John Stainer was not the greatest composer but his setting of these words in The Crucifixion is sublime.

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People are persecuted for their religion, though.

I don't think the Gospels are "superstitous mumbo jumbo", although it's true that there's plenty of superstitious mumbo jumbo in circulation.

Edited by chateauferret (06 Mar 2018 9.18pm)

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Yeah, OK. I'll just go and read a couple of Dawkins or whatever books and then I'll be "cured". Zat orright?

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Top Ten Signs You’re a Fundamentalist Christian

10 – You vigorously deny the existence of thousands of gods claimed by other religions, but feel outraged when someone denies the existence of yours.

9 – You feel insulted and “dehumanized” when scientists say that people evolved from other life forms, but you have no problem with the Biblical claim that we were created from dirt.

8 – You laugh at polytheists, but you have no problem believing in a Triune God.

7 – Your face turns purple when you hear of the “atrocities” attributed to Allah, but you don’t even flinch when hearing about how God/Jehovah slaughtered all the babies of Egypt in “Exodus” and ordered the elimination of entire ethnic groups in “Joshua” including women, children, and trees!

6 – You laugh at Hindu beliefs that deify humans, and Greek claims about gods sleeping with women, but you have no problem believing that the Holy Spirit impregnated Mary, who then gave birth to a man-god who got killed, came back to life and then ascended into the sky.

5 – You are willing to spend your life looking for little loopholes in the scientifically established age of Earth (few billion years), but you find nothing wrong with believing dates recorded by Bronze Age tribesmen sitting in their tents and guessing that Earth is a few generations old.

4 – You believe that the entire population of this planet with the exception of those who share your beliefs — though excluding those in all rival sects – will spend Eternity in an infinite Hell of Suffering. And yet consider your religion the most “tolerant” and “loving.”

3 – While modern science, history, geology, biology, and physics have failed to convince you otherwise, some idiot rolling around on the floor speaking in “tongues” may be all the evidence you need to “prove” Christianity.

2 – You define 0.01% as a “high success rate” when it comes to answered prayers. You consider that to be evidence that prayer works. And you think that the remaining 99.99% FAILURE was simply the will of God.

1 – You actually know a lot less than many atheists and agnostics do about the Bible, Christianity, and church history – but still call yourself a Christian.

"Everything is air-droppable at least once."

"When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support."

Burma, also Sri Lanka

"Everything is air-droppable at least once."

"When the going gets tough, the tough call for close air support."

It's quite a lot more complicated than that. I won't paraphrase this long article, but it's quite interesting. Actually Hitler was probably sincere, if wrong, when he wrote that, but by 1934 he was an atheist.

[Link]

If you want a fine example of a tyrant who really was driven and twisted beyond all reason by an obsession with (wrong) religious thinking we have a very fine example nearer to home. King Henry VIII. (He was actually reasonable in not wanting to be bossed about by the Pope, but lost the plot pretty quickly after that). I think he's the exception though: usually when violence is justified by reference to religion, the perpetrator is not following any faith but using it as a pretext or excuse. The Crusades, for example.

Edited by chateauferret (06 Mar 2018 11.00pm)

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