(November 11, 2014 at 9:45 pm)MysticKnight Wrote: So why blame Islam. Why not say it's belief in God that is source of terrorism.
I'm not even saying it IS Islam. I'm saying everything needs to be on the table when dissecting the cause of religious or other violence when it occurs.
To give you an example close to home for me is when Christians assert that atheism and/or evolution was a contributor to the violence by Hitler, Stalin and Mao. I don't mind that discussion as the facts are on my side. Hitler was a devout Christian, or so it seems from his speeches and writings. Even if he was faking it (he wouldn't be the first dictator to find religion useful), the victims of the holocaust were Jews, gays and occult practicing Gypsies, the very people Christianity had been persecuting for 2000 years. Christians try to link up "survival of the fittest (to a given environment)" to Hitler's fantasy "super race" but the Nazis rejected Darwin. Meanwhile, the abuses of Stalin, while quite severe, were clearly politically motivated. Even his moves against the church were more about getting rid of rivals. There's nothing in the "teaching" of atheism that prompted his abuses because there are no teachings to atheism. Atheism is the absence of a belief.
Atheist Forums Hall of Shame:
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
"The trinity can be equated to having your cake and eating it too."
... -Lucent, trying to defend the Trinity concept
"(Yahweh's) actions are good because (Yahweh) is the ultimate standard of goodness. That’s not begging the question"
... -Statler Waldorf, Christian apologist
