On Monday, March 10, 1997 11:43 PM, David McFadzean =
morpheus@lucifer.com, wrote:=20
It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to=20
humanity posed by the AIDS virus, "mad cow" disease, and=20
many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is=20
one of the world's great evils, comparable to the smallpox=20
virus but harder to eradicate.
You don't make a case.
1. Do you mean only religious faith?
2. How about secular faiths such as equality which are hardly =
sustainable by scientific fact and yet are preached more aggressively =
than many religions. It's illegal to discriminate on the basis of a =
religious belief opposing divorce which is supportable by evidence. Yet =
it is not only permissible, but mandatory to discriminate on the basis =
of equality which is not. Which is then more evil?
3. Remember that more people have been killed in the name of socialism =
in this century than in the name of religion in all of history.
4. Robespierre, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot all killed in the name =
of secularism.
5. Recent studies show that young men raised without fathers are much =
more likely to commit crime. Which contributes more to their being =
raised without fathers? Religion which teaches against premarital sex =
and divorce or secularism that teaches against it's restraint?
6. What anti-slavery movement was not driven primarily by religious =
Christians?
7. Simply put you make no case against religious faith. You make no case =
for the alternative. Those who speak most vociferously against religion =
speak equally as strongly against adopting evolution as a basis for a =
moral framework. What then is to be the basis: Equality and socialism =
which have never been attempted to be implemented without getting large =
numbers of people killed?
8. When Judaism was established, its first order of business was to =
prohibit the sacrifice of children.
9. When Christianity was first established, its first order of business =
was to prohibit slavery and pederasty.
10. When Islam was first established, its first order of business was to =
prohibit infanticide.
11. Whenever socialism has been established, its first order of business =
has always been mass executions.
12. Make a case against faith if you can. History will not help you.
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