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What have religions ever done for us?
http://forums.kyhm.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=1699		 Page 2 of 2
Author:  sco08y [ Thu Dec 19, 2002 5:35 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
On 2002-12-02 11:13, The End 007 wrote:
heres a list
*alot of wars crusades jihads. etc
*northern island conflict
*palistinian conflict / Zionism
*the haulicaust
*al quida
*witch burnings
*pro-life groups
I could live without these things should religion be baned?


Communists: 100,000,000 dead in the 20th century. Nazi Germany: 20,000,000 dead. Both explicitly atheist. (Oh, BTW, that's <b>of their own people</b>, not war dead.) source

The US Constitution is based on the concept of natural rights. Natural rights have to be granted to humans by a higher power. Atheism and humanism *can't* concieve of power greater than man. History shows that any state which is culturally atheist or humanist *will* at some point take those powers back. In short, the many are always more powerful than the few *unless* they are tempered by some fear of God.

Some possible objections: well, the US (just to pick my favorite country) is essentially secular, or what about separation of church and state. My answer would be that religion needs to be a cultural element. Even if you're an atheist in the US, your cultural background is influenced by a religious undercurrent. For that reason we don't *need* that religion to be espoused by our gov't and I think we have to avoid an establishment of religion because the state can pervert the religious structure.

Which leads into the second problem: what about the Crusades, etc: that was a case where the state and church got mixed up. You had absolute monarchs, essentially men who claimed to be God. They could then put themselves higher than God and thus undo the rights he granted, as far as the many were concerned.

Also, much of this happened while the notions of individual rights were not nearly as advanced as they are now. They seem straightforward, but each advance in individual rights has led to social chaos and strife. Just look at the results of integration in the States: forced bussing, armed marshals in the schools, rioting, black panthers, etc. So many people dead or lives ruined for what seems like a perfectly natural idea: that whites and blacks can live/work together.
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