Comments on: No One Dies for Religion

By: Alfonso

Alfonso — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:32:54 +0000

QAgsHCpnPLi5c

By: Laeticia

Laeticia — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 08:47:58 +0000

Religion means a lot for me… Yet i’ll never kill someone for it, religion represents tolerance, peace and love towards others for me……

By: Jason Godesky

Jason Godesky — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 13:52:17 +0000

While I am inclined to believe that states will pretty much never go to war for purely (or even mainly) religious reasons, individuals can be motivated to participate in those wars, to kill and to die in them, for purely religious reasons or close.

Absolutely. Take a look at a group like al-Qa’ida. One of the storylines in Syriana actually provides a close portrait of how this happens. Yes, the leadership is undoubtedly deeply religious and motivated in those terms. But it’s the indignation of neocolonial policies and the abuses of American-backed despots that drives most of al-Qa’ida’s rank and file into the organization. If you ask them their reasons, they may well begin quoting the Qu’ran to you, but that’s not what drove them into the organization in the first place. Just like the kids in Syriana: they didn’t go to the madrassah because they were so religious; they went because the madrassah would give them french fries.

By: Hasha

Hasha — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 01:53:51 +0000

It’s tricky. While I am inclined to believe that states will pretty much never go to war for purely (or even mainly) religious reasons, individuals can be motivated to participate in those wars, to kill and to die in them, for purely religious reasons or close. Just as other individuals will be motivated to participate by a taste for adventure, or a desire for fame, or a desire for wealth, or what have you. On the individual level, these aren’t pure rationalizations: these are people’s real motives. Doesn’t change the fact that, without some kind of material/economic background, the states in which these individuals live would never have engaged in these wars, and so these individuals would’ve had no choice but to find alternative outlets for their religiousness/adventurousness/vanity/greed.

By: Jim

Jim — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:29:47 +0000

Part of the ambiguity and controversy involved in defining atheism arises from the similar ambiguity and controversy in defining words like deity and God. The plurality of wildly different conceptions of God and deities leads to differing ideas regarding atheism’s applicability. In contexts where theism is defined as the belief in a singular personal God, for example, people who believe in a variety of other deities may be classified as atheists, including deists and even polytheists. In the 20th century, this view has fallen into disfavor as theism has come to be understood as encompassing belief in any divinity.

By: Jason Godesky

Jason Godesky — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 14:45:59 +0000

I should think that’s obvious—even in the conventional view of it, the Catholic vs. Protestant conflict is a mere veneer to the deeper power struggle of the Habsburgs vs. everyone else in Europe. Look at the one exceptional case, France—a Catholic country, but who did they side with? Hint: Not the Catholics.

By: venuspluto67

venuspluto67 — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 06:54:21 +0000

So what was The Thirty Years War about if it wasn’t really about religion?

By: “Treating us like human beings.” (The Anthropik Network)

“Treating us like human beings.” (The Anthropik Network) — Mon, 11 Dec 2006 15:43:44 +0000

[…] The video at right, featuring “the coolest 8 year old in the world,” was released on YouTube to help promote the Bastard Fairies’ song, “We’re All Going to Hell.” There’s been a lot of blogger speculation that this is the daughter of Yellow Thunder Woman, who is herself the daughter of Native rights campaigner Greg Zephier. The Bastard Fairies also were involved in the production of The Canary Effect (we posted a clip from The Canary Effect, uploaded to YouTube, earlier this year in commemoration of Columbus Day). Of course, I disagree with some significant portion of this—since no one dies for religion—but her ultimate point—”the way to keep kids away from gangs and violence is to start treating us like human beings”—couldn’t be more spot on. […]

By: Israel’s Water Wars (The Anthropik Network)

Israel’s Water Wars (The Anthropik Network) — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 19:10:33 +0000

[…] Religion, historically, has often been an excuse for violence, but never a prime motivator.33 The same holds true here: while most analysis of the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has focused on their religious differences, the fact remains that this is a shallow veneer covering a much deeper conflict for a much more basic resource: water. […]

By: Slothboy

Slothboy — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 23:19:42 +0000

If you want to take someones faith, you have to be very careful about not doing anything to reinforce it. Religion is built on the opposition to people preaching other beliefs.
The way to do it is to be gentle, discuss and ask them to explain their belifs to you. Gently show them inconsistencies, but dont assert anything.
1. explain the pagan influences, but dont insist that this change anything
2. Show how religion contradicts itself/morality, again insisting nothing.
3. Use the argument from natural evil - there is no response.
4. If they are a catholic, buy them Rick Jones - understanding catholicism. Effectively an index of where catholicism contradicts the bible, with the occasional fundie comment.

Note: Hitler professed to be a catholic in several speeches. Stalin effectively turned marxism into a state religion.