chris cunningham <chrislee at neo.rr.com> wrote: *************************************snip************************************* and that people will believe "dumb shit," and act accordingly with our without religion, so religion's not to blame. but i can just as easily say that being compassionate, loving, and peaceful doesn't require any belief in "dumb shit," either. ***********************************snip***************************************** Hhhmmm, okay, I am about to have a bunch of people come unglued on me, but that is life. When a PERSON does nasty, evil things to another PERSON, the religion they supposedly follow is not to blame. The PERSON who does the nasty, evil things is to blame. When a group of PEOPLE do nasty, evil things to other PEOPLE, their religion is not to blame. The PEOPLE who did those things are to blame. I have yet to see the Scriptures of a major religion propose violence and harm upon others, even those not of their religion. The Bible does not do so. The Quran does not do so. The Talmud does not do so. In fact, in all of them, you will find a LOT of teachings that can be effectively translated as "Will you PLEASE be NICE to each other? Thanks, this is your God." The more I hear of people grumping about the evils of religion, the more I feel sorry for these poor, innocent, historical books that are getting a bad rap because a bunch of greedy nutcases have picked up a copy and have claimed that these books told them to do a lot of evil, nasty things. Religion isn't evil. Religion isn't good. Those poor books do try to tell people to be good, but people have this uncanny knack of seeing only what they want to see. It's not the poor book's fault. I wouldn't have a problem with Christians if they would just follow the teachings of Christ. Christ was a pretty nice guy and I'd probably have fun getting into a theological discussion with him. I wouldn't have a problem with Muslims if they would only follow the teachings of Muhammad. I think Muhammad was a pretty neat guy too....he had a thing for women being warriors. I can get behind that kind of thinking. The existence of a Deity is not provable. The non-existence of a Deity is not provable. ( Learned that in Philosophy 101...man, was my prof a sadist) That some choose to believe in a Deity makes them no better or worse than those who do not. The responsibility for evils committed does not lie with the religion followed by those who perpetrated those evils. It lies with the *people* who committed them. A side note about those poor books that everyone seems to be using as an excuse to do nasty, evil things: Imagine some nutcase reading the Taltos series and deciding that he is now a follower of the Prophet Vlad, who speaks for God, a.k.a. Steve. Now if this looney goes out and kills some people in the name of the Holy Order of Assasination, who is to blame? The nutcase? Or perhaps Steve is to blame for being God? Peace, Caliann Owned and Operated by the Grand Poohbah Cheese of the Universe* "Offense theives. -- they take it when it isn't offered." --Tom Digby --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now