Always thinking wrote:Ok, Ren, who called you an idiot? Point him/her out, and I'll give 'em a cyber punch right in the kisser!
John Larsen wrote:The also drive buggies on highways, which could be considered dangerous.
John Larsen wrote:dartagnan wrote:In another thread JAK said:All religions are dangerous. They seek to destroy the intellect replacing it with dogma not derived from reason and evidence.
There is no evidence that all religions are dangerous, and the irony with this comment is that it is itself dogmatic and without reason or evidence.
I agree not all religions are dangerous. Just the ones that teach untrue things are.
Since religions do not agree on what is “right” or what is “wrong,” none is reliable.
All are dangerous as they substitute dogma and doctrine for investigative study. Therein lies the danger.
For example, some religious views reject entirely modern, scientific medicine in favor of prayer only.
The Christian denominations which are pacifist (the Quakers, the Church of the Brethren, etc.) teach that all war is wrong. That’s a principle interpretation which they place on the New Testament teachings which they believe to be that of Jesus.
They encourage their youth to do alternative service as their service to their country rather than participate in the learning of better, more effective ways to kill other people.
antishock8 wrote:How can atheism be extreme? How can it be considered a religion? There's no atheist codex upon which a fanatic can draw inspiration or a reason to murder others that I know about. There is no central atheist authority that sends out atheist edicts and which, if ignored by atheists, will result in some sort of retribution by said authority. There is no such entity that an atheist must worship in order to receive some sort of salvation or transcendence. Atheism is neither extreme, nor a religion. It is what it is: The opposite of theism.
Other ideologies have allowed some atheists to be murdering tyrants. But it isn't atheism that was the catalyst for that. Politics, through which a central authority, dogma, and a state machine exsists have been the tools of their dictatorships.
However, where religion differs from some other ideologies is that it has express written consent from a deity to kill The Other if that is what the adherent feels should be done. The justification for barbarity and hatred lies within the Talmud, Torah, Apocrypha, Bible, Quran, Vedas, Buddhist texts, Book of Mormon (and host of Mormon discourses and rituals), and continue today in modern manufactured religions like Scientology.
Atheism is simply a position. One can no more ascribe to atheism horror and atrocity than one can ascribe it to a theist with no affiliation or adherence to any texts. But, to a religionist, yes, one can pinpoint EXACTLY, in many cases, from whence their hate and anger springs. That's the difference. With VERY few exceptions, religion is very dangerous because it provides justification and comfort to those who commit criminal acts in their god's name.
RenegadeOfPhunk wrote:I don't beleive that all religions are dangerous. I believe that fundementalism is dangerous, based on any worldview.
I beleive such a thing as 'atheistic fundementalism' exists, and is a worry.
However, since it has been made clear to me - several times - that I am in fact an idiot, I don't think my opinion can count for too much.
dartagnan wrote:Yes, but the same phenomenon exists in Sir Lanka, which has the highest rate of suicide bombing, completely unrelated to religion. Instead, it is a completely secular Marxist organization! These suicides are politically driven.
So I guess we have to abandon politics along with religion in order to steer clear from becoming a potential killer?
''Dying to Win" draws on a thorough database of all suicide attacks recorded since the contemporary practice was born during the Lebanese civil war in the early 1980s: a total of 315 incidents through 2003, involving 462 suicidal attackers. Of the 384 attackers for whom Pape has data, who committed their deeds in such danger zones as Sri Lanka (where the decidedly non-fundamentalist, quasi-Marxist Tamil Tigers have used suicide attacks since 1987 in their fight for a Tamil homeland), Israel, Chechnya, Iraq, and New York, only 43 percent came from religiously affiliated groups. The balance, 57 percent, came from secular groups. Strikingly, during the Lebanese civil war, he says, some 70 percent of suicide attackers were Christians (though members of secular groups).
Book Description
Suicide terrorism is rising around the world, but there is great confusion as to why. In this paradigm-shifting analysis, University of Chicago political scientist Robert Pape has collected groundbreaking evidence to explain the strategic, social, and individual factors responsible for this growing threat.
One of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject, Professor Pape has created the first comprehensive database of every suicide terrorist attack in the world from 1980 until today. With striking clarity and precision, Professor Pape uses this unprecedented research to debunk widely held misconceptions about the nature of suicide terrorism and provide a new lens that makes sense of the threat we face.
FACT: Suicide terrorism is not primarily a product of Islamic fundamentalism.
FACT: The world’s leading practitioners of suicide terrorism are the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka–a secular, Marxist-Leninist group drawn from Hindu families.
FACT: Ninety-five percent of suicide terrorist attacks occur as part of coherent campaigns organized by large militant organizations with significant public support.
FACT: Every suicide terrorist campaign has had a clear goal that is secular and political: to compel a modern democracy to withdraw military forces from the territory that the terrorists view as their homeland.
FACT: Al-Qaeda fits the above pattern. Although Saudi Arabia is not under American military occupation per se, one major objective of al-Qaeda is the expulsion of U.S. troops from the Persian Gulf region, and as a result there have been repeated attacks by terrorists loyal to Osama bin Laden against American troops in Saudi Arabia and the region as a whole.
FACT: Despite their rhetoric, democracies–including the United States–have routinely made concessions to suicide terrorists. Suicide terrorism is on the rise because terrorists have learned that it’s effective.
The claim you make requires evidence to be sustained. Think, research, and support the claim.