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Originally Posted by ThatOldRedMagic
If you genuinely believe that your faith leads the charge for equality and tolerance you are either deluded or blind. Christianity and Judaism are equally as bad in principle, it's just that islam has not gone through the trauma, uncertainty and dilution which first the reformation, five hundred years ago, and then the enlightenment two to three hundred years ago forced upon christianity, ensuring at least and at last that no more single women were dragged from their homes and burned at the stake as witches. The horrors perpetrated in the name of religion, and particularly the three book religions, are without end, and they disgust me.
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Dilution? I'd say the Reformation was a purification, not dilution. But hey, its damned if you do damned if you don't isn't it unless its nothing short of abolition. So much for a reasonable, open minded person who is not a "bigoted bastard".
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All religions are man made and arise from a mixture of vanity and ignorance, boosted by their political potential as instruments of social control. Most people are like you; they are blind to this simple truth by virtue of the thorough brain-washing they receive at the knees of their parents. Children are born as simple humanists - atheists - but inevitably some deluded, bigoted bastard takes this away from them (along with part of their genitalia in many cases) before they are old enough to think for themselves.
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Somehow, I don't think you're very open minded yourself. You say religious nuts get humanity into trouble with its hatred for other religions, but what about the man who is angry at all religions?
Let me say your atheism is no better than any religion in that it is filled with its own dogma, its own intolerance, its own anger and hatred, its own evangelists, and its own ignorant members. Similarly, a religion will also have its own reasonable, self-critical, rational members who are not instantaneously "bigoted bastards". In my opinion, your sentence doesn't fit the crime. Religion has had its nuts, but there are always two sides to the story.
EDIT: By the way, perhaps we should have a spin-off thread (and yet another debate about religion). But maybe the caf is a place that doesn't mind.