> From: Bryon Daly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > The Fool - Isn't "religion is evil" a rather broad statement? Do you really
No. It is an exact statement. > believe ALL religions are inherently evil? Do no religions do any good for Yes. > the world so that they must all be eradicated? No, yes. > As for the Crusades: http://www.angelfire.com/ky/dodone/Crusades.html . > It took quite long, but I think civilization is slowly maturing -- and so are > our religions (despite the fact some seem lodged in the past and are only > maturing reluctantly). > > Looking at the world *today*, can you really say that all of the world's > religions *as a whole* ultimately produce more far more bad than good in > the world? Yes. > Remember two things - 1) much of the world's charity is > organized/administered by religions and 2) Just as you say that some Bullshit. The U.S. gives the smallest percent of it's gdp as foreign aid (of all industrialized nations), but that number is still larger than what any other nation gives as aid by a wide margin. > people commit evil for their god, there are many (and I'd say far more) > who commit good for their god. Spreading, irrationality, anti-science, esoteric Trvth, wars in any number of nations, and other things aren't evil? > And I'd say the threat/promise of an > afterlife that many religions have has a net postive effect. Spreading the Threat And/Or promise of an afterlife is single most evil thing religion does. It's what gives terrorists the ability to commit massive kamikaze attacks against innocents. > What justifies your absolutism to say religion must be eradicated? Anything that preaches irrational ideas as rational is something that has to be stopped. > Does > this absolutism apply to other institutions and facets of life? Yes. > You > never responded to other people's analogous questions, so I'll pose some > here: > - The Germans committed many evil, terrible atrocities in WWII. Should all > Germans today be eradicated? You are Creating a false dichotomy. > - Alcohol has ruined lives, caused countless deaths, and probably even caused > a number of wars. Should alcohol be abolished? Yes. > - Some people will put forward a fervent case replete with proof that the USA > (aka "Great Satan") -or perhpas even all western civilization- is quite evil and > should be eradicated. Would you agree? That is irrational and religious. Why would I advocate irrational/religious conspiracies? > Honestly, I don't think anyone here is strongly debating whether assorted > religions are responsible for some evils of the past/present. The thing is that > you're overlooking a great many other factors, such as the fact that religions are > human institutions and are subject to human fallibilities just like everything else > we do. Also, economic factors play/played a big role in much religious zealotry > of the present and past. Blaming religion without considering things such as > these is only seeing a small part of the picture. Religions were created because of the fear of death. Taking away that fear of death allows people to kill others at will: because those others they kill don't really die, they go so some mythical plane of being. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
