How do you differientiate the underlying cause?
Offline I've been thinking as to whether religion makes people do what they would not normally do.
But I quickly hit a brick wall, when I noticed that Theists generally tend to personalize everything into their religion.
For example, Hitler thought he was doing the Lord's work, but then again so did Martin Luther King.
A Hamas suicide bomber says he's dedicated to God, but then again, so will the Red Cross worker who is helping with humanitarian aid.
To compound the situation even more, there are secular groups that contribute to the aid [Doctors without borders for example] and secular groups that contribute to the suicide bombings [PFLP for example]
To me, this makes it extremely difficult to determine the underlying cause.
Take a quote like "I feel God has chosen me to do this. This oppertunity is truly a gift from God." without a source, and I cannot tell if it's a terrorist, a humanitarian aid worker, or a guy who really likes working at his job.
So how exactly do we determine if they would or wouldn't have done it if they had not believed?
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That's the most convenient thing about the Bible, from the point of view of the people who like to use it to prove points. Nobody's ever going to read the whole thing (save proof-readers, those poor bastards), and if they do, it's not like they're going to understand it.
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
How did you ever get the theist badge anyway? Did you just ask for it?
After eating an entire bull, a mountain lion felt so good he started roaring. He kept it up until a hunter came along and shot him.
The moral: When you're full of bull, keep your mouth shut.
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Our dear Captain is the most successful contrarian I've ever seen.
Saint Will: no gyration without funkstification.
fabulae! nil satis firmi video quam ob rem accipere hunc mi expediat metum. - Terence
I don't like being called that since everybody calls me that.