Originally Posted by Jaxian

I believe you are saying that religion leads only a small minority of people to commit evil acts. I disagree. When I talk about evil acts, I am not talking only about murder, but about any action which harms another person for no reason.

The easiest example of what I'm talking about is political issues. Any person who votes in favor of putting the ten commandments up in our courts, for example, is committing an evil act. Anyone who opposes stem cell research is committing an evil act. Any person who opposes gay marriage is committing an evil act. All of these things hurt people for no reason, and so they are evil. But so many people do these things that it is almost unthinkable. These widespread evils are most often committed for religious reasons.

I suspect you are religious, so perhaps you will disagree with me about these issues. If so, then I can show you what I mean by looking at older times. In the World's history, religious beliefs have been the primary justification for war and genocide. Religious beliefs have justified inquisitions, where atheists and people of other religions were murdered and deported. Religious beliefs brought us the idea of manifest destiny, which led Americans to massacre Native Americans. These evils are rooted in following a moral system other than kindness toward others.