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U.S. has closed 10 bases in Afghanistan since February

SigurdReginson

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
Saint Frankenstein said:
Wars over religion are rarely just about religion. Atheism or theism alone doesn't say much about you, even just believing in a deity. It's what you add on to it that makes the difference.
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Rarely? I don't know about that. What I do know, though is that when war is waged in the name of religious dogma, it is brought to it's utmost. Just look at what the Sunnis and Shiites have done and are still doing to eachother over their religious differences. Millions of dead and dying there, in that one example. I can't think of anything but religion that can draw out conflict for longer than a millennia...

I do agree with your second point, though. I would add, though, that it also depends on how seriously these folks take their beliefs. When it just governs them and their lives, that's fine, but when it starts bleeding out and stepping on the toes of the folks around them, that's where the problem lies.
 
Saint Frankenstein

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
SigurdReginson said:
Rarely? I don't know about that. What I do know, though is that when war is waged in the name of religious dogma, it is brought to it's utmost. Just look at what the Sunnis and Shiites have done and are still doing to eachother over their religious differences. Millions of dead and dying there, in that one example. I can't think of anything but religion that can draw out conflict for longer than a millennia...

I do agree with your second point, though. I would add, though, that it also depends on how seriously these folks take their beliefs. When it just governs them and their lives, that's fine, but when it starts bleeding out and stepping on the toes of the folks around them, that's where the problem lies.
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Again, those conflicts are rarely just about religion. Humans fight over many things. Most wars have little to do with religion. That's an overblown myth based on incorrect Enlightenment rationalist assumptions. Humans would not be living in a rational peaceful utopia if it weren't for religion misguiding us. I always found it bizarre how Western atheists are some of the first to acknowledge that humans are animals, we're primates. But then they go and make many of the same assumptions about human nature that Christians and people of some other religions do.
 
SigurdReginson

SigurdReginson

Grēne Mann
Premium Member
Saint Frankenstein said:
Again, those conflicts are rarely just about religion. Humans fight over many things. Most wars have little to do with religion. That's an overblown myth based on incorrect Enlightenment rationalist assumptions. Humans would not be living in a rational peaceful utopia if it weren't for religion misguiding us. I always found it bizarre how Western atheists are some of the first to acknowledge that humans are animals, we're primates. But then they go and make many of the same assumptions about human nature that Christians and people of some other religions do.
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What about my example is overblown? Did I misrepresent things? If so, I'd like to know.

Also, what assumptions would it be that "western atheists" (as if they were some kind of monolithic entity) are making that are the same as christians and some religious folks?

If there are similarities, don't forget that many of us western atheists are former christians and religious practitioners. Our life experiences tend to inform our thoughts on things.
 
Saint Frankenstein

Saint Frankenstein

Wanderer From Afar
Premium Member
SigurdReginson said:
What about my example is overblown? Did I misrepresent things? If so, I'd like to know.

Also, what assumptions would it be that "western atheists" (as if they were some kind of monolithic entity) are making that are the same as christians and some religious folks?

If there are similarities, don't forget that many of us western atheists are former christians and religious practitioners. Our life experiences tend to inform our thoughts on things.
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I was speaking in generalities. This is going too off-topic. You can start another thread if you like. I don't care enough to, sorry. Lol.
 
Twilight Hue

Twilight Hue

Twilight, not bright nor dark, good nor bad.
Saint Frankenstein said:
It's part of the problem but you need to remember that the Taliban in Afghanistan is an anti-occupation insurgency. They're not going to go away, whatever their religious views are. So going on about religion when it comes to this is missing a big part of the picture.
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Precisely why we need to stay in Afghanistan.

We go away, the Taliban comes back and creates new trouble all over again. At least with a presence, there is a check on that.
 
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