(August 12, 2016 at 12:42 pm)Lek Wrote: i haven't read all 210 replies, but if all Nazis claimed to be catholic or christian, they certainly didn't follow christian teachings and morality. They were obviously not followers of Christ, which is what "christian" means.
Nope sorry, doesn't work like that. How you would prefer someone else interpret the bible does not mean they don't view it as their source of morality like you do. Not liking their interpretation does not make it a different source. The German Christian population at the time of Hitler WERE a majority Christian. Just like one can accept in the west that a Sunni Muslim and Shiite Muslim both see the Quran as their source of morality.
I have seen the "True Scotsman" fallacy used by even Jews and Buddhists. "They weren't following it right" is a dodge. If there were only one way to follow any religion we would not see sub sects in any and all have their competing sub sects. A Chinese Buddhist does not view the religion the same as a Tibet Buddhist vs a Japanese Buddhist.
There has never been such a thing as a perfectly unified religion, or "correct" following of any. That is because all religions are human inventions that are really nothing more than artificial constructs in attempts to create social order.
Not even the word "atheist" makes us perfectly unified. Our species morality is evolutionary, both in our ability to be cruel or compassionate, to cooperate or use force. Humans evolved to be social and that is the real reason we form groups. There has never been a magic man in the sky pulling our strings, not even a mere mortal, as some would claim the original Buddha to be, which is also a religion rooted in mythology and superstition.
Our species was around long before any written religion or first boarders. Our planet is 4 billion years old, revolving around 1 star, our sun in a galaxy full of billions of stars. A galaxy so big it takes 1 ray of light 100,000 years at the speed of light to cross. Our galaxy is also only one of hundred of billions in our observable universe. Religion is only as good as far as a placebo effect at best, but throughout history has caused great amounts of divisions and death. Religion was our species early form of guessing at what was, but we have much better tools now to measure the universe outside our own personal wishes.
The theist likes to falsely portray the atheist as fatalistic and negative and immoral. Now while the word itself doesn't determine the individual atheists actions good or bad throughout their lives, we are not a separate species from theists. We can be good and do good, we have ups and downs like everyone else, some individuals can do bad, but most simply want the same securities and order most humans want. The only difference between an atheist and a theist is that we reject one more God claim and religious club than the theist does. We simply don't assign good or bad to a battle between a super hero and super villain battling over the neurons in your brain.
