Hello,

I'm not sure whether this fits here (discussing religions in an atheism/agnosticism forum), but considering myself an agnosticist, I can not help but understand that all world religions seem to be rather cleverly set up sets of rules made by man to enable people to live together either more peacefully or more happily under the rightfule rule of an appointed ruler. But, as they seem to aim at roughly the same things, for me the funny thing is why they keep quarreling with each other. Hmm, guess I'm not the first one to ask that question.

But another interesting question is - what is the least common denominator as far as food is concerned?

I found an interesting article about a dinner that took place last year at Windsor Castle in England where representatives of nine world religions were invited. Of course, the question was what to eat - some guests prefer kosher, some halal, and some whatever other special food.
So the common denominator was - for the first time in the history of Windsor Castle - a vegan menu.

[news.bbc.co.uk]

I really wish that more religious leaders would follow that example ... :-)

Best regards,
Andy

That is very interesting.

I heard something interesting that caught my ears last night while watching No Reservations on the Travel Channel. Anthony Bourdain was in Dubai. At the end, he was enjoying a nice family meal with some friends he had made. They were discussing how within 10 years Dubai went from very few other nationalities to over 180. They were talking about what the other cultures brought to Dubai and how everyone could learn from it. One of the mean said something very interesting. He said something along the lines that as a human race, we all have more in common than not. Which is so true!!!

Your post reminded me of that. :-)

Wow, that's quite a rosy view of the political purposes of religion you have there.

As for the lcd vegan menu at Windsor Castle, I think that's perfect! It's the same thing I try to do when going to a potluck (a part for which everyone brings a dish or two to share around): although I am not vegan myself but just vegetarian, I bring vegan dishes because they are more inclusive of everyone. Carnivores can certainly eat vegan, vegetarians can certainly eat vegan, but vegans do not eat anything non-vegan. Like you said, lowest common denominator.

Where I stumble is raw foods. A raw foods menu requires specialized equipment (dehydrator and spiralizer, for example) and some ingredients I don't typically keep in my pantry (raw nama shoyu, for example, and then what about the gluten-intolerant crowd, since nama shoyu contains wheat?). I usually end up bringing something like a (cooked) vegan entree and a spread of raw nut/seed pates with crudites to dip in them.

Raw food - no problem!

I'd just bring my Vita-Mix and some fresh fruit - hard to find fault with that, and everybody loves it :-)

Best regards,
Andy

PS: Well, Madbrewer - I agree, when I wrote my post, I concentrated on the more rosy aspects of religion - like considering 'How can we get people to NOT kill another every now and then ? Hey, I have an idea, let's just tell them they'll go to hell if they do that, that will frighten the bejeezes out of them..'

Of course another (and much less laudable) very important aspect of religion is to reduce the likelyhood that the oppressed try to shake off the yoke - tell them that it is 'Gods will' and they will be damned if they do ...'

Still, a fraud is a fraud, even if it is committed for good reasons. BTW, I don't think that I am sure that there might not be some higher creature or being (I'm agnostic, not necessarily atheist - I simply don't know), I just don't think that it is an old guy with a white beard and feel that my intelligence gets insulted if others want me to *believe* that.