Dragaera

The Religion Debate

Thu Nov 28 09:52:58 PST 2002

I can't believe that I'm getting involved in this discussion,  especially 
given how little I've read of it.  Still, here it goes.

David, your belief that Religion is to blame for hurting people and causing 
the destruction of great civilizations is fallacious.  It wasn't religion, 
spirituality, or the belief in the supernatural that did that- it was 
people.  Religion is merely an institution, a way of looking at the world, a 
vehicle for one's actions.  It is not an independant, thinking entity.

If we follow your logic, we might as well blame science for Nuclear warfare 
and the harm it has visited upon the human populace.  I prefer to place 
blame upon the psychos who use it.

Furthermore, religion has been used as a vehicle for great achievements such 
as the Ancient Egyptian society, amazing works of art (Milton, Homer, 
Shakespeare), philosophical treaties, and charitable works.

Therefore, I feel that religion is like all human endeavors: flawed, with 
many questionable actions but with an equal number of actions that were 
unquestionably good and altruistic in nature.

BTW, I'm Agnostic.  If you feel that my beliefs have any relevance in this 
discussion.

Alex

Postscript: I'm sorry if I'm repeating anybody in my spiel.






----Original Message Follows----
From: Steven Brust <skzb at dreamcafe.com>
To: David Dyer-Bennet <dd-b at dd-b.net>, dragaera at dragaera.info
Subject: Re: The Religion Debate
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2002 00:02:58 -0800

At 08:56 PM 11/27/2002 -0600, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
>
>Maybe.  I object strenuously to the whole concept of religion,
>spirituality, etc.  It's superstitious nonsense, and hurts people, and
>destroys great civilizations.

Okay, but other than that, does it do any harm?

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