FRIDAY, March 29, 2024
nationthailand

Religion blameless in the most egregious of mankind’s crimes

Religion blameless in the most egregious of mankind’s crimes

Can we please put a stop to the blatant misinformation being presented by those who would have us believe “the most atrocious crimes are and were caused by religion”?

Who honestly believes like letter writer Egon there is an award awaiting the following for the “most atrocious crime” committed by a religion:
n Mao’s great leap forward, which killed 45 million people in four years with forced starvation and torture rampant.
n Socialism that killed about 7.5 million Ukrainians plus another 20 million Soviets, with millions more consigned to gulag enslavement and torture.
n Hitler and the Nazis, who killed around 25 million with brutal malevolence.
n The Mongols, who killed around 40 million people –11 per cent of the world’s population at the time.
Of course all of these crimes are equally atrocious and all have something else in common: None were committed in the name of religion, and nor were they caused or promoted by religion. 
Sadly, man has killed and committed great acts of inhumanity on his fellow man without any need for justification from religion or gods. Indeed, a self-described atheist – Stalin – committed some of the heinous acts presented above. Some were performed with the consent of scientists in the service of the Nazis.
What all individuals really need to do is stop looking for confirmation of their “prejudices”. Religion is not the cause of crimes against humanity. Man is quite capable of that without the assistance of any god, and that is plain to see. 
The religious and the non-religious have equal responsibility to contribute to decent, ethical human behaviour and a more humane and civil world. It should occur through the rigorous and respectful discussion of ideas, not the parroting of feeble-minded prejudice.
SD

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