(August 18, 2009 at 5:34 pm)EvidenceVsFaith Wrote: To say the belief itself just doesn't matter, is missing something:
I already gave an example:
EvF Wrote:[...] Dying for a supreme being, especially when you're expecting to go to a martyrs heaven for doing so - is quite a motivator if you so strongly believe it! I wouldn't expect the same from cheese enthusiasts to be honest. I don't see it as impossible but... - not exactly as likely!
If the belief doesn't matter then that would mean that cheese enthusaists are just as likely to kill as those who believe they are going to a martyr's for blowing themselves and others up... because 'it's just about the people'... ummm I don't think so.
People are motivated by their beliefs. People are driven by their beliefs, not the other way around.
EvF
Quote:"If you act in the real world based on information that's not real, the results are impossible to facet.
But information is incapable of harm in of itself, ideas are neither good nor bad but merely as useful as what we do with them. Only actions can cause harm." - David Shore
If we consider beliefs as the ideas that they are. Then we can understand that the belief in God is neither good nor bad, its only actions that can cause harm. And those actions may be motivated by those beliefs. But those beliefs can be manipulated by people to perform HARMFUL ACTIONS. Therefore it was not the belief in God that caused the harm, it was the ACTION of MANIPULATION by a PERSON. That martyr believed that killing himself was the right choice because someone told him so. Had there been someone to tell him that religion is about performing acts of charity, he/she would not have committed that crime. The belief in God is neutral, what people DO with the belief is right or wrong.
Atheismix
Its my own personal blog thats based on Conservative Christian Talk radio. Issues include; Online pornography is destroying our society, parents guide to preventing homosexuality, Cases for Creationism.
Its my own personal blog thats based on Conservative Christian Talk radio. Issues include; Online pornography is destroying our society, parents guide to preventing homosexuality, Cases for Creationism.