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Religion
In reply to the discussion: March 25 good news: 84 percent of the world population has faith........ [View all]beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)144. Again - not a straw man since you suggested there were different interpretations.
After you brought up that old canard I asked you to explain how those passages could be interpreted differently. So it's not a logical fallacy. But nice try.
If you believe most "religious wars" were really about religion, maybe you should do more reading about history.
Religious wars are by definition religious - there's no need for scare quotes. Pretending that millions of people weren't oppressed and slaughtered in the name of religion is historical revisionism. It's the same argument used by southerners who claim the Civil War wasn't about slavery because they don't like how history reflects badly on their ancestors.
I suggest anything by Karen Armstrong, a religious history scholar (Before you deny arguing that, note that you said these verses " made" people do those things).
I'm not going to read books by religious scholars who are only interested in exonerating religion. If I was interested in that perspective I could simply go to Conservapedia or any right wing religious website.
If you have any evidence from unbiased sources that proves wars weren't fought over religion and/or that religious people didn't believe they were doing what their god wanted when they followed the instructions in their holy book I'll be happy to look at it. However I've seen people attempt to prove that allegation countless times before and they always fall far short.
My position is that it is a stilted and myopic view of religion to focus on a few versus (that most people treat as nothing more than historical) without seeing any of the myriad of good things religion has brought to the daily lives of billions.
Now see THAT is a straw man. No one here has a "stilted and myopic view of religion" - well at least none of the atheists do. And we don't claim that religion doesn't inspire people to do good things. We simply prefer a more realistic historical perspective - one not based on years of bible class and a chronic lack of exposure to facts about religious persecution throughout the ages.
Those who claim religious believers haven't oppressed, slaughtered and waged wars against other humans because of their religious beliefs are usually suffering from confirmation bias. They ignore overwhelming evidence to the contrary and instead concentrate on carefully selected religious "scholars" who pander to believers that want a rosier picture of their history.
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March 25 good news: 84 percent of the world population has faith........ [View all]
guillaumeb
Mar 2017
OP
Oh I think we can do better. For instance wasn't the first slave ship named after Jesus?
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#8
I thought about that too but for eight years we made it clear we weren't in a holy war with Islam.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#16
Except religious abolitionists went against their own holy book when they opposed slavery.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#18
If that was such an important concept why did so many Christians support slavery?
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#57
Yes - but again said atheists aren't citing a holy book to support those positions.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#61
Really? Quoting the bible is "attacking faith" and stating facts is "stereotyping" people?
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#111
Most Christians do not take everything in the Bible literally or apply ancient laws to modern life..
HopeAgain
Mar 2017
#113
Again - not a straw man since you suggested there were different interpretations.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#144
Interesting. I googled your religious "scholar" and it appears I was correct.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#145
This isn't about belief, it's about facts and history -apologists distort both to pimp their agenda.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#152
The point is that people justify what they do by saying that they are following a code of behavior.
guillaumeb
Mar 2017
#26
That's a fairly audacious deployment of snark given how egregiously wrong you are.
Act_of_Reparation
Mar 2017
#99
Straw man. Please show me where I discussed and/or determined their motivation.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#47
False equivalency. There is no holy book instructing atheists to enslave, torture and murder people.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#59
And I focus on religion's victims because they're often ignored when people discuss the good news.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#64
In my reading, "hell" is short for "sheol." Which stood for the underground.
Bretton Garcia
Apr 2017
#164
Good news? Religion has been the cause of murder, torture, wars, oppression
The Velveteen Ocelot
Mar 2017
#51
There is oppression being committed by the nominally atheistic rulers in Russia.
guillaumeb
Mar 2017
#68
False equivalency. They may BE atheists but they don't do it in the name of atheism.
AtheistCrusader
Mar 2017
#71
Well, I'm not a mind reader, but I see no reason to think, for the additional reasons I outlined,
AtheistCrusader
Mar 2017
#92
You should keep up - Putin and the ROC are responsible for oppressing lgbt people in Russia.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#115
It's proof that religious leaders are responsible for anti-lgbt discrimination in Russia.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#126
Does the Pope go to interfaith services claiming to be a devout Jew or Muslim?
Act_of_Reparation
Mar 2017
#130
No they're proof that both men pray and accept communion just like other theists.
beam me up scottie
Mar 2017
#131