I feel a bit relieved.

[Redbeard The Pink]

Given news updates since your original post, do you still hold the position that religion was not a factor in this shooting?

Sure it does however i rejected your initial post in this thread because it sound like I am to blame for something that I have nothing to do with.
You really should have start your post in a different way.

Anyway let us remember that religions or not religions mentally sick people would strike anyway.
Most massacres had nothing to do with religions.
Your problem Mister  is that you get too excited well before you analyze the situation in full details.  

For once Rik, you're right about something. Partially, at least. People would most likely still do bad things if religion didn't exist. Also, massacres are nearly never strictly religious. There always seems to be some other motivator (land, resource, racism, homophobia, etc.).


That being said, religion does often enable, embolden, organize, and even protect some really odious people and behaviors, and on top of that it teaches that any act is justified as long as you can convince yourself that god is telling you to do it.


There's a quote that Penn Jillette uses a lot, and I think he borrowed it from somewhere, but it goes something like this (paraphrasing):

Without religion, good people would still do good things, and bad people would still do bad things, but for good people to do bad things...that takes religion

Not having religion wouldn't eliminate evil...but I bet it would reduce it.


Hell, I don't have to bet anything. Countries without a lot of religious people routinely dominate in measures of crime rate, human rights, and happiness. Religiosity is actually inversely proportional to crime, especially, which does seem to indicate that less religion means less people doing bad things.