(June 23, 2015 at 12:53 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Maybe he was just nuts?
You'd have to be nuts to do what he did sure, but in the case of the first pastor, who had good intent, it is a lie to say it was simply depression. Religion was the gas on that fire(no pun intended). He used religious words in his suicide note like "higher purpose" and "repent" and spent his life in religion promoting religious tolerance.
The second pastor in the second link who did not commit suicide, as of yet that I know, also thinks that act is for a "higher purpose" and would be just as nuts to do so.
The most famous Immolation I know of where the Buddhist Monks lighting themselves on fire. To claim it was not religiously motivated even in that case is absurd. You can find pockets of Buddhists who have attacked in mobs, Muslims.
The point is in EVERY RELIGION it is false to cherry pick because for every kind act you can do and base it on a religion, there are still others within that religion who can be cruel and also base it on that same religion.
It is why I constantly point out books like The God Delusion, By Richard Dawkins, The End of Faith, By Sam Harris, God Is Not Great, By Christopher Hitchens but even a undervalued book "The New Atheism" by Victor Stinger. When you have read all those especially, and you have even a basic understanding of evolution and DNA, you know religion is divisive and a very bad filter to gain understanding of our universe, our planet and our human behavior.
