stinkfist
nuts zongo's in the house
Posts: 68,821
Joined: Nov 2011
Reputation: 7006
I Root For: Mustard Buzzards
Location: who knows? |
RE: Garbage Religion
(10-11-2017 05:25 PM)umbluegray Wrote: (10-10-2017 09:43 PM)miko33 Wrote: (10-10-2017 05:39 PM)umbluegray Wrote: (10-10-2017 04:09 PM)miko33 Wrote: (10-10-2017 02:16 PM)Kaplony Wrote: Lenin
Stalin
Mao
Pol Pot
Mussolini
Slobodon Milosevic
While it's debatable how much each of these leaders were truly atheist (Stalin studied to be a priest, Pol Pot discussed karma like he was a Buddhist, etc), even with the point conceded that all of these guys were true blue atheists, there is at least a reasonable chance to estimate the amount of murder they committed.
Contrast that with the thousands of years of killing in the name of religion...I think the numbers would not be in favor of religion.
The only reason why Christians and Muslims did not kill more people during the middle ages is simple: they lacked the technology that the people in your list had access to. That is why this is such a fallacious argument. If person A had 5 million people killed while person B had 10 million deaths on his/her hands...it does not mean that person B is twice as evil as person A.
Here's an interesting article -- from HuffPo, no less.
Is Religion the Cause of Most Wars?
Quote:In their recently published book, “Encyclopedia of Wars,” authors Charles Phillips and Alan Axelrod document the history of recorded warfare, and from their list of 1763 wars only 123 have been classified to involve a religious cause, accounting for less than 7 percent of all wars and less than 2 percent of all people killed in warfare. While, for example, it is estimated that approximately one to three million people were tragically killed in the Crusades, and perhaps 3,000 in the Inquisition, nearly 35 million soldiers and civilians died in the senseless, and secular, slaughter of World War 1 alone.
Given this, religious war account for less than 2% of all people killed in warfare, logic demands that more than 98% were killed for reasons other than religion.
'What Every Person Should Know About War'
Quote:Estimates for the total number killed in wars throughout all of human history range from 150 million to 1 billion.
Going with some math here...
Low end: 150,000,000 deaths
Caused by Religious wars: <2% = 3,000,000
High end: 1,000,000,000
Caused by Religious wars: <2% = 20,000,000
So, based on the information from the two links above, wars caused by religion have claimed anywhere from 3 million to 20 million lives.
Mao was responsible for the death of an estimated 40 million to 65 million alone.
So, in the worst-case scenario, religious wars have been responsible for up to 20 million deaths throughout history. This pales to one mass extermination in the 20th century alone.
Regarding wars fought in the name of religion, you brought documentation to show that I was off the mark regarding that statement. Well done, because I learned a little bit more about history. The number of wars for truly secular reasons as a percentage of total number of wars is higher than I would have thought.
Regarding the evils of Mao, Stalin and Pol Pot, they surely did these in the name of communism. And regardless of their starting point in life, they appeared to be atheists at the time. But would you classify communism as a movement to promote atheism as its dominant feature? I would say no. The primary driver for communism was to enact a new economic system tied to a government to - in theory - create a workers paradise.
The original point I was going for was to state that at the end of the day, most atheists, christians, muslims, etc are very similar over all when it comes to the capacity of good or evil. In your last response, you cited the author's comments about WWI being a senseless secular war. I agree that it surely was. But what is also interesting about WWI is that most of the nations at war had an established state religion during that time period - which would objectively call them Christian Nations.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State_religion#Europe
Interestingly enough, a lot of the nations who fought in the war gave up their state religions around 1918.
Even when you look at the documentation you provided - 93% of wars fought were for secular reasons - that too would prove that it doesn't matter what religion you are or aren't. People are people, and that transcends religion.
I completely agree -- 100%. It's human nature -- regardless of religion. Which is also a suggestion as to why man needs religion.
As Benjamin Franklin replied to Thomas Paine after reading The Age of Reason, "If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?"
I have often noted that those who point the finger of hypocrisy toward Christians have no leg to stand on. Everyone is a hypocrite when it comes to living their life on their own chosen belief system.
I agree that the atheist can be as moral as the theist. However, the atheist has no objective basis for morality.
By the way, I'm including below the complete text of Franklin's review of Paine's work.
Quote:The Age of Reason – A Letter from Benjamin Franklin to Thomas Paine
I have read your manuscript with some attention. By the argument it contains against a particular Providence, though you allow a general Providence, you strike at the foundations of all religion. For, without the belief of a Providence that takes cognisance of, guards, and guides, and may favor particular persons, there is no motive to worship a Deity, to fear his displeasure, or to pray for his protection. I will not enter into any discussion of your principles, though you seem to desire it. At present I shall only give you my opinion that, though your reasons are subtle, and may prevail with some readers, you will not succeed so as to change the general sentiments of mankind on that subject, and the consequence of printing this piece will be, a great deal of odium drawn upon yourself, mischief to you, and no benefit to others. He that spits against the wind spits in his own face.
But were you to succeed, do you imagine any good would be done by it? You yourself may find it easy to live a virtuous life, without the assistance afforded by religion; you having a clear perception of the advantage of virtue, and the disadvantages of vice, and possessing a strength of resolution sufficient to enable you to resist common temptations. But think how great a portion of mankind consists of weak and ignorant men and women, and of inexperienced, inconsiderate youth of both sexes, who have need of the motives of religion to restrain them from vice, to support their virtue, and retain them in the practice of it till it becomes habitual, which is the great point for its security. And perhaps you are indebted to her originally, that is to your religious education, for the habits of virtue upon which you now justly value yourself. You might easily display your excellent talents of reasoning upon a less hazardous subject, and thereby obtain a rank with our most distinguished authors. For among us it is not necessary, as among the Hottentots, that a youth, to be raised into the company of men, should prove his manhood by beating his mother.
I would advise you, therefore, not to attempt unchaining the tiger, but to burn this piece before it is seen by any other person, whereby you will save yourself a great deal of mortification by the enemies it may raise against you, and perhaps a great deal of regret and repentance. If men are so wicked with religion, what would they be if without it?
I intend this Letter itself as a proof of my Friendship, and therefore add no Professions to it, but subscribe simply yours,
B.F
Obviously Paine did not follow Franklin's advice to "burn this piece." And Franklin was exactly right regarding his prediction of the backlash Paine would face.
As it was, after his death no cemetery would accept his body. He was buried in a field on his farm.
Thomas Paine's Remains Are Still a Bone of Contention
Los Angeles Times
April 01, 2001|From Associated Press
Quote:When he died in 1809, he was generally out of favor, partly for his opposition to organized religion, partly for his arguments against the elite running the country. He was buried on his farm but didn't even get the simple low stone wall around his grave that he specified in his will.
sounds eerily similar to someone I've seen in the mirror......
disclaimer: in no way am I a whore anymore....ben and corp. had it figured out 
(This post was last modified: 10-11-2017 06:29 PM by stinkfist.)
|
|
![[Image: giphy.gif]](https://media.giphy.com/media/Aff4ryYiacUO4/giphy.gif)
