Posted on 11/22/2006 6:35:11 AM PST by WestTexasWend
Worked in the Soviet Union.
North Korea, too, is most beneficially served by its lack of religion.
His words should be taken very, very seriously.
I loved the recent episode of South Park where religion had finally been eliminated, and 500 years in the future, there were several warring sects of atheists, each claiming the One True Science.
It is a nice sounding theory that when you separate the Christian Church from the state, you get stability, but it does not pass the common sense test.
For instance, I know it is the first words out of any atheist mouth when you try to talk with them about Jesus, “Explain the Inquisition," and “Look how evil the church was!" and "Look what they did in the name of Jesus!"
It is true that about 500 years ago, Christian fanatics killed about 10,000 people over a 100 year time period (about 100/year) in the name of the Roman Catholic church. It is a shame on the record of an organization that claims to be promoting the ministry of Christ. Now compare this record to the example of the countries that have officially done away with religion. To the countries that have outright banned religion and imprisoned those who try to practice it (the ultimate test of the theory of separation of church and state).
Yes, I am talking about Communist countries. In the Communist Manifesto, Engel and Marx declared, "Communism abolishes all religion." In my father's lifetime, the numbers of people that officially atheist countries have murdered in the name of no-religion is staggering; the USSR slaughtered 20 million, China slaughtered 10 million, Communist Cambodia slaughtered 2 million, Communist North Korea has/continues to murder untold numbers, Communist Cuba has/continues to murder untold numbers, the list goes on.
The grand total is over 50 million+ dead in the last 80-year time span (over 600,000/year). Even comparing the worst time of "Christian Persecution" to an average time of a just one country that has officially and forcefully separated church and state, the conclusion is obvious: Christianity has a huge calming influence on government.
If you know what the first words out of an atheists mouth are going to be, why do you keep talking about Jesus, why not change the subject?
The world would be a much better place to live in if people actually made an earnest effort to follow the Ten Commandments as opposed to eliminating religion.
You're about 50 million low on the victims of Communism.
Nazi Germany led the way in the pro-active banning of organized religion.
No 'hateful lemmings' in that 'compassionate' bunch.
/sarc/sarc
According to Elton Joh, there is no greater "horror" in the world than gays suffering in the closet.
Does the cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong "Chiapet" Il count as a religion?
Elton John spends more on flowers in a year than a family spends on food in a year.
You forgot the..... /s............
The writer has an excellent point, but also fails to note that a lot of conflicts are essentially religious wars.
Our current War on Terror is certainly the result of at least a radical element of one religion declaring war on us. "Sectarian violence" is code for religious war, and we're seeing that in Iraq. "The Troubles" was code for religious war in Ireland.
The answer isn't abolishing religion. The answer is competing religions tolerating each other, at least to the point where we don't start shooting or bombing.
We need to design more comfortable closets.
I can't stand Elton John. He seems to either be completely unaware of how compassionate Christian charity organizations are, or he's deliberately ignoring that fact.
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