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Originally Posted by Electrequiem
What a religion teaches is reflected by how the followers act.
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Ahh, then we have a physically impossible situation. I claim to be muslim, and I think its un-Islamic to be a suicide bomber. Mohammad Atta claimed to be a muslim and thought it was fine. Thus, according to you Islam must both claim suicide bombing is good and bad at the same time (or at least in the same scripture) - and that is physically impossible.
People can pervert science too (OP of this very thread - Sorry Rifat bro) based on their "interpretation" of it.
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And no - that's not their CENTRAL claim. Their central claim is just that the idea of traditional religion and belief in the supernatural is unfounded and irrational.
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If valid, that point would suffice alone. If they were content in merely "being and letting others be" they wouldn't mention the untruth that religion is causative with violence. I'm not calling all atheists out on this, many if not most are perfectly friendly folks. But Sam Harris exemplifies the "missionary" type.
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Your bit about Stalin not being prevented from killing due to his atheism reminds me of this quote by Steven Weinberg:
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That quote is ridiculous...if good people do evil, they aren't good people. Not to mention that in the absence of a moral code, there is no such thing as "good" and "evil" to begin with.