The time must come inevitably when mankind shall surmount the imbecility of religion, as it has surmounted the imbecility of religion's ally, magic. It is impossible to imagine this world being really civilized so long as so much nonsense survives. In even its highest forms religion embraces concepts that run counter to all common sense. It can be defended only by making assumptions and adopting rules of
logic that are never heard of in any other field of human thinking.

do you think all the evil under the sun comes from organised religion or magic? Now i call that simple.When Pinochet was killing chileans, he was doign so not from religious grounds but social and political ones: that is ideology. The cold war was based on ideological grounds, not traditional organised religion.
of course capitalists killing communists and vice versa is like catholics killing protestants and vice versa. But lets not think that if religion disappears from the face of the earth, a millenium of peace will appear. Thats naieve

I never said that the removal of religion alone will bring a utopia of peace. It will go a long way towards that goal, however. The reason that I quoted Mr. Mencken is that the ignoramouses stabbing and hacking to death anyone they think is a Christian in Nigeria are doing so because they believe that their religion has been affronted. This is remarkably ignorant and primitive behavior. I agree with Mr. Mencken's assessment that adherance to religion is not unlike belief in magic.
Interesting reference to Pinochet. Strange you leave out Castro or Mao or Stalin when talking about ideological murdering thugs. They have murdered millions of times as many people as the former General.

...i noticed that S.S. did not mention Smith, Locke, et al whose 'philosophy' also murdered millions more than pinochet; capitalism is a religion also.

"Interesting reference to Pinochet. Strange you leave out Castro or Mao or Stalin when talking about ideological murdering thugs."

Two wrongs don't make a right. It doesn't stop being a crime just because "somebody else did it". It's really disgusting when people do this.

The point isn't to excuse Pinochet. The point is that the murderers of the so-called Right are always taken to task, and the murderers of the Left are given a pass. Useful idiots still mouth tired old leftist propoganda and wear their che or mao-inspired garb and are not hounded for the totalitarians they are. You would have to look pretty freaking hard to find a college dorm room with a Nazi flag hanging in it, yet there are Communist CLUBS in many universities. There is no question that Communists are the unrivaled champions at mass murder, yet the Left spews venom at Pinochet and interviews Castro on Barbara Walters. What a joke.

And zek, you have no point. Show me where Capitalism has it's gulags or concentration camps, it's reeducation camps, it's "asylums for the politically insane". Capitalism doesn't make these things. Communism and it's totalitarian cousins do.

prison
capitalism?

"It's of the same order of the hula hoop -- a fad. Six months from now, we'll probably be on another kick."

-- W.R. Murphy, President of Campbell Soup Co. and member of the Business Council, 1966, dismissing Ralph Nader's campaign for auto safety.

Nader is an excellent consumer advocate. And a horrible politician.

Philosophy doesn't murder people, people murder people.

"I got an apb for a Deconstructionism heading north on the 101. Its armed with vocabulary and should be considered dangerous."

Philosophy consists very largely of one philosopher arguing that
all others are jackasses. He usually proves it, and I should add that
he also usually proves that he is one himself.

"In this world of sin and sorrow, there is always something to be thankful for. As for me, I rejoice that I am not a Republican." --Mencken

I was trying to chat up a broad at a bar when I said that. I retract everything.

"Samuel Johnson's saying that patriotism is the last refuge of scoundrels has some truth in it but not nearly enough. Patriotism, in truth, is the great nursery of scoundrels, and its annual output is probably greater than that of even religon. Its chief glories are the demagogue, the military bully, and the spreaders of libels and false history. Its philosophy rests firmly on the doctrine that the end justifies the means--that any blow, whether above or below the belt, is fair against dissenters from its wholesale denial of plain facts."

--Mencken

Capitalism undoubtedly has certain boils and blotches upon it, but has it as many as government? Has it as many as marriage? Has it as many as religion? I doubt it. It is the only basic institution of modern man that shows any genuine health and vigor.

Hanging one scoundrel, it appears, does not deter the next. Well, what of it? The first one is at least disposed of.