to first get religion themselves, rather than pretending they are deep into it while all the while keeeping right on doing what they do?????
>>
>>George Bush was just attending a memorial Church service.
>>It's too bad that he talks religious but his actions tell us all that it is all phoney and done with the objective of making the rich richer regardless the impact.
>>
>>
>
>You are implying then that President Bush does not care about anyone, but only seeks to gain money from his presidency? Since you or I do not know his heart, that is a pretty bold statement. A statment that I for one do not agree with, but please lets not debate this. You need to debate President Bush about his action or perceived actions.