Religions Behaving Badly

[Bren122]

This thread will inevitably play out like the other hundred or so similar threads on this forum and nobody is going to be a step closer to convincing anyone else of the rightness of their cause.
People kill and murder and lust for power and they use every reason and justification for it. People commit acts of base brutality and corruption; betray trust and duty under the cover of any organisation. To single out any one or any one group and say that it is worse or better than any other is a simplistic knee jerk reaction that is the same as saying the bad guys wear black hats.
this will inevitably go back and forth about fact versus faith and whether miracles really exist or how solid theories are and by the end of it all we will have proven is that, when it comes to these matters, there is not a lot a lot of difference between the extremists at both ends of the scale and the wise person will do well to trust neither.

[Thorne]

when it comes to these matters, there is not a lot a lot of difference between the extremists at both ends of the scale and the wise person will do well to trust neither.

I agree with you there. And I pretty much don't trust them, at either end of the scale.

But discussing these things can have some benefits. Sure, you're not going to convert the true believer, at either end. But for someone sitting on the fence, not sure which way to drop, the more information he can get, in either direction, the better his decision will be.

Over the last several years I have noticed that there are many people who have either lost their faith or who never had any to begin with, but were afraid to admit it, either to themselves or others, because they didn't want to be made to feel alone, different. With the more outspoken nature of the atheist/agnostic community, though, these people are realizing that they are not alone, that there are more people just like them. Surely that's a good thing, isn't it?