Penelope
No, I don't think it makes them any more dangerous.
I disagree for the reasons mentioned above and I see little reason to repeat them, but I will add this... Only a religious person could believe that they will be eternally rewarded for murdering another human being.
If this does not make religion a more dangerous belief system I do not know what would.
I totally agree with that...Penelope
Blind devotion to any system or person is wrong.
No, it was a disagreement in the interpretation of scripture which ended up causing murderous clashes between the two factions whose leaders both saw their interpretations as the only correct one and led their followers against the opposing sect.Penelope
And you can argue against religions - for instance.....I am a Protestant.......because at some time in our history we protested against the practices of the Roman Catholic Church........So that wasn't blind adherence.
And while I admit that it is true that people can argue against the church, few ever do, most accept church gospel as fact despite the overwhelming evidence against, at least in this country anyway.
Penelope
And in fact, if you look at the people who are working to help the socially deprived in the World today......I bet a larger percentage of them are religious than not.
I would make the same bet but for a different reason... because the planet's population is also overwhelmingly religious.
Of the many religious people I know none of them went to help out when hurricane Katrina hit, but of the few atheists I am in touch with I know of one that volunteered to go... it was me, and we all donated money if we had it to spare.
Penelope
But it is their faith that inspires them to care about their fellow man.
I do not think that is true at all... I think that even without religion kind people would still be generous and nasty people would still be poop heads; what religion does offer is the organization to make things happen, people unaffiliated with a church have a much harder time getting their help to the people who need it.
I also think that without religions there would be independent secular organizations that did similar work... I think this because they already exist.
Later