(February 23, 2011 at 7:54 am)Skipper Wrote: If I was left wing though, I would expect me and other left wingers to stand up and fight Stalin. If I was right wing, I'd defend being right wing but also fight the exploitation of the masses. Whatever ideology I subscribed to I would expect to defend it's true position from extremes of any kind, the same thing I expect of religious folk. More so from religious folk, seeing as at least being right or left wing is subscribing to ideas that clearly exist. If you choose to be of whatever religion and claim it to be peaceful, when someone comes along and uses your religion to cause suffering you should be on the front-line of fighting them, otherwise don't bother with the religion because without the peaceful masses of any religion there is no way religion would have power to cause the evil it does.
I entirely agree with what you said. But you seem to be under the impression that religious people do not go against the actions taken by extremists, and that is simply not true.
Some left-wing people rejected Stalin, some did not. No general rule, and no black or white. In the exact same way, MANY religious people opposed, rejected and protested some actions made in the name of their religion. A large part of the protest against the Pope in London were not atheists but women for the right of women to become priests, or catholics protesting the covering-up of the crimes committed by the Church.
The 9/11 attacks were universally condemned by muslims worldwide. The actions of the Westborough Church are universally condemned by Christians.
