This is an absurd topic. I have not read the posts, although I intend to. More people have died in the 20th century from athiesm than in all the centuries combined form religion. Hundreds of millions of people died at the hands of ahtiest totalitiarian states in the last century. Hitler, Stalin, Lenein, Pol Pot, China millions, etc...

Written by Anthem on 12.11.2011 at 06:41

This is an absurd topic. I have not read the posts, although I intend to. More people have died in the 20th century from athiesm than in all the centuries combined form religion. Hundreds of millions of people died at the hands of ahtiest totalitiarian states in the last century. Hitler, Stalin, Lenein, Pol Pot, China millions, etc...

Hitler was not an athiest. There is very strong evidence to suggest that he was a christian, and his views against the Jews were at least partly due to his (distorted version of) christian beliefs. It is unclear exactly what his religious views were, but he almost certainly wasn't an athiest. And obviously, if Nazi-ism was really born out of atheism, christians would have been persecuted as well as the Jews, which of course, wasn't the case.

I also think trying to state that "more people have died in the 20th century from atheism than in all the centuries combined from religion" as if it's an indisputable fact is totally foolish. For one thing, in centuries past, the world's population was far smaller than it is now, and also the despotic regimes of those times didn't have access to the way more proficient killing technologies of the 20th century. And, many of those Chinese massacres in the 20th century were not primarily driven by atheism, and therefore, should not be described as such. Plus, because of the unreliability of exact numbers killed in religious conflicts over the centuries, there is wildly fluctuating estimates about them. From 6 million, to hundreds of millions.

As for the topic "religion causes war", well... I think what really causes wars, is a lack of understanding, and tolerance (and also a hatred) towards people who are different from those who are in a position of power. War is just taking something like bullying to it's most extreme, logical conclusion. Irrational hatred for those who are different, is what causes wars, and religious people certainly can possess an irrational hatred of those different to themselves, but then, so can non-religious people. The only difference is, religious people use scripture to try and justify their hate, whereas non religious people don't use scripture as an excuse to justify it.

Written by Anthem on 12.11.2011 at 06:41
More people have died in the 20th century from athiesm than in all the centuries combined form religion.

Please enlighten us!

Genocide caused by atheism, now I've heard everything

Written by R'Vannith on 14.11.2011 at 01:30

Genocide caused by atheism, now I've heard everything

Soviet Union openly promoted atheism as the new religion or something. You could, of course, go to church but you had to stay in a "closet" in that matter. Being "openly religious" could crash your career opportunities. Schools and "handbooks" for parents demanded that kids be brought up in an "atheist environment", that they'd have an "atheist upbringing" and in any possible case you heard some anti-Christian propaganda. Russians are a religious nation, however, and thus the propaganda of the USSR wasn't effective enough to root the religion out. It did destroy the religion in Estonia tho. It's the most atheist country in the world.

And yes, during the terror years in USSR, among many victims of genocide were also priests, monks and nuns who were executed because of what they were.
This wasn't the first time, by the way. The terror government established during the French revolution was openly anti-Christian. Graveyards were defiled with slogans such as "Death is eternal. There is no God" and whatnot. Churches and monasteries were either destroyed or turned into buildings of various purposes. And yes... monks and nuns were slaughtered.

Have you ever taken history lessons or could they be substituted with gym classes?

However, lack of education is useful in any case. It fills people with prejudice a lot more easily and can turn them against each other without much effort. Just add a bit propaganda and all muslims will be terrorists, all catholics child molesters and so on...

Written by Ernis on 14.11.2011 at 21:14

Written by R'Vannith on 14.11.2011 at 01:30

Genocide caused by atheism, now I've heard everything

Soviet Union openly promoted atheism as the new religion or something. You could, of course, go to church but you had to stay in a "closet" in that matter. Being "openly religious" could crash your career opportunities. Schools and "handbooks" for parents demanded that kids be brought up in an "atheist environment", that they'd have an "atheist upbringing" and in any possible case you heard some anti-Christian propaganda. Russians are a religious nation, however, and thus the propaganda of the USSR wasn't effective enough to root the religion out. It did destroy the religion in Estonia tho. It's the most atheist country in the world.

And yes, during the terror years in USSR, among many victims of genocide were also priests, monks and nuns who were executed because of what they were.
This wasn't the first time, by the way. The terror government established during the French revolution was openly anti-Christian. Graveyards were defiled with slogans such as "Death is eternal. There is no God" and whatnot. Churches and monasteries were either destroyed or turned into buildings of various purposes. And yes... monks and nuns were slaughtered.

Have you ever taken history lessons or could they be substituted with gym classes?

However, lack of education is useful in any case. It fills people with prejudice a lot more easily and can turn them against each other without much effort. Just add a bit propaganda and all muslims will be terrorists, all catholics child molesters and so on...

Good points but I object to your use of 'atheism' in these contexts. While they are certainly atheistic they are more strictly speaking anti-theist. Atheism and anti-theism aren't exactly interchangeable, while the latter may bare the same lack of belief in God/s it does so in order not in light of some understanding of the universe which does not extend from the hand of some omnipotent deity but it does so simply in order to shun religion itself. Using the term atheism in terms of examples like the USSR is, I think, somewhat misleading as it is not a lack of belief in deities which led these people to persecute those of religious sentiments, but rather a rejection of the role of religion within society as a result of Marxist ideology. What I mean is that it is not so much the lack of belief in God/s which inspired such horrible actions but rather a deliberate attempt to remove religion from society.

To deny that there is atheistic attitudes here is, of course, incorrect, yet it is not 'atheism' in general at play here. It is a very particular type of atheistic tendency which is not born of what I view as atheistic values but rather anti-religious regimes which may well appear atheistic but really adopt such in order to give their rejection of religion some focal point. Atheism isn't a uniform entity and this means that it cannot be viewed like a religion (and it is even debateable whether religions themselves can be viewed as they are, as uniform bodies) as a singular body of thought which takes a particular stance/action.

'Atheism', you probably realise, is a very broad descriptor. To claim that atheism has caused genocide is extremely misleading, to such a point I consider it a rather useless statement. Anti-theist governments in the past may well have been 'atheistic', but it is not their lack of belief in God/s which caused them to persecute adherents of religion, it is their deliberate desire to eradicate religion from society.

As for my education, I have taken many history classes, a majority of which have as their focus contexts centuries prior to examples like USSR. I study medieval history, ashamedly my knowledge of post-renaissance history is quite patchy

Not sure whether you're saying I'm prejudiced there. In terms of generating prejudices assumptions are also 'useful'. Claiming that others are prejudiced based on assumptions drawn from single statements is in itself prejudiced; the appearance of prejudice can often lead to incorrect assumptions.

Also, simply because someone is uneducated this does not mean they are necessarily more susceptible to prejudiced tendencies. It doesn't matter if you're educated or not, if you were to experience situations such as those that occurred in the USSR case and you were horrified and morally objected to it, would such have occurred only among the knowledgeable? I don't think so, one might have a hollow head and can't read something to save oneself but that doesn't mean that things like propaganda have an inevitably persuasive effect.

Written by Ernis on 14.11.2011 at 21:14
It did destroy the religion in Estonia tho. It's the most atheist country in the world.

I now have another reason to move to Estonia.

Written by vezzy on 17.11.2011 at 19:23
I now have another reason to move to Estonia.

I now have one reason to move to Estonia. What are your other reasons?

Written by Troy Killjoy on 17.11.2011 at 20:30

I now have one reason to move to Estonia. What are your other reasons?

Not too populated, they're decent programmers, economy's better than Bulgaria and they seem to be much more hygienic than Bulgarians too. (we currently has this idiotic bTV-sponsored "Clean Up Bulgaria for a Day" campaign, whereas the Estonians didn't drag that shit, they just did it)

Written by R'Vannith on 17.11.2011 at 16:08

'Atheism', you probably realise, is a very broad descriptor. To claim that atheism has caused genocide is extremely misleading, to such a point I consider it a rather useless statement. Anti-theist governments in the past may well have been 'atheistic', but it is not their lack of belief in God/s which caused them to persecute adherents of religion, it is their deliberate desire to eradicate religion from society.

Thank God! I was already fearing that Australian education had declined too, I'd be so ashamed.

Now... look at what you write above. It's just an ideal example of Avatar-Pocahontas trick.

'Christianity', you probably realise, is a very broad descriptor. To claim that Christianity has caused genocide is extremely misleading, to such a point I consider it a rather useless statement. Christian governments in the past may well have been 'Christian', but it is not their belief in Christ which caused them to persecute adherents of other religions, it is their deliberate desire to gain more power over societies they wanted to conquer.

Or...

'Democracy', you probably realise, is a very broad descriptor. To claim that democracy has caused genocide is extremely misleading, to such a point I consider it a rather useless statement. Democratic governments in the past may well have been 'democratic', but it is not their belief in democratic ideals which caused them to persecute inhabitants of non-democratic peoples, it is their deliberate desire to gain more power over societies they wanted to conquer.

What you call "atheism" probably isn't atheism but more like "agnosticism". In any case... in Estonia, many people make ugly faces when they hear the word "Christian", they consider them worse than homosexuals and say things such as "I can't believe that people like that still exist. They should be eliminated or sth. Why isn't anything sending them to mental institutions?" I know one man who wanted to become a priest and tried to emigrate (because it was not possible to study priesthood in the USSR) and after being caught faced an imprisonment and was also nearly executed because the Estonian psychiatrists wanted to give him a certain dose of a certain substance in order to make him "normal". Another one I know, suffered torture, including having his hands nailed to a chair (just like Christ ha?)while going through the compulsory armed service. Only when they saw that he didn't surrender even after all of this, they let him be.

Yet, we have churches and there are still some old people alive who lived before the USSR period when it was considered completely normal to be religious. By the way, most Russian people are religious. They retained the spirituality and the traditions and even if they don't practice religion, they are aware of customs and traditions instead of modern Estonians for whom every bearded man on a picture is "Jesus" and who have never even seen a Bible. If you call this normal then I think it's sad instead. In Italy, it's usual that normal, fun, outgoing, etc young people (like any of us here) also go to church every once in a while. Yep... you meet the blokes you had a beer in the pub the previous night attending mass the very next morning. And believe it, they're nothing like those "Westboro baptists" if you follow me.

Written by vezzy on 17.11.2011 at 19:23

I now have another reason to move to Estonia.

Yep, the country which has EU's highest percentage of HIV infected citizens, highest rate of drug-related deaths and the lowest monthly income... and, the fastest growing prices. But mayb you're welcome here as a season worker or sth for 270 euros a month. Consider Finland instead... but oh... they're more church-going...

Written by vezzy on 17.11.2011 at 20:36

Not too populated, they're decent programmers, economy's better than Bulgaria and they seem to be much more hygienic than Bulgarians too. (we currently has this idiotic bTV-sponsored "Clean Up Bulgaria for a Day" campaign, whereas the Estonians didn't drag that shit, they just did it)

Not too populated... yep, people are emigrating.
I think I have to break your illusion bout the garbage campaign. There was a scandal later because the garbage was just collected from one place and dumped in another place to rot there.

Meh. I guess you can't go right with just about any country anyway.

The salary is pretty much equal to Bulgaria's, tbh. Except here the minimum is 250 lv, or if you're unlucky enough (and a Gypsy lolz), you can work like a slave for only 100 lv. or less.

Here in Bulgaria, we have the second highest illiteracy rate. Now tahts smothing 2 b prawd uf! atleest were not Romania tho

Well hey, at least they grabbed it and moved it. Here, by the time we've grabbed it, we'll have to clean up 80% of the country again. In a few days, the other 20% will fill up too.

Religion doesn't cause wars, people's stupidity, greed, and delusions cause wars. Think about what Jesus actually said, and then think about how people have skewed the whole religion that is supposed to be based on his teachings. I feel like some religious people are lured in by fear to start worshiping their own misconceptions and don't even follow through with it so they use it as a way to justify their unjust conveniences. Sounds like they're worshiping what a Satanist would describe as Satan (physical entity or idea, or however one would like to put it). Basically worshiping themselves, which is self destructive imo. And because its self destructive it doesn't allow for the individual to progress humanity, and instead the individual becomes a parasite to the earth causing wars and segregation. Thats just my theory on it though.

Religion its self isn't bad though. I think most dedicated religious followers are probably good people.

Written by Grody2themax on 08.12.2011 at 06:44
Religion its self isn't bad though. I think most dedicated religious followers are probably good people.

That's a contradictory statement if I ever saw one.

Religion isn't supposed to be bad itself, but most extremists have made it that way. I may have been misinterpreting your use of the word "dedicated", however. When I think of a dedicated religious follower I think of a devout religious follower, which makes me think of the people who kill in the name of their god and shit like that.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 08.12.2011 at 06:57

Written by Grody2themax on 08.12.2011 at 06:44
Religion its self isn't bad though. I think most dedicated religious followers are probably good people.

That's a contradictory statement if I ever saw one.

Religion isn't supposed to be bad itself, but most extremists have made it that way. I may have been misinterpreting your use of the word "dedicated", however. When I think of a dedicated religious follower I think of a devout religious follower, which makes me think of the people who kill in the name of their god and shit like that.

Yes, by dedicated I just mean someone who is dedicated to living out their live in the "real" meaning of whatever their religion is. You can be a devout Christian and be very level headed. Don't mistake religion to mean purely Christianity either. What about Atheists? The stereotypical Atheist sucks just as bad imo. And then what about Buddhism? Try hating on Buddhism lol

Written by Grody2themax on 08.12.2011 at 07:17
Yes, by dedicated I just mean someone who is dedicated to living out their live in the "real" meaning of whatever their religion is. You can be a devout Christian and be very level headed. Don't mistake religion to mean purely Christianity either. What about Atheists? The stereotypical Atheist sucks just as bad imo. And then what about Buddhism? Try hating on Buddhism lol

Ah I understand what you mean. My grandmother is a devout religious person (not really belonging to any one religion, but she believes in God and prays and yada yada), so I definitely get the "not every Christian is crazy" thing. And I don't only refer to Christianity when discussion religion; although, for the most part I generalize about the more prominent religions in the world - like Islam - which Christianity is definitely a part of.

As for Buddhism... fuck, what a great world it would be if everyone could adopt that mentality.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 08.12.2011 at 07:21

Ah I understand what you mean. My grandmother is a devout religious person (not really belonging to any one religion, but she believes in God and prays and yada yada), so I definitely get the "not every Christian is crazy" thing. And I don't only refer to Christianity when discussion religion; although, for the most part I generalize about the more prominent religions in the world - like Islam - which Christianity is definitely a part of.

As for Buddhism... fuck, what a great world it would be if everyone could adopt that mentality.

Definitely. I think that mentality exists in a lot of religions though, just hidden behind all of the skewed ideas people have made up. Although, Buddhism lacks a lot of negative mentalities that cause the downfall of other religions and has a more straight forward approach to beliefs.

First of all this is a ridiculous topic.

Secondly, Wars are caused by idealogies and difference of idealogies. religion is an idealogy, so yes a hell of alot of wars are sparked by religion but idealogies are not always religion so its ridiculous to say every war was caused by religion.

Also you have to take into account that before the 20th century religion was incorporated into everything. Atheism and Agnosticism are very modern ways of thinking and in the past these ideas were the minority. so in the past religuon is involved in nearly every aspect of you life from hunting/farming, relations, sex and war, virtually everything. religion and spirituality was just anither part of life.

Also you could also argue that war has caused religion. look at the spartans, their religous beliefs were born out of the fact that they were constantly under attack and at war. people often define religion themselves not the other way around.

I don't believe that religion itself is a cause of war but the interpretation someone has of said religion. Those people can choose to accept other religions as seperate entities or try to cram their religion down other peoples throats either by verbal bullying or military action ( hence wars ). Really it is simply the lack of acceptance for another persons culture and values that causes conflict and all out war. Endeth of rant

Written by Vikingr on 22.12.2011 at 21:10
I don't believe that religion itself is a cause of war but the interpretation someone has of said religion. Those people can choose to accept other religions as seperate entities or try to cram their religion down other peoples throats either by verbal bullying or military action ( hence wars ). Really it is simply the lack of acceptance for another persons culture and values that causes conflict and all out war. Endeth of rant

Hardly a rant, but a very good observation. It isn't religion in itself, it's the lack of respect (and sometimes just the lack of understanding) of other cultures that breed disagreement, and oftentimes those kinds of disagreement lead to war.

"Believe in [insert name of any god]!"

"Your [name of religion] god? Shove it, I believe in [insert any other god(s)]."

TO WAR

Written by Troy Killjoy on 22.12.2011 at 21:21


"Believe in [insert name of any god]!"

"Your [name of religion] god? Shove it, I believe in [insert any other god(s)]."

TO WAR

The amount of wars fought and people killed over religion is almost nothing compared to the amount of death and destruction caused by wars propelled by economic reasons. Even the Crusades only wore the religious zealotry as a mask.

So of all the evils that plagued mankind from its beginning, religion is kinda low on the list.

Written by Slayer666 on 22.12.2011 at 21:30
So of all the evils that plagued mankind from its beginning, religion is kinda low on the list.

It's an interesting situation. On one hand there's always the "we're gonna take yer land and yer oil and shit" but the other hand is always quick to throw in religious justification in order to fuel an already raging fire.

I think we probably hear about religion causing more wars than it really does. Because, let's face it, it's easier for people to accept raiding another country in order to spread the word of their own beliefs as opposed to publicly admitting the goal is to simply bomb the fuck out of the people getting in the way of your potential economic goldmine.

Killing people for money is wrong. But killing people who don't believe in the same god as you? That's okay. Just make sure the war is happening in a country I can't pronounce.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 22.12.2011 at 21:35

It's an interesting situation. On one hand there's always the "we're gonna take yer land and yer oil and shit" but the other hand is always quick to throw in religious justification in order to fuel an already raging fire.

I think we probably hear about religion causing more wars than it really does. Because, let's face it, it's easier for people to accept raiding another country in order to spread the word of their own beliefs as opposed to publicly admitting the goal is to simply bomb the fuck out of the people getting in the way of your potential economic goldmine.

Killing people for money is wrong. But killing people who don't believe in the same god as you? That's okay. Just make sure the war is happening in a country I can't pronounce.

The excuse that seems to fly more nowadays is actually either "bringing democracy" or "fighting terrorism", though.
Religion is a Medieval thing, no one really gives a fuck* about it anymore, hence it's not even used to justify bombing for oil and whatnot. As far as I know, at least.

*except black metal kiddies

Written by Slayer666 on 22.12.2011 at 21:39
The excuse that seems to fly more nowadays is actually either "bringing democracy" or "fighting terrorism", though.

Nowadays, for sure. I just meant in regards to all that Crusades crap and virtually any other war you read about in school. Most of them seem to be about religious disagreements.

Maybe it's just us dim-witted North Americans, but for the most part if you ask anyone on the street what the cause behind either World War was, they'll tell you it was to eradicate the Nazis.

They won't mention the Ferdinand assassination or the opportunity for mass land control, but they'll tell you that the Nazis were a religious threat. A threat to the Jews, but a religious threat nonetheless.

And that's what we apparently know. The two greatest wars of that century were fought because the Jews were bring thrown into ovens.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 22.12.2011 at 21:44

And that's what we apparently know. The two greatest wars of that century were fought because the Jews were bring thrown into ovens.

Well yeah, but...



(yeah yeah, stereotyping sucks, these people are apparently idiots that got picked on purpose, but shit's still funny)

Actually, plenty of countries don't even fight for oil. They fight for goddamned two atoms hydrogen, one atom oxygen. Liquid state, might I add.

Written by Troy Killjoy on 22.12.2011 at 21:21

those kinds of disagreement lead to war.

"Believe in [insert name of any god]!"

"Your [name of religion] god? Shove it, I believe in [insert any other god(s)]."

TO WAR

You can also have it like that:

Situation. A and B believe in the same deity. At least nominally.

A: "God is so awesome. We love Him and He loves us. Let's make the world all pink and happy!"

B: "What the hell. You pussies, we piss on you and your gay conception of God. God loves only us and hates you and He gives us the power and rights to make salsa out of you."

A: "No really. We're so sad you think like that but we just thought that it's wrong to think that God loves blood and wars and sacrifices and stuff. Can we go without those things?"

B: "BLOOD! BLOOD! BLOOD!"

In some civilisations entire wars were arranged in order not to run out of the supplies for human sacrifice for the deity who'd blow up the world if he didn't get his daily dose of human blood.

Human sacrifice and things like that were a very common thing once. When someone probably realised it wasn't a good idea to practise religion, they started sacrificing dummies and/or cattle/sheep/pigs instead...

Religion is just a vehicle for people of low moral values to start war, Just as atheism with no values give us the same. Now, some religions do promote peace and some violence, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the human, whether religious or athiest. There were over 100 million deaths in the 20th century attributed to communist countries. Can that be blamed on athisem ? Thatb was thier primary beleif system . maybe maybe not

Written by Anthem on 03.01.2012 at 04:56

Religion is just a vehicle for people of low moral values to start war, Just as atheism with no values give us the same. Now, some religions do promote peace and some violence, but the ultimate responsibility lies with the human, whether religious or athiest. There were over 100 million deaths in the 20th century attributed to communist countries. Can that be blamed on athisem ? Thatb was thier primary beleif system . maybe maybe not

Firstly, on how atheism boosts no particular kind of morality whatsoever, the concept of accepting a totalitarian morality from religion is very backward. We in the 21st have a very defined way of treating others, and religion is not the only factor to help get us there. It is achieved through a systematic agglomeration of extremely secular ideas.

Secondly, atheism does not provide any propaganda to promote wars whatsoever. Religion however does. Take the generation today, simply put: Is there any extremist group which promotes values of non-religion through violence? No. Are there any extremist group which promotes a particular religion using violence? Absolutely! Is there a reason? well, the reason I see is that religion breeds intolerance. They can't stand each other...The thought of entering other religious house or worship place is chilling for most people of faith. Also, all absolute morality that religion teaches are now outdated and is not practical in this liberal modern society. This incompatibility is not taken lightly by most religious fundamentalists, and cringe when they are broken. The Southpark cartoon scandal. The danish cartoon scandal. This caused great deal of unrest and turmoil in the middle-eastern countries. Not WAR, but pretty damn close. Homosexuals. Freedom of speech. These just trouble evangelical people of faith. Taking this as evidence, we can see that religion DOES breed arrogance and intolerance. So yes, religion does provide a logical pathway for violence and war, and so yes, religion to an extent does cause war.

Hmmm I think people will never agree if it's religion itself that causes war, or the interpretation of it... From what I remember of the Coran and the Bible (since they seem to be the major examples given here), I don't think there was a passage where they actively promote violence in order to get what you want (in a religious sense).

Tis true that Islam justifies violence if those people get attacked first for religious reasons, and that the Old Testament is full of slaughter stories... but if you take the dogma without keeping in mind political/historial/economic influence, there is no trace of free-violence in the name of God.

If you think that an imam calling to kill all infidels or a priest bitching about homosexuals is the essence of Islam or Christianity... feel free to do so, but it's just the typical easy argument for ignorant people.

Written by Vombatus on 06.01.2012 at 17:15

Hmmm I think people will never agree if it's religion itself that causes war, or the interpretation of it... From what I remember of the Coran and the Bible (since they seem to be the major examples given here), I don't think there was a passage where they actively promote violence in order to get what you want (in a religious sense).

In fact religion has caused war. Several ancient civilizations had relatively violent religious ideologies which promoted killing those who didn't belong to the group. Semiotically speaking, it's the "us vs them" issue where "us" constantly has to prove themselves by trying to be stronger and more powerful than "them". It's "eat or be eaten", jungle law.

In pre-Columbian America wars were fought in order to get material for human sacrifices because the sun deity was in constant need of it and feeding the sun was essential for postponing the end of the world. I may be mistaking but I think the Americas were not the only place with similar traditions. At an early point many religions required human sacrifice and promoted cruelty and violence in order to please a deity. Later most cultures started to suppress this urge and replace the human sacrifice with animal or dummy sacrifice instead.

Christianity is an interesting case because Christ appeared to tell people that God doesn't need any kind of sacrifice at all (outrageous, isn't it... in a world where nearly every religious group practised sacrifice at least in some form). He became a human sacrifice (deliberately) in order to become the last living sacrifice and give the people an idea of a kind of religion that doesn't separate peoples, nationalities, countries etc but instead calls them to respect each other and together live in the knowledge that God loves them all.

Christianity is an even better case because, as history shows, people have done exactly the same things they've always done... under the banner of Christianity. Mothers have been forced to watch their babies beaten against rocks to death by people who called themselves Christians. Men have been hung in the names of the apostles. Christ wanted to be the last human sacrifice but apparently violent religions please people more. Leaders love it because it gives them enormous power to control masses... masses of people who actually need to channel their inner need of feeling strong and powerful by "sacrificing" someone... If someone has a noble excuse for violence, the experience of hurting another living creature is going to be even more enjoyable.

A priest once told in his sermon that people should always look into themselves and ask if the things they do are indeed right. He asked people to think before judging someone and reminded that most Christians would surely crucify the Lord again if He appeared in our days. He said that being a Christian doesn't make anyone a better person in front of God and doesn't give anyone a single permission to do something evil in His name. And the sad thing is that actually most people have done atrocities in God's name and do consider themselves superior to those who do not belong to their group. They do not think before making a judgement and they always seek for an opportunity to crush someone they consider an enemy of their God, a deity who is unforgiving and always hungry for some blood. As the priest said, human is actually a predator, our teeth have the same shape and layout as carnivores, unlike the flat and wide teeth of herbivores. Plus our eyes look forward (to search for prey) instead of towards the sides (in order to spot an approaching predator) like the eyes of herbivores. We do act like ones...