You done got the 
Posted on 10/08/2005 5:29:47 AM PDT by Crackingham
Citizens of the world should be concerned about religious extremism whether it’s in Iran or America, says author Salman Rushdie, who was once marked for death by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini.
Rushdie compared the emergence of religion into public life in Kansas with similar movements across the world in a lecture Thursday at the Lied Center.
“I would really love never to mention that word again: religion,” Rushdie said. “But now it seems to be coming right at us all. I don’t just mean radical Islam, by the way. I believe we have some problems right here.”
Rushdie received a standing ovation after the lecture, in which he revealed his thoughts on writing and receiving death threats and also blasted religion, intelligent design and the best-selling book “The Da Vinci Code.”
SNIP
Rushdie told the crowd that religion has much potential to do harm in the world today.
“It’s a pretty bad time for us who don’t believe that superstition should rule the world,” he said.
When asked how rationalism could win the fight against religion, Rushdie said with ridicule, argument and battle. When he was young, the 58-year-old said, he and others thought they’d won the battle. So they turned their heads.
We were “so busy having fun that all the uncool people took over the world,” he said.
And this superstition needs to be pushed back in the cupboard where it belongs, he said. Rushdie also blasted intelligent design proponents.
“I never had any doubts about evolution theory,” he said. “I gather there are parts of Kansas where the big bang did not take place.”
What do you mean? The facts that countless thousands of priests died in the concentration camps is not enough for you? Would you want the Swiss guards of Vatican to defeat Wehrmacht in the battle?
Religious extremism is alive and well in this country. If you don't believe that, perhaps you should read the following quotations from Randall Terry (Operation Rescue and Terri Schiavo):
1. "When I, or people like me, are running the country, you'd better flee, because we will find you, we will try you, and we will execute you. I mean every word of it. I will make it part of my mission to see to it that they are tried and executed...If we're going to have true reformation in America, it is because men once again, if I may use a worn out expression, have a righteous testosterone flowing through their veins. They are not afraid of contempt for their contemporaries. They are not here to get along. They are here to take over..." (Randall Terry, Addressing a banquet sponsored by the US Tax Payes Alliance, Aug. 8, 1995)
2. "I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good...Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want pluralism." (Randall Terry, The News Sentinel, Fort Wayne, IN, Aug. 16, 1993)
Or, we could examine Pat Robertson, and his public call for the assassination of Venzuelan President Chavez. I will not argue whether or not it is right or wrong to use assassination to further national security. However, it is really stupid and shows a total lack of judgement, to publicly call for an assassination.
You need to do less guessing and more historical research, then. "genocide" wasn't even a word until Hitler came along.
"yes I read SATANIC VERSES. I read the WHOLE thing. Made my brain hurt. There are some factual things about ISLAM in there but it is there to kinda give someone background on ISLAM if they dont know about it. the rest of it is sillyness."
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If Rushdie wrote "The Satanic Verses" today, would he be prosecuted in Old Europe for violating their various hate speech laws (Michel Hollebecq, Orianna Fallaci, etc.)?
Authoritarian is too weak a description for communism. The term totalitarian better describes the complete domination of the State over all aspects of lfe in a communist country.
Your assertion that Hitler "enforced religion" is a puzzling one. Which religion did he enforce? And it what way did he do this?
Another example of Religious Extremism in the United States:
Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas. The extent of Phelps fanaticism includes demonstrations cheering the deaths of American Miltary Personnel. Those demonstrations are being held at the funerals, a direct attack on the surviving families.
"The other is enforcing religion so people think the government is doing God's will and will thus be more likely to agree with the government. (Like Hitler did)"
Question answered, you're ignorant. Hitler's troops took a vow not to God or the fatherland but to HIM, Adolf Hitler PERSONALLY. (You can't get further from God than that)Hitler was NOT religious, he was NOT a Catholic in any way manner shape or form. He wanted, if anything, to return to the amorphous pagan practices of Germany's pre Christian past.
You done got the
Can't you tell a lie from reality? Hitler was a self obssessed pagan who politically manipulated the religious beliefs of others to suit himself. To quote Hitler saying how he is a Catholic and will always be a Catholic shows that you believe Hitler was being honest. Ridiculous.
I think most Christians would say Phelps is just a nut. It isn't like he has a big following. We only know of him because of his extremism. He drags his family along with him but usually there are only a very few people with him. He's certainly not an example of mainstream Christianity.
Not to mention that there are significant indications that Phelps is a paid shill for the leftists. His "church," which consists of himself and his family members, is mighty cozy with Democrats.
> Your original statement in post 6 was about "religious people"' not pseudo-religious people.
The same can thus be applied to secular/pseudo-secular people. Commies were far from secular. They replaced the religious worship of gods with the religious worship of the "historical dialectic," the "worker" and the "state."
And yes, Hitler was religious. It was just his own weird volish, "hey I'm god/the chosen of god" religion. Similar to the weird mutant beliefs of goobers like Jim Jones.
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