Thread: We are God
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Old 08-30-2007, 11:25 AM   #74 (permalink)
Ustwo
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Quote:
Sorry, but the idea of a society in the absence of religion existed long before socialism. To claim that religion creates the sort of groups that atheism cannot would not only be inane but it would involve ignoring years of history which would prove otherwise. Look at the countries/regions which have actively pursued state atheism. Many times they often engaged in those things which most atheists seem to love criticizing theists-- Erm... Christians-- Of doing; Supressing 'non-compatible' ideas and indoctrinating the populace to think a certain way. Why, exactly, do you think ther phrase "In God We Trust" is printed on all US currency?
Using the socialist genocides as an indictment of atheism is weak at best, most weren't even atheists. The atheism in socialism was more an attack on existing power structures and had little to do with philosophy. When the Church is a direct part of the states power, and you are attacking that power, it follows you will attack the church as well.

As for the somewhat non-sequitur of 'In God We Trust', that is a good question, mostly because the founding fathers were not a religious lot and based on their writ tings mostly theists. Theists are for all intents and purposes atheistic in nature, and while these days the religious fervent attempt to claim theists as their own, in their days theists were viewed by the religious much as atheists are today. Sadly, I do have a number of books with references that covered this very issue but I have loaned them to my father inlaw who surprised me by being a deeper thinker than I had previously thought.


Quote:
Yes, I'm seriously asking this question (If you're going to mention the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, don't bother as there is about sixty'ish years of history to show that any and all repercussions the United States is facing is due to horrible foreign policy towards the Middle East since the end of WWII). Whereas such a statement might have been true towards the end of the 18th century, it isn't anymore. The overwhelming majority of wars fought today are caused either due to a lack of resources and/or conflicts between two or more political systems.
Again you miss the crux of the argument. Its not that the ultimate motivation for war was religion, it was that the religious differences become the excuse for immortality and murder. It doesn't seem to take that much to get someone to kill for you, but religion is very good at getting someone to die for you. To deny that religion is being used as the main fuel to incite conflict is to ignore the obvious.
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