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Permalink Reply by Mac B on March 23, 2011 at 7:48pm

To hijack this back on topic - this is exactly how I view Islam. The religion itself isn't any worse than Christianity, it's just sort of a couple of hundred years behind, so to speak. I view Islam as very dangerous, especially how it views women still. As the quote goes, it takes religion for good people to do evil things. And we are seeing problems in Europe now because of people, completely indoctrinated from birth, coming over and viewing people, and especially women, over here as living in sin. And no one can deal with the problem, I could probably be fired from my job even for carefully stating these facts.

However, even if I do think Islam perhaps isn't as "evolved" as Christianity, I don't know if the latter is much less dangerous. The catholic church who would rather see Africa consumed by AIDS than advocate the use of condoms comes to mind.
I'm dealing in absolutes here though, I realise there are of course cool muslims and catholics, but the religions themselves really aren't.

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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on March 26, 2011 at 8:08am

Hi from Australia, They sure did that with Australia, they sent English and Irish crims here, the ones who stole food for their familes etc. The result is that we are anti-authoritarian and have a female atheist, unmarried living with her boyfriend Prime Minister. How friggin good is that.

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Permalink Reply by Suzanne Olson-Hyde on February 18, 2012 at 11:38pm

Hey, you, Justin S - hang about...crims, nah, people who stole bread and spoons from the overlords - result, is we are a nation of anarchists, hate authority, but love our beaches :D I can walk anywhere, and on my Tshirt I can have - Religions - Weapons of Mass Destruction - and not get stoned or pilloried - someone might stop me to chat - but I have enough knowledge to argue a point, which by the way is really good fun :)

A this stage I think Islam is the biggest threat -  hundreds of years behind - and we are now getting sack covered women here - one accused a policeman of assaulting her by pulling off her hijab, she took the policeman to court - it was all on video - she was charged, probably with just being thick - but they are frigging scary.

The catholic church - these shites hiding behind cloth and cross - any poor catholic country, condoms are banned - criminal - babies are born, and proceed to starve to death - or there are so many children in the family, which the family just cannot sustain - no matter, as long as the catholic church has its empire.

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Permalink Reply by Tammy on March 23, 2011 at 4:48pm

I am by no means an expert or anything and I could be completely off in my thinking this...

 

All of them - it’s the underlying power of religion to ‘control’ that is so destructive - something every religion has in common. Without control there would be no followers and to have control you have to generate fear and create restrictions on a person’s freedom, humanity, morals, and inevitably punish individuality.

They are convinced that faith and conviction cannot be shaken, to be virtuous of faith grants reward. And, people will do anything to get their rewards (as pathetic as that is). Science by evidence supports fact. Evidence if believed would lead to doubt within the ranks. So religion, all religion, will suppress any and all evidence that would damage this conviction in their belief system (just look at history to see evidence of that suppression). After so much fear based indoctrination is it truly a wonder that people react violently when their faith is shaken or attacked. It doesn't matter what religion it is because there will always be people that will go to the extremes to protect these beliefs. Religion has always been the excuse, or driving force, for some of the worst atrocities imaginable. From pre-history to modern history, religion is, for many people, is just an excuse to kill other people.

I remember watching a documentary recently on the atom bomb. I lost count how many times God was thanked, praised, and/or used as an excuse in its creation and use.

I am not sure if I can properly word this how I want to but I will try…

If we start breaking religion up, this one is worse than that one then we start down playing religion as a whole. We focus on one while ignoring the other or dismissing the other as less of a problem. Its like having two kids and you begin focusing on the one that you think is worst. Later when it’s too late for you to react you realize that it was the quiet one that caused the worst destruction in the end. Another way I could put it is Islam is like the flesh eating rash you get on your skin. It's right there in the open attacking you, while Christianity is the parasite that eats away at you within your body, out of sight and out of mind. Sorry if that makes no sense...

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Permalink Reply by Hope on March 23, 2011 at 5:38pm

You are absolutely true.

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Permalink Reply by Justin S on March 23, 2011 at 7:21pm

Awesome post! I especially like the last paragraph. Reading the 'God Delusion' got me thinking of religion in terms of a virus but your analogy is even better.

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Permalink Reply by Tammy on March 23, 2011 at 7:24pm

Thank you! I wasn't sure if it would come across correctly so I appreciate your response.

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Permalink Reply by Adam Weber on March 25, 2011 at 12:20am

lol. Reading the 'God Dellusion' is sure to to kill a few brain cells and make you more bias.
I was reading 'The end of faith' by Sam Harris.
But his understanding of history, religion, ethics and philosophy was so poo

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Permalink Reply by Mo Trauen on March 25, 2011 at 10:29am

Yes, I think Tammy's post captured a valuable insight.  Christianity has simply gone into stealth mode because it could no longer simply exterminate its opponents.

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Permalink Reply by Walter Maki on March 23, 2011 at 7:59pm

Nice work Tammy I couldn't said it any better. Yes very good analogies as well.

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Permalink Reply by Tammy on March 23, 2011 at 9:13pm

Thank you Walter!

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Permalink Reply by Adam Weber on March 25, 2011 at 12:25am

Very cute.

I amuse myself remembering the time when I considered atheists and their arguments intelligent.

 

Cool fact: Did you know modern day science was founded by very religous men? So your idea that science and religion is at war is nearly on the same level as some creationists thinking that creation is a scientific theory.

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