Thanks for you support. I am mostly over the “pain” associated with being of German heritage at this point in my life. I believe I wrote about my experiences to illustrate the point that too many groups, often religion members, playing the “sympathy card” to gain advantage. Yes, we see this quite prominently with some Jews, we see it with outrageous attitude with some Muslims by constantly claiming “offense” and demanding respect, we see it with some Blacks, and many other groups who feel they are not treated with the level of tolerance that they desire. The behavior seems to demand certain privileges or reparations because their ancestors were wronged in the past. The problem it creates is that people are living in the past and unwilling to let go, so they can change for the better as an evolving society requires.

About the Nazi party being the anti-religion, or atheists, actually that is not true. There is as much evidence that they were religious people as there is to the contrary. A couple of references that shed light on this question are here: “Quotes from Hitler’s Henchmen and Nazi Sympathizers” (http://www.nobeliefs.com/henchmen.htm), and also found in the “National Socialist Program”, or a quote from point 24 “The Party as such advocates the standpoint of a positive Christianity without binding itself confessionally to any one denomination.” Of course we can question if they were really religious (spiritual) or just using religion to enhance their power. If that is a valid investigation, then it must also apply to all leaders, politicians, and religious states that are in place today around the world.

My point is that we will continue to have conflict as long as religion is intermixed with politics and government. Religion should be an optional activity, perhaps a way of life as people choose. And all children should be offered the option to choose their own religion or spiritual practice as they choose. But as long as we have states that are based on a religion, then the conflict will continue (Iran, Israel). People can have religious debates, fine…. or choose to advocate their god of choice…. fine. But we must understand that each religion has defined its own god, and if each one states that their god is the best, then how will we ever resolve that debate at the geopolitical level? I for one do not subscribe to the ancient methods of answering worldly questions that were created thousands of years ago and can now often be concluded are fairy tales with worldly answers that are no longer relevant. Maybe our children would prefer to choose some more modern spiritual practice that has fewer errors? Once a religion is given the power of statehood, and all the force associated with statehood, then the religion can invoke powers beyond what is reasonable (e.g. state sponsored Jihad).

Also, there is now much evidence that religion is not required for people to have a moral compass, or conscience. That is a myth that religions propagate for their own advantage, and may be the last vestige of power for religions that they still cling to. I’d suggest a reading of “The Moral Landscape” by Sam Harris or related new ideas at http://www.edge.org.

I went to Israel a few times on business, once we had an early morning flight back to the US, and so sat up in the hotel lounge to leave early. In talking with the hotel clerk that night, she asked me “how can you live with yourself” (being of German heritage).

My parents went through the war as teens, my father was drafted into the army at 16, sent to the Russian front, and spent 1.5 years in a Russian POW camp. Yet our world has essentially no sympathy for these victims. He never whined about any of it, never, the stories were really hard to get out of him. He loved life and had no lingering grief or blame. As a kid I used to cry for him, but he never sought sympathy and obviously refused to become a victim.

I agree completely in “If we want to fight antisemitism, racism, sexism, homophobia, or any other bigotry we need to educate the younger generations. If they can stop seeing people as black, white, Jew, Christian, Muslim, gay, straight, and start seeing them as *people* then the future would be better.”

If I read the sample list of bigotry above carefully, I think I see that the majority of the examples are driven by religion. As long as people put religion above other concerns we will never be rid of bigotry and prejudice. I agree we have to change how we educate our children. We should stop expecting children to be indoctrinated into religion, they should be given a choice, no longer automatically be trained (brainwashed) into the religion of their parents.

I’ve been told I’m going to go to Hell. I’ve been asked why I killed Jesus. I’ve been called a “Dirty Jew” and many other things.

All of that before I was even 13. The people who tormented me were my peers.

If we want to fight antisemitism, racism, sexism, homophobia, or any other bigotry we need to educate the younger generations. If they can stop seeing people as black, white, Jew, Christian, Muslim, gay, straight, and start seeing them as *people* then the future would be better.

We can keep teaching our children the differences between people as long as we point out the similarities too.