On Mon, Jun 09, 2003 at 07:46:26PM -0400, Jon Gabriel wrote: > Guilt by association can be a double-edged sword,
That's kind of the point (pun intended) > especially when you condemn an entire people for the acts of a group. I am not condemning an entire "people". A religion is not a "people". It is a group one chooses. And I think, net, religion has resulted in more bad than good in the world, and this is likely to continue. If you call that judgement "condemning", fine. > I'm curious about your answers to these questions: Should all > modern-day Germans be condemned for the acts of the Nazis during the > holocaust? Those that choose to join a Nazi group should be judged on that basis, yes. > Should all Serbians be blamed for the recent slaughter of Croatians? Did Serbians choose to be Serbians? > Should the British have wiped out the population of Ireland in an > attempt to eradicate the IRA? This question is the type of extremism and fuzzy thinking that I see so often from religious people. The analogy is that those who associate with the IRA should be judged on that basis. Most of the population of Ireland did NOT choose to associate themselves with the IRA. > Should the Israelis eliminate all Palestinians because of hundreds of > homicide bombers? Why or why not? See above. > Should we condemn everyone for the blood they spilled? These are extreme > examples, but I think they're appropriate to this discussion. They are extreme, and they are not appropriate. > By your analogy, modern muslims should start calling themselves > something else in renunciation of the terrorism performed by Al-Queda > and Hamas in the name of their religion. They need to do a lot more than call themselves something else, at least if they care about how their group is judged. Their association has repeatedly spawned such extremists as you mentioned, fostered persecution of women and non-religous people, and resulted in poor economies and corrupt governments. The world would be a much better place if that religion had never existed. Before you go off on your wild analogies, no, I do not advocate physically attacking Muslims nor trying to eradicate the Islamic religion. But I reserve my right to judge how badly their group has performed in the world. > Why should a minority be allowed to dictate to the majority? I wasn't talking about a minority. But interesting that you should bring that up. Most of the religions I am familiar with have a minority dictating the rules. -- "Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.net/ _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
