Burn the ships
"blahblahblahblahblahblahreligionbadblahblahblahblahblahblah"
"blahblahblahblahblahblahnoreligiongoodblahblahblahblahblahblah"
You are so articulate...
Act like a child in this discussion and be treated like one.
If I have unfairly characterised anything, please point it out.
You HAVE unfairly characterised my argument.
First of all I am not making any argument concerning belief in god.
I am breaking the link between people's various claims at having the 'right' religion (or 'right' enough to kill someone on a belief basis) and 'god'.
Surely we have all learned enough not to make foolish claims that we or our opinions can represent god?
Religion (any religion) is the claim that a set of opinions (ultimately a person's opinions even if they merely parrot those of their religion) represents god.
That claim is unprovable and the path down which madness lies
Or are people here claiming to have god's truth? If so, please prove it. Oh you can't. Yawn.
The difference between religous cultures and secular cultures is that secular cultures (as far as modern democracies go) put the right of individuals before religious beliefs, and religious cultures don't. Which is why Islamic cultures treat women like chattel and America wobbles on the verge of abolishing abortion.
(Before anyone goes down the abortion 'an unborn child is a individual too', no, an unborn child of the age that any sensible person would advocate on-demand abortion for (say 16 weeks or under), is NOT an individual, it has less brain matter than a squirrel. If you disagree start a new thread entitled 'I have proof that a 16 week onl fetus has more brain matter than a squirrel' and provide the references. If you believe it is 'ensouled', see above comments about your religious beliefs being irrelevent to a secular culture and solve the problem by not having any abortions yourself)
Second, I am not talking purely about violent crime. Nazi Germany had a low rate of crime. So does Saudi Arabia. But would you call either culture peaceful? Holocaust and Sharia law are a little violent, don't you think. Judicial execution and government sanctioned torture are a little on the violent side too.
Now, as you have misrepresented what I said or did not have the courtesy to read what I said, or misunderstood it and leaped to false conclusions, maybe you will apologise like an adult and respond to what I actually said rather than making fallacious arguments.
Or maybe you'll carry on behaving like a kid. Keep up the blahblah routine by all means, it just makes me laugh.
Obviously it goes without saying y'all can support the death penalty. But the fact you don't even deal with the reasons why most Europeans think it is barbaric says more than all the words you use.
Strapping a human to a gurney and killing him with a syringe is just as bad as burying him up to his waist and throwing rocks at him. You might feel one is civilised, and the other isn't but you are in a minority.
