To: Douglas V. Fant who wrote (7284 ) 11/12/1997 2:25:00 AM From: Zeev Hed Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 9164
Douglas, you are going a little to far assigning to religion the taming effedt. The taming of our wild nature and the construct of a social systems is a simple draconian (Darvinian) survival instinct. Religions is an excuse for atrocities rarely seen in other circumstances. Have you visited the tools Turquemevada used to utilize to get my ancesters to convert to christianity? Many of them could not take it and did, you call this taming? My forefathers left everything, and a floeishing culture behind to a more tolerant Until Luther) Netherlands. Spain within a hundred years was delegated to a third rate or lower state and all the advances the muslims (Moors) and Jews gave Spain were lost in no time. Even the great reformator Luther stated (in writing) that it is alright to get rid of this or that part of the population whose faith was not exactly the same has his. Give me a break, the crusaders, when sucessful were not particularly tame either. To say that religion is a taming element of the human wild side is to spit in history's face. The blood of millions and millions over the last two thousand years of wars launched in the name of the almighty is crying from the ashes of destroyed civilizations all over the Euro-Asian theater, and later, in the new world. Get of this high horse, Guarang is not after religious freedomm, he is after power like all religious leaders before. We heard this story on all side whether it is Jihad and thus in the name of Allah, or a crusade for the glory of Jesus, these are all the same, some power hungry autocrat of one kind or another getting the masses to do their bidding on the name of G-D. Zeev