Mohammed Bear

[PeterC]

Religious fanatics are amongst the most dangerous people there are, especially when they can bring forth the support of either the State or a sufficiently large body of militant followers.

Unlike those lovely atheist fellas, like Hitler. Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot, who never hurt a fly.

[David A. Riley]

Religious fanatics are amongst the most dangerous people there are, especially when they can bring forth the support of either the State or a sufficiently large body of militant followers.

Unlike those lovely atheist fellas, like Hitler. Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot, who never hurt a fly.

Sometimes politics can be like a religion too - and in these examples the political faiths these men worked by were as near to religion as you could get. Indeed, it could be argued that their politics were their religions.

David

[PeterC]

So everything unpleasant is a religion? Well, I must confess you've got me there.

[David A. Riley]

Not exactly what I said.

"Religious fanatics are, I believe, amongst the most dangerous people there are"

Please see emphases added to the quote for clarification.

It's a mistake to extrapolate far too much from a few brief sentences.

David

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

I sometimes think Yeats had it right with, "The best lack all conviction while the worst are filled with passion and intensity."
Not that I'm anti-religious. My family is full of people for whom religion is an important and beneficial thing and I take offence at anyone mocking religious beliefs on those grounds, ie the Richard Dawkins approach that, if you believe in God you're some sort of educationally subnormal idiot. I actually think Dawkins has some interesting things to say but, unfortunately, his dogmatic approach makes me disinclined to listen to him.
I have a basic sort of faith, but faith and religion are two separate things and I do think that organised religion is often comparable to the ultimate protection racket, pay now and if you're not fully satisfied, too late, you're dead.
It strikes me that the press have been encouraged to make a big thing about the bear story because, amidst the hoo-ha, more important issues can be allowed to slip past under the radar.

This is uncommonly serious of me. I need to stay away from the computer when I've been out in the pub.

So, in short, I think Monkey had it right. Though he'll probably find he doesn't want to chuck away all his crucifixes and holy water if he wants to keep ahead in the vampire hunting game.