The idea of burning heretics is not a Christian principle. I get so tired of hearing this idea repeated over and over. First off it happened a few hundred years ago and I think we can safely say that Chrisitan ideals have evolved somewhat since that time. If the burning of heretics is currently a big issue why I have not seen anyone burnt at the stake during my life time. God, knows there are enough heretics to justify a prye on every street corner. It is a sad chapter from Chrisitian history that really should be given a rest.
If killing people for not accepting your religious belief is an exuclusively Christian idea please explain to me why Druids bar-be-qued their heretics,or the Aztecs, the Romans for that matter. In fact one would be hard pressed to find a major world religion which has not done it at some point They were doing this well before Christianity came into being. I get sick to tearings listening to the new age people drivel on about the brutality of Chrisitanity when the Druids who they hold in high esteam did the same things. For some reason the blood on their hands dosen't count. I guess it's because they were kind to trees to they can pass the politically correct smell test.
Killing people who disagree with your religion has to do with crappy human behavior and nothing to do with Chrisitanity. The modern western world no longer tolerates this atrocious crime. The Muslim world does. We are living in the current world not the past. To argue that "well Christians did it hundreds of years ago so who are we to point fingers" is an attemmpt to inpart some sort of phoney guilt within Christians for believing in their faith. I for one have never owned a slave, killed an Indian, or burnt a heretic. I hazard to guess if you will not find many ,if any, American Christians who have.
As you may know, the Libertarians are running a practicing Druid for governor of California this year.
But you're right, all religions have killed in the name of their faith. That's why I keep using the term Judeao-Christian-Islamic. They share common violent roots, as well as common good ideas.
And yes, pagans too have commited savage deeds. Just yesterday I heard on the Art Bell Show how Native Americans would offer rituals of gratitude to the animals they killed before eating them, and how Native Americans believed that the whale was the "grandfather of the ocean," a "brother" who was given domain over the waters just as men were given domain over the earth.
I'm so tired of liberals ooooh and aaaahing over "spiritual peace-loving Native Americans," just as I'm tired of Jews and Christians and Muslims each thinking their religion is somehow better than the others. Tired of smug atheists too.
I guess I just don't like people, :-)