(January 31, 2009 at 7:39 pm)GSARider Wrote: Religion seems to be the acceptable face of hatred - whether it's racial, national or just about any other way of describing divisions of people worldwide.
In my own case; being brought up a Muslim, the hatred shown for Christians, Jews, Hindus and indeed other sects of Islam ( in some cases even more vehemently than non-muslims), showed me that the supposed 'peace' message just wasn't the core of the religion.
Now I also have a very good friend who is C of E and having had many discussions with him over the past couple of years...he hates Jews and states quite calmly that they are being punished by God for the killing of Christ...and that's why he hates them. He believes quite smugly) that everyone else, including the Catholics will go to hell.
Another friend who is Hindu tells me that she hates Muslims, she doesn't have a specific reason apart from 'that Hindu & Muslims' have always hated each other...oh and she's quite fond of telling people that Gandhi was killed by a Muslim...which is not true - he was killed by a Hindu extremist...
Why is it that so may religious people feel the need to hate...?
This has to do with why religion is so successful. If you automatically hate people who disagree with you, you're a lot less likely to consider their ideas, so you're a lot less likely to defect to their belief system.
"The only things that are infinite are the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the universe."
Albert Einstein
"In a society that has abolished all adventures, the only adventure left is to abolish society."
The Black Iron Prison
Albert Einstein
"In a society that has abolished all adventures, the only adventure left is to abolish society."
The Black Iron Prison