Why?

[jewscout]

Stalin was not brought up in an Atheist household, however, and he may have been abused as a child.

Stalin even wanted to be a priest at one point in his life.

but did he use religion as an excuse for slaughtering millions of people?

 

[DakotaGypsy]

Obviously Stalin was not exposed to a decent level of morality in his early life, in his religious training.

Life was pretty brutal in Christian Russia, the czars were not very nice to the peasants.

 

[jewscout]

Obviously Stalin was not exposed to a decent level of morality in his early life, in his religious training.

Life was pretty brutal in Christian Russia, the czars were not very nice to the peasants.

you ignore the question and make excuses...
did he or did he not use religion as an excuse to slaughter millions of people?

 

[jewscout]

Why do I hate religion?

I've just told you why.

I must also remind you that under the non-theocratic rule of Saddam Hussein the Sunnis and Shi'ites lived together in a semblance of peace.

Which is precisly why my nation, the United States of America was founded under a constitution which forbade a theocratic state.

Which is why I am frightened because of the theocratic presidency of George Walker Bush.

He and his equally stupid administration people have forgotten the horrors of the religious wars in horrifically theocratic Old Europe.

Damnation to all religions! I am sick of the horrors and divisiveness bestowed upon humanity by religion!

so you consider the repression and fear of the regime of saddam hussein a good thing?
i do not see your reasoning...
peace in Iraq prior to the war was maintained by fear, pure and simple.

that it is glorified here scares me.

 

[DakotaGypsy]

Do you mean, did he slaughter millions because they were Christians?

 

[jewscout]

Do you mean, did he slaughter millions because they were Christians?

Did he slaughter and oppress millions of people because it was the will of G-d or some other Divine force?
was that his expressed reasoning?

 

[Buttercup]

Dakota,

Humans are clannish and territorial by nature. Even if there were not a speck of religion on the planet....wars would erupt over territory. Of this I am certain.

 

[Green Gaia]

Damnation to all religions! I am sick of the horrors and divisiveness bestowed upon humanity by religion!

What horrors and divisiveness has Unitarian Universalism caused? I'm just curious....

 

[evearael]

If you agree with Foucault, the will to power is the root of all relationships and actions on the micro scale. Expand this out to a macro scale and it is easy to see the level of corruption in all human institutions, including religion. That said, the same will shall manifest itself regardless of the existance of religion, so to blame religion for the aggregate wills of individuals is misguided, at best.

 

[Popeyesays]

Stalin was not brought up in an Atheist household, however, and he may have been abused as a child.

Stalin even wanted to be a priest at one point in his life.

You are projecting today's standards upon the past. That makes your point of view skewed.

Regards,
Scott

 

[jewscout]

If you agree with Foucault, the will to power is the root of all relationships and actions on the micro scale. Expand this out to a macro scale and it is easy to see the level of corruption in all human institutions, including religion. That said, the same will shall manifest itself regardless of the existance of religion, so to blame religion for the aggregate wills of individuals is misguided, at best.

i completely agree!!
:clap

 

[Popeyesays]

Obviously Stalin was not exposed to a decent level of morality in his early life, in his religious training.

Life was pretty brutal in Christian Russia, the czars were not very nice to the peasants.

You are projecting today's moral standards on to yesterday.

Winston Churchill had an abusive childhood, was also neglected by his father.

Mahatma Ghandi was also beaten by his father, he recalls several incidents in various interviews. George Washington was routinely "whipped" by his father.

Different standards, different times.
Projecting today's morality on the past is not cohesive thinking.

Regards,
Scott

 

[Sunstone]

If you agree with Foucault...

I never agree with anyone who seeks to explain all of human nature by one principle or "root cause".

 

[JillianMarie77]

Why do I hate religion?

I've just told you why.

I must also remind you that under the non-theocratic rule of Saddam Hussein the Sunnis and Shi'ites lived together in a semblance of peace.

Which is precisly why my nation, the United States of America was founded under a constitution which forbade a theocratic state.

Which is why I am frightened because of the theocratic presidency of George Walker Bush.

He and his equally stupid administration people have forgotten the horrors of the religious wars in horrifically theocratic Old Europe.

Damnation to all religions! I am sick of the horrors and divisiveness bestowed upon humanity by religion!

I agree. Except I don't damn religion and feel it serves a purpose in many individuals lives. But I do agree that it should stay there (in THAT individuals life) and not be shoved in to mine. Or yours. Or anyone who doesn't want it.

 

[Life of Brian]

if religion isn't inheirantly human then name one civilization without it...

 

[jewscout]

if religion isn't inheirantly human then name one civilization without it...

officially....
The Soviet Union.

 

[PureX]

Why do I hate religion?

I've just told you why.

I must also remind you that under the non-theocratic rule of Saddam Hussein the Sunnis and Shi'ites lived together in a semblance of peace.

Which is precisely why my nation, the United States of America was founded under a constitution which forbade a theocratic state.

Which is why I am frightened because of the theocratic presidency of George Walker Bush.

He and his equally stupid administration people have forgotten the horrors of the religious wars in horrifically theocratic Old Europe.

Damnation to all religions! I am sick of the horrors and divisiveness bestowed upon humanity by religion!

There are many millions of Muslims in the world, and most of them will never harm another human being for the sake of their religious beliefs. Same goes for Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, and people of any sort of religion. The few who will do harm to others for the sake of their religious beliefs will do so because they have turned their own religious beliefs ABOUT God into a false idol OF God. A false idol is a man-made object or ideal representation of God that comes to be revered as if it actually were God. Some Christians have turned their bible into a false idol of God, and now revere it as if it were God Himself. These are the kinds of Christians who are most likely to do harm to other people for the sake of their religious beliefs, because they have mistaken their own man-made concept of God (their religious beliefs) for God Himself, and so have also made their own concept of God sacrosanct, and infallible. They believe that whatever they think God wants, is what God wants. And that makes them very dangerous.

Some Muslims, too, have a tendency to turn their religious leaders into false idols (representations) of God, and in the same way come to believe that whatever their leaders tell them Allah wants them to do, is what Allah wants them to do. This makes them very dangerous, as we all have seen.

The problem isn't religion, so much as it's the false idolization of religion. Most people understand that religion is a set of man-made ideas, traditions, rituals and practices about God, and are not the representation of God Itself. But some are not willing or able to recognize this. And it's those that become dangerous to the rest of us. It's those who are liable to take any idea they hold about God and imagine that it's God's own will that they carry that idea out. They have lost touch with reality in favor of an imagined religious reality that they have rendered unquestionable through the righteousness their God. It's insanity rendered absolute. And that is definitely a dangerous state of mind for anyone to be in, and for everyone around anyone who's in it.

 

[DakotaGypsy]

You are projecting today's moral standards on to yesterday.

Winston Churchill had an abusive childhood, was also neglected by his father.

Mahatma Ghandi was also beaten by his father, he recalls several incidents in various interviews. George Washington was routinely "whipped" by his father.

Different standards, different times.
Projecting today's morality on the past is not cohesive thinking.

Regards,
Scott

Churchill is a pretty interesting historical study. He worshipped his abusive father and did his utmost to reclaim his father's reputation, refusing to acknowledge the sordid facts of his father's life. Winston was a tad unstable. The only thing that kept him centered was his writing--and possibly, his American mother Jennie Jerome Churchill Cornwallis-West Porch who, despite her multiple marriages and affairs with the like of Count Charles Andres Kinsky, King Edward VII of England, King Milan of Serbia, was a steadying force upon her son.

Well, she was a beauty--and she took advantage of it.

 

[DakotaGypsy]

Oh, I must also add, that despite Churchill's instability, he certainly was magnificent during World War II.

Also, his upbringing certainly must have been more secular than that of Stalin--and Washington enjoyed to an extent a life of status and privilege that mitigated the abuse of his father. Perhaps he had a mother like Jennie Churchill.

 

[Green Gaia]

DakotaGypsy, you didn't answer my question:

Damnation to all religions! I am sick of the horrors and divisiveness bestowed upon humanity by religion!

What horrors and divisiveness has Unitarian Universalism caused? I'm just curious....