Belief in a creator is political poison

faethor

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Sam Harris on ISIS A notable atheist author Sam Harris brings the ideas of belief in a deity and his dictates is but the reason for the problem and ISIS is but a symptom. A good read, though be wary if you're religious.
 

metalman

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ISIL (ISIS) speaks for no religion… and no faith teaches people to massacre innocents. No just God would stand for what they did yesterday and what they do every single day. ISIL has no ideology of any value to human beings. -- President Obama

Now let’s make two things clear: ISIL (ISIS) is not Islamic. -- President Obama

The article is about how Obama has his head up his ass


But there is now a large industry of obfuscation designed to protect Muslims from having to grapple with these truths. Our humanities and social science departments are filled with scholars and pseudo-scholars deemed to be experts in terrorism, religion, Islamic jurisprudence, anthropology, political science, and other diverse fields, who claim that where Muslim intolerance and violence are concerned, nothing is ever what it seems. Above all, these experts claim that one can’t take Islamists and jihadists at their word

ISIS = "Islamic State of Iraq and al-Shaam"
Shaam = greater syria or Levant

But a belief in martyrdom, a hatred of infidels, and a commitment to violent jihad are not fringe phenomena in the Muslim world. These preoccupations are supported by the Koran and numerous hadith.

very true

jihad is conquest by sword
 

cecilia

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this is why Hitchens wrote "...Religion Poisons Everything"

because it does

it's toxic
 

FluffyMcDeath

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Well, I read it. It's bullshit. The crux of the bullshit is highlighted by this line:

A single line in Matthew—“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”—largely accounts for why the West isn’t still hostage to theocracy.

Complete nonsense. That line has been in there for centuries, perhaps more than 17 of them - but in that time countries have run on religious authority (Christianity was the state religion of Rome) and Rome chose kings throughout Europe and Christian Europe was plenty backwards and blood thirsty enough until ... until they got wealthy. When Christians got comfy they got soft. Current Islam is being blasted by us so they are getting hard. Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Iran were on a path to western liberalism under their own power until other world powers decided that they could be better custodians of their resources than the locals were.
There are also virulent forms of Christianity that thrives on an imagined "war on Christians" and virulent Judaism too, which, apparently, it's bad manners to mention. All the religions that have any purchase in the modern world have it because of how it motivated groups in the past especially under duress.
 
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