Are you for or against intervening in Syria?

[Gandalf]

I see it has become personal again, Lyle.

Where I live has nothing to do with the crisis in Syria. If I was living in England my views would be the same as you well know. Likewise, the work that I do has nothing to do with having views on international political affairs. I do a job, a peaceful job, and that is all that there is to that. It has nothing to do with Syria. I do well, but that doesn't mean that I have no values. If I don't enjoy what I do then I will look for another teaching job because teaching is what I do. My rebellion is living overseas as a sojourner, but I have studied to teach and teach I shall. You say I stand for nothing, but what the heck do you stand for? I live for my family and the faint hope that the homeland can improve itself. I want good things for the UK, it angers me that it isn't what it should be.

The Christian faith is that humans are inherently evil, but I don't adhere to that. I don't do evil things and most people don't do evil things. However, concentrations of power are very prone to doing evil things and I just point out where the leading concentrations of power do just that. US foreign policy of 50 years has shown it repeatedly, revelations about your secret services are likewise showing a pull towards wrongdoing, those are just the facts.

I don't want the world to end, I just want people to aspire to be better people and to care for one another more. The politics has to lead that from the front as society has shown it can't level the playing field. I don't think the West practices caring very well with broken families being the norm rather than the exception, with governments hell bent on privatising everything they can, with jobs being outsourced in their millions, with state pensions being funneled into hedge funds, with 12 million Americans relying on tips to top up their 2 dollars and 14 cents per hour. It is a sick, sick, state of affairs and I feel little regard for any of the people that have caused it. Would I like to see those responsible brought to account for their crimes against society? Sure, I would. However, I am not advocating nuclear apocalypse or anything so drastic.

As for Walrus, this is a decent place to live and with the right skills and qualifications, you can do well and I do. That however has nothing to do with politics nor Syria. I could be doing the work that I do in 4 dozen countries and my political views would be the same. It is an asinine argument.

Where you live and what you do has everything to do with your world view. You have not been talking about Syria, I really don't think you give a shit about them, you have been talking about America, against whom you are biased. Also, Christianity does not view humans as evil as evidenced by John 3:16. Stop spouting bias in your head as fact.

You forgot to read the Old Testament.

Again you fail to back up your argument and so it is pretty asinine. If there is anything I say about America that is untrue then say it, otherwise it isn't biased and must be true. Also, you clearly know very little about me if you think I wouldn't hold the same views in the UK or in dozens of other countries. My views will only change with concrete policy changes and they haven't materialised which is something that even Lyle recognises in the case of Obama.

Need I remind you that the old testament is pre Christian or does that not fit into your thinking

So you only accept the post rehab God? Fair enough!

it just proves you are making argument against that which you know very little of. It's called contempt prior to investigation.

I am reading the books with as much patience as I can muster. God is a selfish lunatic and the only explanation one can give is that he is a fake manipulated by crude 0 century operators who tried to give him a make over.

He still looks like a cunt, to most ordinary people though.