Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Systems of religious belief help humans to kill each other.

Anxst · 02-28-2006, 05:53 AM

I think this is being looked at in the wrong way, personally.

The issue here isn't that religion makes it easier for people to kill other people, but that most people are not sociopaths. A reason OF ANY KIND makes it easy to kill people, because you have a rationalization for it. Even sociopaths only kill people who attempt to make them deviate from their goals or fit their victim profile, for which they have a 'reason'.

So, the issue at stake is how much easier reasoning makes it for us to kill someone. I think that strength of belief is directly proportional to ease of killing in the name of. If you strongly believe your family is in danger, you would have an easier time killing for it than you would for, perhaps, believing your country was in danger. It's about how strongly you believe.

I think that's why Nationalism of different sorts and religion are being so intertwined in this discussion. Both are strong belief systems, but that doesn't make Nationalism a religion. It just makes it a belief. Believing that the sky is green doesn't make it a religion, after all. Nor does it make it true. That doesn't mean the zealot down the street won't kill you for believing it's blue.

02-28-2006, 05:53 AM	#41 (permalink)
Anxst Condensing fact from the vapor of nuance. Location: Madison, WI	I think this is being looked at in the wrong way, personally. The issue here isn't that religion makes it easier for people to kill other people, but that most people are not sociopaths. A reason OF ANY KIND makes it easy to kill people, because you have a rationalization for it. Even sociopaths only kill people who attempt to make them deviate from their goals or fit their victim profile, for which they have a 'reason'. So, the issue at stake is how much easier reasoning makes it for us to kill someone. I think that strength of belief is directly proportional to ease of killing in the name of. If you strongly believe your family is in danger, you would have an easier time killing for it than you would for, perhaps, believing your country was in danger. It's about how strongly you believe. I think that's why Nationalism of different sorts and religion are being so intertwined in this discussion. Both are strong belief systems, but that doesn't make Nationalism a religion. It just makes it a belief. Believing that the sky is green doesn't make it a religion, after all. Nor does it make it true. That doesn't mean the zealot down the street won't kill you for believing it's blue. __________________ Don't mind me. I'm just releasing the insanity pressure from my headvalves.