Religious issues I brought up were in response to Hexagram's generalization that Religion = Good. I was not simply religious bashing. The point is, as with everything else in this world, there are black, white and gray areas.
well, religion if based on the right one, is good. that is why there is an emphasis in the Bible to praise and believe the true and living God, as opposed to the idols who are false gods
of course now there are hereseys where people are led to believe they are praising the true God but the heresey puts them in error
that is why correct teaching is also important
i guess what i'm trying to say here is, separate God from the human acts. nowhere in the history of the Church did Jesus command his Apostles to conquer nations. and yet for some reason, Spain decided that they want to conquer the world for religion's sake. so who's in error here? is it religion? or is it Spain's own political ambission? if you look at the religion itself, it says nothing about conquering other countries and forcing the faith on other people. but Spain did it anyway. so is it religion's fault?
You failed to mention that besides the "economically-motivated global war on terror" many of the casualties and atrocities done in Iraq, Afghanistan and other places in the world are due to socio-political and religiously motivated acts of terrorism.
i didn't fail to mention it, i omitted it intentionally. i was making a point that there are other reasons to mass murders other than religions. if i mentioned it, i just defeated my own point. i didn't mention it because i was trying to hide it, just because it wasn't the point i was trying to make
adolf hitler was raised a roman catholic and spoke positively about German christian heritage as propaganda. Based on hitler's book, Mein Kampf, his anti-semitism was, in part, religiously motivated.
thats really a stretch. Hitler believed in Aryanism, that they were a superior race. religion was just one of the tools Hitler used to convinced the Germans to side with him, but it was never the reason he wanted to exterminate the Jews and the blacks. in fact he persecuted a lot of Catholics during his time. actually, while Hitler was raised by a Catholic mother, he wasn't much of a Catholic himself. so religion was never his motivation for his genocide
The inquisitions, as insignificant as you put it in numbers, still involved persecution and execution of human beings by an organized religion. I am well aware that the rc has evolved since that time, but the point is, religion can't be good all the time.
actually, the Inquisition had good intentions, to fight Heresy
most of the abuses were done outside the Church and were mostly politically motivated. this is another example of something the Church trying to do something noble, and someone taking it and turning it for their own agenda
the Spanish Inquisition is the most notorious of this. its mostly politically motivated, in the guise of a religious order
Try reading Jose Rizal's most famous works for starters.
Rizal is a Free Mason and a staunch anti-Catholic. many experts now agree that Rizal exaggerated the abuses of the clergy during his time. yes, there were abuses, but not as widespread as you would think. in fact, his inspiration for Padre Damaso was a local clergy who he personally came in conflict with.
As you put it, race defined your status in the society but the corrupt spanish friars and the church had a hand in keeping the indios in line.
I know it isn't catholicism fault but isn't it the church's self appointed job to give moral guidance to its followers to "do the right thing"? From the looks of things, they're not very effective. The same can be said for Indonesia, as the country with the world's largest population of muslims.
that is why Jesus said, listen to the priests and follow what they teach, but don't do what they do. because they're good at teaching the right things but bad at actually practicing them
Singapore, a multi-religious nation which is an example of religious tolerance and Japan, being a largely secular have very disciplined populations and very low crime rates. I wonder why?
i wouldn't say Singapore is very tolerant of religion
i was there 'bout 8 years ago when religious headwear became an issue in public schools, and Singapore decided to ban all religious headwear in public schools
Singapore is successful not because of their religious policies, they're successful because their an authoritarian state done right. meaning they are authoritarian, but the leaders care about the success of the country. unlike most authoritarian states where the leader only cares about his wealth and staying in power forever
I'll have to agree with you on that.......but sometimes right and wrong can vary from place to place and culture to culture. One can try learn and understand why or just impose their beliefs or opinions.
that is why its important to have a moral anchor thats universal and unchanging with an authority above all else. that is God