When the majority chooses not to resist and stay silent..

[LaBong]

The greatest crimes in the history of humanity have their basis in Nazism, Maoism, and Marxism, not religion.

Were Crusaders also Atheists like Nazis? No disrespect meant!

 

[Illusive]

Respectfully disagree. People of genuine (merciful) faith do more good, charitable works, than those who profess no faith. There is no "Atheist Charity International". Secular Humanists do not feed and clothe the poor.

The greatest crimes in the history of humanity have their basis in Nazism, Maoism, and Marxism, not religion.

One place to examine to see what happens when a tyrannical and vicious minority has a stranglehold on peaceful and honest people is the actions of the major drug cartels in Mexico. Their tentacles are dug so deeply into local and national governments that "calling the police" will probably get a line to a group who is being paid off by the cartels. Instead of arresting cartel members, there'd be a good chance the police would come and visit you.

I am not saying this is the current state of affairs; it is an example of what can happen when fear takes hold, corruption is vast, and people live their lives with their eyes averted, as is happening in parts of Mexico. ANY resistance to the cartels is met with torture and death. At a certain point, it becomes too late to ever do anything constructive.

And what justifies terrorism in the name of religion, why do you think Israel and Palestine fight, why do people want to have a separate state because they belong to a religion, why do riots happen, why do US citizens don't want mosque on ground zero, what was the purpose of this programme burn quran, why middle east hate west.............all this points have 1 thing in common...RELIGION

Charity can be done by anyone, you just need will not faith.

 

[untitled]

More than half the world problem would have solved if there were no religion, the future be better without religion, since every one would have a similar mindset towards faith, and that faith should be directed towards well being of our species.

Why is religion to blame .... what is the west doing in the name of free speech, human rights, democracy, removal of tyranny... Should these virtues be banned to stop the other half of problems.

 

[Illusive]

Why is religion to blame .... what is the west doing in the name of free speech, human rights, democracy, removal of tyranny... Should these virtues be banned to stop the other half of problems.

That may be their answer to 9/11.

Forget that you can take example of India Pakistan situation and come to know what i am taking about, had there be no religion, do you think Paksitan would have existed, do you think there would have been communal violence. I am not saying without religion all problems would be solved, clashes of egos will always be there.

A muslim call god Allah and Hindu bhagwan, although both terms have same meanings, so where does the difference lies, mindset.
Both have made up their own stories which people believe and from there the gap just goes on increasing and that implies for all religion.

Differences in thinking clashes with one other, thus creating a chain of hatred.

 

[untitled]

That may be their answer to 9/11.

People will always find reasons to fight one another whether religion exists or not I can bet on that.

 

[Hafizzz]

I am sharing a write up I recieved from a friend describing a Germans political view on Islam. I find it to be relevant hence am sharing this.

I feel Edmund Burke's lines to be relevant..‘The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.’


A man, whose family was German aristocracy prior to World War II, owned a number of large industries and estates. When asked how many German people were true Nazis, the answer he gave can guide our attitude toward fanaticism. 'Very few people were true Nazis,' he said, 'but many enjoyed the return of German pride, and many more were too busy to care. I was one of those who just thought the Nazis were a bunch of fools. So, the majority just sat back and let it all happen. Then, before we knew it, they owned us, and we had lost control, and the end of the world had come. My family lost everything. I ended up in a concentration camp and the Allies destroyed my factories.'


We are told again and again by 'experts' and 'talking heads' that Islam is the religion of peace and that the vast majority of Muslims just want to live in peace. Although this unqualified assertion may be true, it is entirely irrelevant. It is meaningless fluff, meant to make us feel better, and meant to somehow diminish the spectre of fanatics rampaging across the globe in the name of Islam.

The fact is that the fanatics rule Islam at this moment in history. It is the fanatics who march. It is the fanatics who wage any one of 50 shooting wars worldwide. It is the fanatics who systematically slaughter Christian or tribal groups throughout Africa and are gradually taking over the entire continent in an Islamic wave. It is the fanatics who bomb, behead, murder, or honour-kill. It is the fanatics who take over mosque after mosque. It is the fanatics who zealously spread the stoning and hanging of **** victims and homosexuals. It is the fanatics who teach their young to kill and to become suicide bombers.


The hard, quantifiable fact is that the peaceful majority, the 'silent majority,' is cowed and extraneous.


Communist Russia was comprised of Russians who just wanted to live in peace, yet the Russian Communists were responsible for the murder of about 20 million people. The peaceful majority were irrelevant. China's huge population was peaceful as well, but Chinese Communists managed to kill a staggering 70 million people.

The average Japanese individual prior to World War II was not a warmongering sadist. Yet, Japan murdered and slaughtered its way across South East Asia in an orgy of killing that included the systematic murder of 12 million Chinese civilians; most killed by sword, shovel, and bayonet.

And who can forget Rwanda , which collapsed into butchery. Could it not be said that the majority of Rwandans were 'peace loving'?

History lessons are often incredibly simple and blunt, yet for all our powers of reason, we often miss the most basic and uncomplicated of points:

1. Peace-loving Muslims have been made irrelevant by their silence.
2. Peace-loving Muslims will become our enemy if they don't speak up, because like my friend from Germany , they will awaken one day and find that the fanatics own them, and the end of their world will have begun.

Peace-loving Germans, Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Rwandans, Serbs, Afghans, Iraqis, Palestinians, Somalis, Nigerians, Algerians, and many others have died because the peaceful majority did not speak up until it was too late. As for us who watch it all unfold, we must pay attention to the only group that counts--the fanatics who threaten our way of life.

The World should speak up before many more Kashmiris die.

 

[Chogy]

And what justifies terrorism in the name of religion,

NOTHING justifies it, which is why we have this entity known as the GWOT.

Charity can be done by anyone, you just need will not faith.

It certainly CAN... but I don't see it much. When you compare organized atheists with groups like Catholic Charities, various Protestant missions, ISlamic charities ( http://www.muhajabah.com/charity.htm) like these, the volume of actual charitable actions and goods is nil.

Atheists and agnostics (generalizing here) tend to take care of #1, and that is themselves.

As for the Crusades, are we going to point at an 800 year old conflict as an example of the problems we face in the modern world? Besides, the body count of every religious conflict in the last 3000 years pales before the industrial extermination practiced by secular (and avowed atheistic) organizations, all of which occurred in the last 85 years.

 

[Bang Galore]

As for the Crusades, are we going to point at an 800 year old conflict as an example of the problems we face in the modern world? Besides, the body count of every religious conflict in the last 3000 years pales before the industrial extermination practiced by secular (and avowed atheistic) organizations, all of which occurred in the last 85 years.

Would like to have examples of atheists exterminating anyone because of their lack of belief in atheism. There are plenty of examples available for the religious types doing that.

 

[untitled]

Would like to have examples of atheists exterminating anyone because of their lack of belief in atheism. There are plenty of examples available for the religious types doing that.

Well guess where did we get ideas like eugenics, Euthanasia, darwinisim (elimination of those who can't compete) ... from God fearing intellectuals?

 

[LaBong]

As for the Crusades, are we going to point at an 800 year old conflict as an example of the problems we face in the modern world? Besides, the body count of every religious conflict in the last 3000 years pales before the industrial extermination practiced by secular (and avowed atheistic) organizations, all of which occurred in the last 85 years.

It is the very problem of using religion to Geo-political ambition, the world is facing today, so it's very much relevant. The damage inflicted by people using religion as a tool for their purpose far outweighs any philanthropist activities by God fearing people. I'm from a city which hosted Mother Teresa and many Hindu philanthropist institutions, so I know the kind face of religion as well.

Also clubbing together Marxism, Nazism, Naxals etc and Atheists/Agnostics in general is pretty ignorant and reminds me of that General from Dr. Strangelove!

 

[CardSharp]

To OP,

It really seems you've already made up your mind on Islam and are looking to justify it by citing someone else who agrees with you. If the blind lead the blind, each would say the other can see.

 

[CardSharp]

It certainly CAN... but I don't see it much. When you compare organized atheists with groups like Catholic Charities, various Protestant missions, ISlamic charities ( http://www.muhajabah.com/charity.htm) like these, the volume of actual charitable actions and goods is nil.

Atheists and agnostics (generalizing here) tend to take care of #1, and that is themselves.

As for the Crusades, are we going to point at an 800 year old conflict as an example of the problems we face in the modern world? Besides, the body count of every religious conflict in the last 3000 years pales before the industrial extermination practiced by secular (and avowed atheistic) organizations, all of which occurred in the last 85 years.

If this is based on your perception then clearly you can see the problem here. I suspect that the reason you personally don't see "atheist" charity organizations is because there is by definition few atheist organizations. Atheism/agnosticism is not an organized system of belief, people don't go to an "atheist church" so what organizational structure if any are there to do charity work?

This I would like to point out that doesn't mean Atheists/non-religious persons do fewer good works just because they don't channel it through an organization labelled at Atheist (as with the Catholic church's spiritual reward for giving alms to the poor). Example, the bill and melinda gates foundation built on the wealth of Mr. Bill Gates (an atheist) is "the largest transparently operated private foundation in the world" with an endowment of US $33.5 billion. Though few people would identify it as an "Atheist" charity.

 

[CardSharp]

And this

The greatest crimes in the history of humanity have their basis in Nazism, Maoism, and Marxism, not religion.

is the pope all over again.

Pope visit: blaming atheists for Nazism is both silly and demonstrably wrong
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/cultur...-nazism-is-both-silly-and-demonstrably-wrong/

 

[SandsofTime]

Would like to have examples of atheists exterminating anyone because of their lack of belief in atheism. There are plenty of examples available for the religious types doing that.

True that there won't be many atheists who would fight against religious for the sake of belief. But without reinforcement of moral values there wouldn't be much to stop an atheist in a position of power to wipe out large numbers people for any other reason he/she deems fit, as can be seen with communism. Now you can say this person was bad to begin with and would have done the same regardless of if he was religious or not. But my point is having spiritual aspect to one's personality can deter or lower chances of such a tragedy happening.

 

[CardSharp]

True that there won't be many atheists who would fight against religious for the sake of belief. But without reinforcement of moral values there wouldn't be much to stop an atheist in a position of power to wipe out large numbers people for any other reason he/she deems fit, as can be seen with communism. Now you can say this person was bad to begin with and would have done the same regardless of if he was religious or not. But my point is having spiritual aspect to one's personality can deter or lower chances of such a tragedy happening.

Laughable. This, as opposed to millions of people killed by religious people in the position of power? Will you have me believe that a religious person is inherent more moral than an areligious person?

I haven't pinned the crimes of religious people on their religion, I'll thank you not to the same with non-religion people with your halfway logic.