This article has been doing the rounds in a lot of blogs lately, but I don’t think the point can possibly be over-killed.
So if you’ve already seen this, apologies, and if not here you go:
http://www.aina.org/news/20070425181603.htm
I’m not going to get on my high horse and act like non-religious people are saints, or that non-religious people don’t and haven’t committed awful crimes. But last time I checked, no atrocity has ever been committed in the name of atheism, non-religiosity, scepticism, rationalism, or secularism.
People ask atheists what we have against religion. See the link above. This is just typical of the barbarism that history is full of, in the name of religion.
Some people might say that in a world without religion humans would still find something to fight over. I agree humans will probably always fight over things, rational things. But to suggest that in a world without irrational faith-based delusions mankind would invent something else to fill that void, is baseless and a non-sequitor. It is a wishy-washy “keep everyone happy” non-answer that the facts of history simply reject.
In the atrocity linked to above, what was the motive? And what pray tell would humans replace it with if religion didn’t exist? If religion didn’t exist, would the girl above be stoned to death? No.
8 May, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Well said.
The really sadly ironic thing, is the fact that these people hold an ancient world mentality in actually stoning someone to death, but live in a time where technology is so advanced that they can film it on a video phone! Unbelievable.