Some say nothing has caused more unnecessary hurt or death than religion. But
from what I can tell from the batch of links of cruelty by believers and non-
believers a little down the page at the next link, the main cause of the cruelty
isn't belief or non-belief in God but being so 'centric about either one (or
race, nationality, etc.) that the person won't be friends with those outside of
their classification.
http://www.freewebs.com/glenster1/gtjbrooklyn43.htm
That's when the walls of alienation go up, people distrust and even hate those
on the other side, etc.
What I recommend is to take those that were on the offense in religious war or
persecution of religious people, but not those on the defense or other nice
believers or non-believers, and add those that were 'centric and on the offense
regarding race and lynched African Americans as though they were just chattle,
regarding nationality, etc., and you get the group that has caused the most
unnecessary hurt or death--people who get too 'centric. I think that's the
wiser overview and doesn't mischaracterize a lot of nice believers or non-
believers. We're never going to have people of all the same belief or non-
belief choice, race, nationality, etc., but we can get more relaxed and friendly
about the differences.
A few basic outlooks I recommend:
- Don't mess with the see-able, touchable, measureable. Trying to prove or
disprove God by that stuff misses the point. Belief in God was, is, and will be
a faith commitment beyond that stuff, short of witnessing an actual divine
intervention, so know that's what you're doing if you're doing it.
- Don't be too 'centric or you're a pain in the a** whichever of the belief or
non-belief choices you pick.
- Nobody should be hurt or killed over that stuff. Separation of church and
state is good for that, otherwise you have people getting hurt or killed over
it, executed in Saudi Arabia for converting to something else and such. You
could make a case for God's prerogative for the punishment, but I'd want to see
the clouds part and an angel proclaiming it or no deal, and so far that hasn't
come up.
The cruelest aspect of the JWs doesn't have to come with being a believer but
is due to the irresponsibility of the JWs leaders, such as the relatively harsh
use of disfellowshipping, notably for JWs leaders' specialties, rules on the
medical use of blood and major blood products, and expanded ideas of worldliness
conflicting with intolerant political leaders. They also have some outdated
rules about some matters that are debated and haven't kept up with the more
liberal interpretations, such as regarding homosexuality or evolution.
