aetheronline.com
Remember religion and the brain?
I think religious folks and non-religious folks can come up with horrible and very nice systems. The key factor in the pleasantness of any system, at least for those on the fringes, is how the "other" is treated. As we see every day, religious folks (like those Wahhabis) can be quite the intolerant fellows- and of course atheistic communists can be too. Buddhists, on the other hand, don't seem to be too dangerous, and as I keep saying, agnostics never seem to persecute anyone either.
It's all very silly trying to find the ideal bad guys- because all you're doing with that pursuit is trying to stake out the territory of the "other". All humans are prone to evil when they buy into regimented and coercive systems- it's the systems that are problematic, not necessarily the beliefs that drive the systems. It we could take the "beleif" out of the problem, and discuss what we don't like about the systems, most people could be more rational about the whole thing. No one wants to admit their belief has problems, but most people are willing to attack, or at least examine, a structural problem.
JMO
as a member of no group |
