After reconsideration, I have to agree.
Iâm blame mental issues more than religion.
Religion is a mental disorder for the most part. While most people use the magical thinking required to believe in their various takes on a supernatural invisible skybuddy/overlord as a coping mechanism and are not violent, letâs not mince words here. I also get that some are motivated by their irrational thought processes to do good (witness MLK, Ghandi, etc.) and I hold such people in great esteem. But the overlap of âreligionâ and mental disorder is more an issue of degree than type.
I donât think religion has any power.
I disagree (and history backs me up on this). As I said up thread when I paraphrased Voltaire, people that can be convinced to believe absurdities can be convinced to commit attrocities.
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I would say itâs IDEOLOGY. Some of the greatest mass murderers of recent times were nominal atheists-Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot. Religion is certainly a subset of ideology, but all ideologies have the potential to be twisted to justify murder,
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No worries. While I have major issue with religion, I also acknowledge that most religious people donât use their beliefs to justify or commit violence. Many find comfort in their magical thinking (and I donât begrudge them that even though it may come across that way). It is a double edge sword, but letâs not pretend it is not a dangerous and deadly thing. Irrational/delusional thinking is issue, whether people use it as a benign coping mechanism or an accelerant into a full psychotic break with reality seems to me to be the crux of the problem.
Throw in political, racial and/or cultural conflict on top, and you get this sort of shit.
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Although I have handled guns and have hunters in the family, I am not pro-gun aâtall. But this story gives even me the creeping fear that maybe âI should protect myself and my family.â
Luckily I am trained in risk assessment. Be safe on the highways, folks.
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More people died in the purely intrareligious wars in France at the end of the 16th century between the Catholics and the Huguenots (aka Protestants) than Pol Pot. And that was before modern weaponry. Most of the deaths under Communist regimes were because of the failures of command economic systems (via starvation) and despotic exercise of state power, which is one of several reasons why I reject communism.
Also Stalin and Mao were not actually atheists either. While Mao was not a mono-theist, he was not an atheist either. Hell he wrote poetry about gods. Stalin was Eastern-Orthodox (albeit nominally, which you acknowledged as well).
That said I get your point and donât really disagree with it as much as the above might make it seem.
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Just proves again how important it is for people on a rampage to have ready access to assault weapons.
THANKS AGAIN, NRA!!!
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With each outburst of religious intolerance, with each death laid at the feet of some murderer who believes his Skygod, his imaginary friend, to be superior to some others imaginary friend, it should be glaringly apparent that âGodâ and âgodsâ are created by man in his image: violent, intolerant, cruel and vicious.
And kudos and applause to The New York Daily News:
The airwaves were overloaded with âthoughts and prayersâ for the victims of this savagery and did exactly what âthoughts and prayersâ ALWAYS do in these situationsâŚnot one fu*king bit of good.
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I think we generally agree. However, I wouldnât totally agree with you on Stalin or Mao. The starvation of the kulaks certainly had an element of deliberateness, not just a terrible economic system. And of course Stalin and Mao did have a great many killed deliberately in their purges. And while Stalin was raised Orthodox and even studied for the priesthood, Iâm not sure it would be correct to call him a believer at the time he ruled. I donât know enough about Maoâs poetry to say how authentically religious they are.
That said, I think ANY ideology that demands obedience and attempts to subsume human beings under its dictates is subject to being manipulated to produce great death and destruction. Those who kill out of simple selfishness will soon run out of those whose death can bring them advantage. Those who kill in a greater cause can always invent new victims.
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You are correct. I hoped onto my desktop computer to correct it (typing in my iPhoneâs Chiclet⢠size comment drafting window while in bed, lead me to mangle what I was trying to type).
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Ah, so your argument is that most violence in history has been committed by people with religious beliefs. Since the vast, vast majority of people in history have had religious beliefs, that is absolutely true but meaningless.
I study ancient history. Ancients did not have exclusivist religious views; that is, they considered different religious views to be normal and fine. But they had constant and bloody wars over resources. But I guess since they had religious beliefs, some will believe those religious beliefs were the primary cause of all that violence. I believe that resource scarcity and the seemingly innate human belief that outsiders are less human is the cause. (If you donât believe me that it is innate, look at the way this genuinely fabulous comment community describes conservatives and sometimes religious people.)
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Saudi Arabia shows up as a piece of evidence in yet another terrorist attack. Coincidence?
And whatâs with this couple? They have different names and a child? That doesnât sound like a very devout religious family. Something doesnât add up here. Itâs about as absurd as saying the Palin Clan are devout Christians.
There is just too much arrogance, hate and easily acquired automatic weapons to go around for the number of mentally-deficient people hoping to commit an atrocity for whatever politically-incorrect religious excuse they want to give. I suppose the NSA will find a manifesto of some sort on a social media site explaining it all.
Itâs evident that most of these terrorists, domestic and foreign, donât think there is anything much worth living forâŚincluding raising one of the Unborn after it is six months old. Fundamentalist religion certainly isnât doing its job.
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fucking monsters
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But religion has always helped define âthe Othernessâ of outsiders, becoming a major characteristic in seeing them as âless humanâ. Our tribe has its own deities, and our deities are rightâŚtherefore theirâs are wrong. Letâs fight a battle and that will prove it.
The history of man is a violent one, no disagreement there. But to say that religion doesnât play a major motivating factor, seems to be turning a blind eye.
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Obviously, this is domestic terrorism. I donât care if they were Islamists or Seventh Day Adventists, this is terrorism that was probably related to religion.
As a liberal, but I hope one with some common sense, itâs time we began to really crack down on those religious groups that are fostering religious terrorism. That sadly extends from radical Islamists to born again Christian right wing pro-life nuts. We need to remove the âgod excuseâ from our social fabric.
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Jeez, Iâm shocked that they ran with this cover. Kudos to the Daily News.
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Based on the early reporting, background checks alone would not have prevented this latest gun attack in the US.
There is absolutely no reason, none, for any American civilian to have access to or ownership of a military class weapon. The NRA is full of crap! It is time to ban all military class weapons from the streetsâŚget the assault rifles and high volume clip handguns off our streets!
I am a upland bird and big game hunter - it is past time to get the military class weapons out of the hands of civilians.
As a nation, we should be registering and licensing gun owners just like we license and register drivers and their cars!
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Not one thought of the impact this will have on their 6-month-old daughterâs life. It boggles the mind.
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Now that the San Bernadino shooting has pushed Colorado Springs off the front page do our Domestic Christian Terrorists feel a need to up the ante?
When will this all end?
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In our world, we decide that othersâ beliefs are wrong. In the ancient world, everyone 's beliefs were considered accurate. The worst it got was that the winner boasted his gods were stronger than the loserâs gods.
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