Would you rather live under an oppressive religious or securlar government?

[CapnAwesome]

Only 16 or so people were killed in the Salem Witch Trials, but the fear created by it made it seem so much worse...religion can kill a few dozen and their deaths become great motivators for the people to get back in line. Kill one person, scare a thousand into submission...probably because the fear it also meant damnation as well.

Jesus Spoon Fucking Christ that is a poor example. During the protestant reformation religious wars hundreds of thousands of people were killed. Similarly the Shiite/Sunni split resulted in hundreds of thousands of people killed and who continue to be killed. They weren't killing one person to try to get people back in line, they were trying to wipe out all the infidels.

I think though that with no other information to go on, I'd chose the secular government just because it's one less thing they could kill me over.