X-Message-Number: 19867 Date: Wed, 21 Aug 2002 23:49:52 -0700 From: Mike Perry <> Subject: Religion and Terrorism Jeff Dee, #19849 wrote: >John Grigg wrote: > > >...there is a big > > difference between the Methodist denomination and the > > Taliban. > >Is there? > >Both believe that ... Granted, there are similarities, but this does not prove there are not differences. >... >And don't tell me that Methodism isn't capable of inspiring irrational >acts, because ALL these religions are based upon the practice of >indoctrinating their followers into irrationally believing unproven >claims. That is why religions are a threat to humanity that we would all >be better off without. It seems to me, though, that a movement doesn't have to be "irrational" to inspire horrible acts, whether you consider the acts themselves irrational or not. (No doubt those who do these things would disagree with anyone calling the acts irrational.) As one case in point we can take libertarianism, which is perfectly "rational" in that it makes no claims of the paranormal or supernatural, does not indoctrinate its followers into believing unproven claims, and so on. Yet it is certainly not lacking its lunatic fringe--as in the case of Timothy McVeigh. Of course, the libertarian mainstream does not endorse McVeigh's murderous act but mainstream Muslims were quick to condemn the 9/11 attacks. Both terrorism and its opposite can express themselves through many different movements and philosophies, whether scientifically "rational" or not. It is worth noting too that in a religious tradition such as Jainism or Buddhism there is a strong emphasis on non-violence as well as benevolence; terrorism just doesn't cut it. Mike Perry Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=19867