Why does the Yahweh cult (Christianity/Judaism/Islam) still got so many follower

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   peter565posted 8 years ago

   Why does the Yahweh cult (Christianity/Judaism/Islam) still got so many followers?
   
   "Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity"
   -Thomas Jefferson, 1782, Despite most people today follow a more reformed version of Islam, Christianity or Judaism, abandoning teachings such as killing non virgin and non believers, many still follow real Christianity or Islam, the west still got, Christian fanatics lobbying government to massacure gays, the Middle East still got ISIS
   
   

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   Oztinatoposted 8 years ago

   Because the handful of bad guys in these religions are outweighed by the billions of good people who follow these same religions.

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      tamarawilhiteposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      There is also the value of the religion leading to more charity, institutions like hospitals and orphanages, less crime because people think they are watched, etc.

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   Paxashposted 8 years ago

   As Oztinato said, most religious people are just average decent people. Yes, there are extremists, but I don't think there's anything wrong with people taking comfort in a higher power as long as they're not forcing it on others.
   
   And yes, there are some people in government or lobbyist positions trying to impose their extremist values, but the entirety of the religions' followers can't be blamed for those people.

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   Ceegenposted 8 years ago

   The Roman Catholic Church as an institution is as far from Christianity as east is from west. Most of those people who were 'burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned' were Christians deemed heretics by the church. Ironically more often than not, for owning a bible or sharing the gospel with someone.

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   tamarawilhiteposted 8 years ago

   Barring the Westboro church that is maybe 100 people, NO Christians are calling for the killing of homosexuals. Conversely, Iran, Saudi Arabia, ISIS and several other Muslim nations execute homosexuals regularly while 40 of them outlaw homosexuality and punish it with jail time.
   The problem is not Christianity today; it is the fact that Islam hasn't reformed the way Christianity and Judaism have to reject the violent verses in all of their holy books.

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   cjhunsingerposted 8 years ago

   If the reference to the barbarity of theistic belief, as noted in the question, is the only requirement for condemning such a belief then there might be cause to condemn those political aspirations that have caused far greater barbarity. Communism/Socialism/ Marxism has been the cause of the greatest number of human deaths and, by far the greatest cause of human suffering. http://reason.com/blog/2013/03/13/commu … th-century
   
   The Jefferson quote is not quite complete and taken out of context. Below is the full quote, which I wholeheartedly agree with, but even that Jefferson promotes a rigid separation he recognizes the right of the people to believe in a god, and does not condemn it as a matter of opinion. It is the action of theists that concerns Jefferson, not the belief.
   "Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, & not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," thus building a wall of separation between Church & State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties." https://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9806/danpre.html
   
   The claim by the author of the question that, " Christian fanatics lobbying government to massacure gays,": precisely where can evidence of this be found?

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      peter565posted 8 years agoin reply to this

      The lobby to massacure gay thing, dud, haven't you been watching the news lately? So many Christian groups want the government to send in the army and kill all gays.

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      Ceegenposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      No we don't. You're crazy.

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