Originally Posted by
garyd
In the name of stamping out Religion the Communists in Russian and China under Mao and others systematically murdered millions dwarfing the totals of virtually every religion in the world combined including Islam.
Mao and Stalin were communists. That they were atheists is largely coincidental--their interest wasn't in stamping out religion per se, it was in stamping out ideologies that were incompatable with communism, of which some religions happen to be.
Hilter was a devout Roman Catholic.
That said, would you seriously doubt that had that the opportunity, resources, and a modern military, that Islamic nations wouldn't be just as brutal? How about Joshua in the Bible? Or the Crusaders?
Originally Posted by
garyd
No atheist charities exist save for the promulgation of atheism.
Atheism isn't a political movement. Atheists don't typically get together to discuss their hatred of God and to spread their ideological beliefs. There are many charities that are not religiously affliated, such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that an atheist might choose to believe in, depending on what ideology they subscribe. There are, for example, a number of humanist charities as well.
Originally Posted by
garyd
Atheists in my experience do every bit as much proselytizing if not more than most Christians.
How do you proselytize a lack of belief in something?
Originally Posted by
grobblewobble
You can reverse that argument and say that no one has done a lot of good in the name of atheism, either. There have been great atheists doing wonderful things, but they didn't say they did it because they were atheist.
I would agree with this. Nobody does anything in the "name of atheism". Atheism isn't really a philosophy per se.
Originally Posted by
fazisi
The negative examples are just as important as the positive examples and even the inbetween examples. By assigning importance to one group does make you stupid. It narrows perspective.
It is much easier to be spectacularly evil than to be spectacularly good, and the influence of a spectacular evil is much greater than that of a spectacular good.
Originally Posted by
Silfir
Focusing on negative examples makes you stupid. The emphasis, as I understand, is on the "focus". I must have missed the suicide bombing assaults in the name of Christ in recent history.
Christians don't normally do suicide bombings. They have bombed abortion clinics as one example. The Christian Right in the United States has also been actively working to destabilize the Middle East. The fact that there are people sitting in the American Congress who believe that there will be a world-ending global war within the next decade or two is a pretty frightening prospect.
Originally Posted by
gut
Disagree again, and think maybe you watch too much tv. How many americans
died in 9/11 attacks? 3000? 5000?
I don't watch TV at all, actually, and I don't even live in the United States.
How many people have died in Afghanistan so far? 100,000? 500,000? I don't think it's unreasonable to place those deaths, at least in part, at the hands of radical Islamists. I don't think it's unreasonable to place the deaths of at least as many Iraqis, at least in part, at the feet of Christian fundamentalists in the United States. I also don't think it's unreasonable to believe that if the Islamists had access to the military forces available to the United States, that they would not be as restrained in their use of them as the West has been. I don't think it's unreasonable to say that thousands of people have been senselessly murdered in religious courts in Saudi Arabia because of their irrational beliefs in Islam. Radical cause problems because they believe that the only thing that matters is what happens in the next life, and are prepared to sacrifice anyone or anything in this life to attain their rewards in heaven. This type of belief system is extraordinarily malevolent.
Hoping to win with every class, doomed. Archer, Barbarian, Bard, Beastfighter, Druid, Elementalist, Farmer, Fighter, Monk, and ULE Priest down.