Posted by b.b. on February 1, 2000, at 0:18:45
In reply to Re: effects of religious intolerance, posted by Elizabeth on January 31, 2000, at 22:18:28
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> Atheists don't kill, persecute, or harrass people in the name of atheism. (I think Stalin is a bad example since he did these things to people for being his political enemies; religion was incidental.)>Actually Stalin was the main reason the catholic church never gained a foothold in the USSR. The persecution of priests and followers by Stalin is well documented. He did this in the name of "Mother Russia". Religion and government are never incidental. The two almost always go hand in hand. That is why we have the separation of church and state in our constitution.
> > I'm not sure if killing people in the name of God (or whoever) is necessarily a perversion of religious beliefs, though.>Adam your knowledge of the Old Testament is interesting. What motivated you to study the Bible? Actually though if you read the New Testament and this is where the word Christian is derived Christ's doctrine differs enormously with that of the Old Testament. That is one of the reasons why he was persecuted. Christ preaches a doctrine of humility and pacifism one that was a stark contrast to the powerful Isreal of the Old Testament. The word Christian is used much to loosely and many have used it to seek personal gains. Hence a perversion of the actual faith.
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> > But Christians and Jews alike tend to ignore a lot that textual stuff these days. I'm certainly not complaining. What disturbs me a bit is that so many devout followers of Western religions actually know very little about the history and the literature of their own faith, or regard such matters as relatively unimportant.> I agree. The Western culture itself does not place much value anymore on religion of any sort. That is one reason many are disillusioned and cynical whenever Christ's name is mentioned. Too many people become comfortable with going to church every sunday and leaving it at that. It's funny because sunday isnt even the true sabbath.
poster:b.b.
thread:19818
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000128/msgs/20279.html