A friend on a newsgroup wrote in message .

[Rowland Croucher wrote in message <>…]

(Rowland, name me ONE conflict that religion has STOPPED – don’t bother trying to enumerate the ones it has started, I prolly won’t live long enough for you to finish that. Then explain why I should believe that ANY religion is other than an excuse for its leaders to rip off the system)

Not having a go at you personally – au contraire…

Nonetheless.

IMO and IME religion is a particularly nasty, vicious, unrelenting, unforgiving form of politics, and the cause of peace would best be served if ALL religions (except maybe Bhuddism) were totally banned immediately.

To which I replied:

1. All the major religions have an irenic/mystical dimension

2. All the major religions (including Buddhism) have a fundamentalist/aggressive dimension. (Buddhists persecute Christians in parts of southern Asia)

3. Wars are not always fought in the ‘name’ of religion. Rather a religious dimension is generally mixed in with ethnicity…

3. Christianity – until the last few hundred years – has a sorry record, however, particularly with its Crusades, Inquisition. Islam is generally now where Western Christianity was 500 years ago.

4. Individual Christian leaders and missionaries have done some excellent peace-making through the last few centuries (Mennonites, Martin Luther King etc.)…

Our Netfriend:

Fancy stoning a poor stupid female adulterer to death in Nigeria in the name of Islam – er, once she’s finished breastfeeding the little sprog, of course so if anyone bothers to feed him after that he’ll stay alive?

My response:

I agree…

Netfriend:

Abuse of kids in “church” orphanages in Oz??

My response:

I’m a counsellor, and from the stories I hear would have to say kids got abused in religious and non-religious orphanages, state institutions etc.

Netfriend:

This is truly gross.

In fact the whole system of “religion” is so totally gross it defies belief.

Response:

Pity you have to make a generalization like this. We’re all en route to being redeemed, hopefully, and religious, non-religious, and irreligious people can do ‘gross’ things on the journey… The best and worst people I know are ‘religious’.

Netfriend:

I am very proud to be a heathen.

Response:

And I’m proud to be a follower of Jesus.

—

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher