07-08-2017, 04:41 PM
(07-08-2017, 11:10 AM)xxlt Wrote: So if we are trying to honestly assess the claim made and rejected (sans data in both cases) in the OP do we omit from the tally of deaths and wars caused by religion those deaths and wars traceable to someone(s) who "corrupted" a religion?
Example: Jim Jones People's Temple (in 1978) 918 people died (some would say they suicided, some would say Jones murdered them, but that's another debate for another day) in Jonestown, Guyana. Do we count those as deaths attributable to religion? Or do we say he corrupted religion or it was a cult of personality so those deaths don't count?
I would say cult in your example, but almost every death/war I can think of based on religion had ulterior motives and religion was only used by those in power to gain support.
"A great democracy has got to be progressive, or it will soon cease to be either great or a democracy..." - TR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
"The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little." - FDR
