Can torture and genocide ever happen without religion?

1. 66

   greenteatravelsposted 9 years ago

   Can torture and genocide ever happen without religion?
   
   Could we get things like the Spanish Inquisition or the Holocaust without religious ideas? If we lump psycho and sociopaths (less than 1% of the population) into the same bin as religion,we're left with a population of people who don't really think about that kind of stuff. So if religion never happened, do you think we would have more than just the fringiest fringes of society committing unreasonable acts of violence?
   
   

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2. 59

   C.V.Rajanposted 9 years ago

   What is the role of religion in world-wars as well as so many other wars that happened in the history in the past? Do you think in all  of them religion was involved?
   
   Misguided and perverted people with their lopsided understanding of religion and God might have done genocides not necessarily based purely on religious grounds;  they could have taken religion as a grand excuse to carry on with their abominable acts on sociological reasons, with a misguided conviction that God would get pleased with their evil acts, by doing them in the name of religion.
   
   The problem essentially is not in religion. It is in the lopsided and perverted/ misguided interpretation of religion by  power mongering and cruel people.

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   1. 71

      lone77starposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Well said, CV. That which activates the misguided nature of the evil ones is Ego -- self-concern -- that which proclaims that it is First (superior to others). The humility taught in religion is the antidote to this source of evil. Too few use it.

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3. 76

   lovemychrisposted 9 years ago

   They have a religion. Its called Satanism.
   Head of CIA worked with Satanist......mouthpiece on Fox worked with Satanist. Paedophilia coming out....in high levels of gvt.......Deny it if you like...won't stop them.Boil it down....it's all about me me me

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   1. 71

      lone77starposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      "Me me me" hits the nail on the head. That's Ego.

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4. 66

   Sara Jofreposted 9 years ago

   The Holocaust was hardly about religion... You don't need religion to be racist and xenophobe, sometimes you use religion as an excuse to all of that. The reasons for such may vary. Psychopaths exist without religion.

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   1. 71

      lone77starposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good, Sara. And psychopaths are all about themselves to the exclusion of others. They can care about their families, as the Rockefellers do, but they're not above lying, murder, theft and extortion.

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5. 61

   cjhunsingerposted 9 years ago

   Joseph Stalin, atheist, is credited with killing about 40 million people and torture was a primary staple to all of this. As some have said here the gods serve as a cause for horror and when the gods are absent Man will deify himself and his political agenda, as the just cause. This is called totalitarianism as opposed to a god centered theocracy.
   The gods are the ideals of Man through which Man rules. Stalin, as some others, simply replaced the gods with themselves as an omnipotent ruler.
   I believe that the creation of the gods was necessary to the intellectual evolution of humanity as such was the, perhaps, first human attempt to answer what he perceived in nature and the first, but faulty steps toward science and objective reasoning.
   There comes a time however when the, "putting away of childish things"
   becomes necessary and this would include the deification of godly abstractions and governments.

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   1. 71

      lone77starposted 9 years agoin reply to this

      Good points, CJ. Ego is the blindness that places self above others and allows all manner of evil. Confidence without humility is arrogance. Too many fall into that trap. Stalin is only one of dozens of examples.

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6. 71

   lone77starposted 9 years ago

   Religion is never the root cause of such evil. Neither is science nor government. Economics isn't the root cause either.
   
   Ego is the root cause. Self-concern.
   
   The source of religion is the spirituality of love and humility. Ego corrupts religions.
   
   The source of science is the logic and critical thinking of reason. Ego corrupts science, too. So, we have scientists lying, committing fraud, experimenting on people without their permission.
   
   The objective of religion is the eradication of Ego. But when Ego takes over, religion forgets its purpose and descends into dogma, ritual and abuses.

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7. 59

   SarahFriedmanposted 9 years ago

   yes and I would say that would be because of greed. But there is no denying that religion makes genocide a lot easier

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