I really hate fundie fucktards.

[Eilonnwy]

Oh, and BTW, this forum cuts the topic title perfectly on the main page.


I loled.

[Shell B]

ITT: A mentally ill person lets someone die through negligence, and it's somehow religion's fault.

Seriously guys, this is stupid. Using your logic I should say "atheism is bad, just look at Joseph Stalin!"

It had nothing to do with communism and the ease it lends to tyrants. It must have been because he was an atheist.

In all seriousness, religion gave that "mentally ill" person an excuse to allow their child to die. Atheism was not part of Stalin's excuse. Stalin's reasoning had everything to do with gaining power by removing the ability of those who opposed him to live. He caused an artificial famine that killed millions of people without once mentioning atheism. However, he mentioned collectivizing several times. Hmmm....

In short, I agree with the bad analogy conclusion.

---

Okay then, in the People's Republic of China thousands of religious buildings were looted and destroyed during the Cultural Revolution. They acted this way because of their atheism.

Methinks, you have a seriously bad understanding of Eastern culture and history.

[Thor]

Are you suggesting it was a mentally stable woman who allowed someone to starve to death?

Since the article made no mention that she has been diagnosed with a mental illness, yes. Why couldn't she be mentally stable? Because her religious beliefs caused her child to starve to death? In that case, Christian Scientists must be "mentally ill" because they refuse life saving treatment (even for their children). Unfortunately, these people have bought into the lies of a particular religion and their children pay the price.

These things were motivated by her religious belief, not by the belief itself. if she id not hold the belief, she would not have let the child die. That's the point. It was her fault she beleived what she did, not the belief's fault she belied in it.

Right! Her religious belief caused her to let her child starve to death. You seem to want to blame her stupidity rather than the religion. I blame both.

[Alex]

In all seriousness, religion gave that "mentally ill" person an excuse to allow their child to die.

*nods*
Yes, that was her justification. She could have also done it for political reasons, etc.

I mean, this is the equivalent of the kids who play violent video games then go and shoot up a school / do other violent stuff, and then a bunch of cranky old white men feel that the video games themselves are to blame, instead of, I dunno, the person being fucking stupid / crazy? Same with blaming violence on those damn kids and their rock 'n roll music.

Methinks, you have a seriously bad understanding of Eastern culture and history.

Enlighten me. Also,

Article 20 of the 1976 Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea guaranteed religious freedom, but it also declared that "all reactionary religions that are detrimental to Democratic Kampuchea and the Kampuchean People are strictly forbidden." About 85 percent of the population follows the Theravada school of Buddhism. Before 1975 the Khmer Rouge tolerated the activities of the community of Buddhist monks, or sangha, in the liberated areas in order to win popular support. This changed abruptly after the fall of Phnom Penh. The country's 40,000 to 60,000 Buddhist monks, regarded by the regime as social parasites, were defrocked and forced into labor brigades. Many monks were executed; temples and pagodas were destroyed or turned into storehouses or jails. Images of the Buddha were defaced and dumped into rivers and lakes. People who were discovered praying or expressing religious sentiments in other ways were often killed. The Christian and Muslim communities also were persecuted. The Roman Catholic cathedral of Phnom Penh was completely razed. The Khmer Rouge forced Muslims to eat pork, which they regard as an abomination. Many of those who refused were killed. Christian clergy and Muslim leaders were executed.

Extremist theism and extremist atheism are both very bad things, which lead to tragedies like this. Blaming atheism or theism itself is just stupid.

[Thor]

*nods*
Yes, that was her justification. She could have also done it for political reasons, etc.

Except that no political ideology demands that you deny yourself or your children medical treatment because it's "the will" of an invisible man who lives in the sky. In fact, I would challenge you to come up with ANY "political reason" that someone could use to justify starving their child to death.

I mean, this is the equivalent of the kids who play violent video games then go and shoot up a school / do other violent stuff, and then a bunch of cranky old white men feel that the video games themselves are to blame, instead of, I dunno, the person being fucking stupid / crazy? Same with blaming violence on those damn kids and their rock 'n roll music.

Except that the video games aren't an established institution. Religions are.

Imagine that your kids went to school and they were taught that it was their patriotic duty to set fire to gas stations owned by Muslims. They then set fire to such a gas station on their way home from school. Wouldn't you blame the school for your child's actions?

[Tiberius]

*nods*
Yes, that was her justification. She could have also done it for political reasons, etc.

In fact, I would challenge you to come up with ANY "political reason" that someone could use to justify starving their child to death.

How about parents of girls in China killing their child because they wanted a boy, and China has a policy against multiple child households? It's a political measure aimed at stopping overpopulation, and some of the methods used are worse than starving to death IMO.

[Shell B]

Alex, you are turning the obvious common denominator (communism) into atheism to suit your argument. Atheism does not equal communism. Mao Zedong, Pol Pot and Josef Stalin all had one thing in common, they were communists. In the case of Pol Pot, he tyrannized his own countrymen, causing widespread disease, famine and death in his own country. He did not pick on the religious; he picked on everybody. Mao Zedong made many scholars "disappear." Does that sound like someone who was committing genocide based solely on his lack of belief in god?

[Alex]

Alex, you are turning the obvious common denominator (communism) into atheism to suit your argument.

The 'obvious common denominator' for all of them is that these people are stupid and impressionable, crazy, evil, or some combination thereof. Trying to blame these things on religion (or atheism) is stupid.

[Shell B]

Alex, you are turning the obvious common denominator (communism) into atheism to suit your argument.

The 'obvious common denominator' for all of them is that these people are stupid and impressionable, crazy, evil, or some combination thereof. Trying to blame these things on religion (or atheism) is stupid.

Are you ignoring the fact that they are all communists, Alex? I assure you that is the fuel that fed their tyrannical fire. Of course they are crazy and impressionable, all communists are, most Christians are too.

Trying to blame something on atheism is stupid. Religion, not so much. An atheist can not starve their child and then say honestly that it was because of their atheist beliefs, whereas a religious person can.

Let me ask you a question. When was the last time you heard about an atheist allowing their child to die because of their disbelief in god? Forgive me, one more question. How many times have you heard of religious people allowing their sick children to die, not only because of their beliefs, but with the support of their peers?

[Tiberius]

Trying to blame these things on religion (or atheism) is stupid.

The opposite of atheism is not religion, it's theism. If you changed your position to "trying to blame these things on theism or atheism is stupid" I'd agree with you. However religion entails more than just a single belief, and it can be used by people for manipulation.