Lord knows that theist can be violent, and judgmental of those with whome they disagree. Dawkinites will have you believe that a society without religion will be peaceful and tolerant...

Like sunny happy laos!

http://www.christianpost.com/article/201...hristians/

Residents drained water from the rice paddies, burned fencing that protected the crop from animals and stamped on new seedlings to ensure the rice would not grow, advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF) reported.

“All 11 families were doing off-season farming on their old rice paddies on communally-owned village land,” a spokesman from HRWLRF told Compass. “If they don’t farm, they will most likely lose the right to work on their land. Also, they need the rice to sustain themselves.”

The fields were destroyed just a few days after the Katin village chief and other village authorities armed with guns entered the homes of another seven Christian families, totaling 15 people, and ordered them to give up their faith.

Step 1) Go to Google News
Step 2) Type in Middle East
Step 3) Read

Game over.

(12-30-2010 02:58 PM)georgia_tech_swagger Wrote:  Step 1) Go to Google News
Step 2) Type in Middle East
Step 3) Read

Game over.

Step 1) Don't try to misrepresent what someone says
Setp 2) Check my Premise (Violence is all Human and not Religion)
Step 3) Read the Article

Game over.

Are you implying that the Laotians expellers were atheists?

I highly, highly doubt that.

Now, the plural of andecdote is never data, but let me tell you, as one who has lived in and has a university degree pertaining to SE Asia, and has travelled extensively in that region, that there are few if any atheists in rural Asia. Maybe in the cities, but when the article says "rice farmers" and "tribesmen" and "jungle," we're not talking atheism.

I'd bet you a ticket to the first Coach Kill headlined Goofer game at TCF that these tribesmen where Buddhist or Animist. Atheists? No way.

(12-30-2010 02:26 PM)Bull_In_Exile Wrote:  Lord knows that theist can be violent, and judgmental of those with whome they disagree. Dawkinites will have you believe that a society without religion will be peaceful and tolerant...

Like sunny happy laos!

http://www.christianpost.com/article/201...hristians/

Residents drained water from the rice paddies, burned fencing that protected the crop from animals and stamped on new seedlings to ensure the rice would not grow, advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF) reported.

“All 11 families were doing off-season farming on their old rice paddies on communally-owned village land,” a spokesman from HRWLRF told Compass. “If they don’t farm, they will most likely lose the right to work on their land. Also, they need the rice to sustain themselves.”

The fields were destroyed just a few days after the Katin village chief and other village authorities armed with guns entered the homes of another seven Christian families, totaling 15 people, and ordered them to give up their faith.

Us atheists don't claim that the world would be tolerant and peaceful without religion. That is impossible. It is man's nature to fear, envy, and want. That has nothing to do with religion. Now I would contend that the world would have one less screen to hide behind in order to be intolerant if there was no religion, but ******** will still be ******** and still do ******* things.

(12-30-2010 04:59 PM)Lord Stanley Wrote:  Are you implying that the Laotians expellers were atheists?

I highly, highly doubt that.

Now, the plural of andecdote is never data, but let me tell you, as one who has lived in and has a university degree pertaining to SE Asia, and has travelled extensively in that region, that there are few if any atheists in rural Asia. Maybe in the cities, but when the article says "rice farmers" and "tribesmen" and "jungle," we're not talking atheism.

I'd bet you a ticket to the first Coach Kill headlined Goofer game at TCF that these tribesmen where Buddhist or Animist. Atheists? No way.

At first blush, I thought "Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF)" was the secular organization that organized the incident. But, this seemingly secular group is naught but a public relations face (1, 2, 3) for evangelical groups that are probably at the center of the issue to begin with. So, this story is part and parcel of an evangelical effort to impose Christianity on the Laotians and the spin with scant evidence (at best conflating atheism and communism) as an anti-atheist screed is a pathetic emotional attempt to gain sympathy.

Rebel - in all honesty, would your reaction to this be the same if you replace "Christian" with "Muslim" and "Atheist" with "Infidel", all else being the same?