Why do so many people believe that the USA was founded on Christian principles?

[loco]

In terms of muscle growth response? muscle bellies? Structure?

Building muscle mass naturally has never been too hard for me, for my brothers or for my uncles.

[Deicide]

Building muscle mass naturally has never been too hard for me, for my brothers or for my uncles.

You're lucky.

[The True Adonis]

Wrong.  Stalin's atheism let him to murder many priests, nuns, and thousands of other religious people.  Their crime?  They believed in God.

Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot had no fear of God and were above the law of the land, which left nothing to stop them from murdering millions in the name of their secular ideologies.

False.

[headhuntersix]

Based on what? 

They saw the Church as a rival power and influence on their people. They knew that a strong church could disway the masses from following their bs programs, rules and laws.

[The True Adonis]

Based on what? 

They saw the Church as a rival power and influence on their people. They knew that a strong church could disway the masses from following their bs programs, rules and laws.

The actions of totalitarians have far more in common with religious, rather than secular values.

Do not question the leader, submit unthinkingly, ethics are what the authority says they are, or else. There is no external moral benchmark.

These are the catchphrases of totalitarians through the ages. In the religious context the leader is God, the authority is the Bible and the "or else" the Inquisition. In a secular context the leader may be Hitler, the authority "Main Kampf" and the "or else" the Gestapo.

The root problem, is that Dogma and Ideology which must be obeyed without question, lead inevitably to horrors. The precedents, both religious and secular are legion. Religion is merely a subset of the primary concept. The antidote, is genuine free thought, skepticism and critical thinking.

[Eyeball Chambers]

And if they do and they simply continue the same behavior under another banner such as Nationalism, that too should be challenged.  Remaining silent is letting evil prevail.

I think fighting/killing is just human nature.  Blaming religion or nationalism in my opinion is just a convenient scapegoat.  

[Deicide]

The actions of totalitarians have far more in common with religious, rather than secular values.

Do not question the leader, submit unthinkingly, ethics are what the authority says they are, or else. There is no external moral benchmark.

These are the catchphrases of totalitarians through the ages. In the religious context the leader is God, the authority is the Bible and the "or else" the Inquisition. In a secular context the leader may be Hitler, the authority "Main Kampf" and the "or else" the Gestapo.

The root problem, is that Dogma and Ideology which must be obeyed without question, lead inevitably to horrors. The precedents, both religious and secular are legion. Religion is merely a subset of the primary concept. The antidote, is genuine free thought, skepticism and critical thinking.

Retrospectively, none of these men had good bbing genetics.

[The True Adonis]

I think fighting/killing is just human nature.  Blaming religion or nationalism in my opinion is just a convenient scapegoat.  

No.  Killing each other is not Evolutionary beneficial in species who are socially grouped and require the dependence and reciprocation of each other.  Homo Sapiens have never historically mass murdered because of a genetic predisposition as there is no biological evidence for this, nor does the fossil record support this conclusion.  Mass Killings among our species is relatively new and has come about not because of our inherent genetics, but because of our irrational actions and technology to do so.

Although there is emerging evidence that the limbic brain, reptilian brain is expressed moreso in those who operate under fear than those who operate under rationality.  However, being a social species, group order and rationality should mitigate the prevalence of the Reptilian brain but does not in all cases. (afterall, we still have a Republican party filled with wingnuts. )

[The True Adonis]

Adolf Hitler was a Catholic by the way and used the Catholic Church, who willingly complied, to help him murder the Jews as well as further the hatred of them.

A little side note: The Current Pope was in the Hitler Jugend.  I am sure, or at least I hope he denounces all involvement today, but Adolf and the Catholic church were quite cozy with each other when it came to murdering and imprisoning jews and recruiting "good" Catholics to carry this out.

[The True Adonis]

Furthermore, can anyone name a Theocracy that has not been overly oppressive, unequal, and dangerous?

[Deicide]

Furthermore, can anyone name a Theocracy that has not been overly oppressive, unequal, and dangerous?

Which dictators do you think had good bbing genetics?

[The True Adonis]

Also, loco, can you explain to me how you think atheism in itself causes genocide?  Atheism is simply not believing in a god or the supernatural and has nothing to do with morality.  I do not understand how you made that leap in logic that atheism leads to genocide.  Hopefully you can clear this up.

[tu_holmes]

Wrong.  Stalin's atheism let him to murder many priests, nuns, and thousands of other religious people.  Their crime?  They believed in God.

Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot had no fear of God and were above the law of the land, which left nothing to stop them from murdering millions in the name of their secular ideologies.

I don't think it had anything with them believing in God, so much as he wanted people to fear him above all others... God included.

Eliminating them was simply good  business in him retaining his power.

[The True Adonis]

I don't think it had anything with them believing in God, so much as he wanted people to fear him above all others... God included.

Eliminating them was simply good  business in him retaining his power.

I agree.  Stalin surely would have had a bunch of atheists murdered just as fast, as I am sure he did, if they were seen as a threat to his power.  So its not like he had a soft spot for only atheists.  He surely would have carted them off to the Gulag as well.I don`t think declaring,  "Wait Mr. Stalin, you can`t take me away for opposing you, I am an atheist", would have worked.

[24KT]

Furthermore, can anyone name a Theocracy that has not been overly oppressive, unequal, and dangerous?

Baha'i

Bahá'ís believe that there is one God, that all humanity is one family, and that there is a fundamental unity underlying religion. They recognize that the coming of Bahá'u'lláh has opened the age for the establishment of world peace, when, as anticipated in the sacred scriptures of the past, all humanity will achieve its spiritual and social maturity, and live as one united family in a just, global society.

http://www.bahai.org/

[The True Adonis]

Baha'i

Bahá'ís believe that there is one God, that all humanity is one family, and that there is a fundamental unity underlying religion. They recognize that the coming of Bahá'u'lláh has opened the age for the establishment of world peace, when, as anticipated in the sacred scriptures of the past, all humanity will achieve its spiritual and social maturity, and live as one united family in a just, global society.

http://www.bahai.org/

What nation?

[The True Adonis]

I just read a bit about Baha'i but cannot find it being implemented in a Theocratic manner in any particular nation.

[Eyeball Chambers]

No.  Killing each other is not Evolutionary beneficial in species who are socially grouped and require the dependence and reciprocation of each other.  Homo Sapiens have never historically mass murdered because of a genetic predisposition as there is no biological evidence for this, nor does the fossil record support this conclusion.  Mass Killings among our species is relatively new and has come about not because of our inherent genetics, but because of our irrational actions and technology to do so.

Although there is emerging evidence that the limbic brain, reptilian brain is expressed moreso in those who operate under fear than those who operate under rationality.  However, being a social species, group order and rationality should mitigate the prevalence of the Reptilian brain but does not in all cases. (afterall, we still have a Republican party filled with wingnuts. )

Interesting post, I hope you stick around and keep posting on the political board. 

[loco]

Adolf Hitler was a Catholic by the way and used the Catholic Church, who willingly complied, to help him murder the Jews as well as further the hatred of them.

A little side note: The Current Pope was in the Hitler Jugend.  I am sure, or at least I hope he denounces all involvement today, but Adolf and the Catholic church were quite cozy with each other when it came to murdering and imprisoning jews and recruiting "good" Catholics to carry this out.

This is irrelevant.

Whether Adolf Hitler was a Catholic or simply used Catholicism to get his way is the question.

And even if Hitler was a Catholic, Stalin, Mao and Pol Pot were atheists and they killed many more innocent people than Hitler did.

And even if Hitler was a Catholic, killing Jews for him had nothing to do with religion.  He killed Jews whether they were religious or not.  He would have killed Jews even if they had converted to Catholicism.

[loco]

Also, loco, can you explain to me how you think atheism in itself causes genocide?  Atheism is simply not believing in a god or the supernatural and has nothing to do with morality.  I do not understand how you made that leap in logic that atheism leads to genocide.  Hopefully you can clear this up.

I never said that atheism in itself leads to genocide.  You just said that.  I would never say that.

I said that it was Stalin's atheism that let him to murder thousands of innocent priests, nuns and many other religious people.  Their only crime was their theism. 

A Muslim leader today might kill non-Muslims if they do not submit to Islam.  The Roman Catholic Church killed people hundreds of years ago because they would not submit to the Roman Catholic Church.  Stalin was an atheist and of the million plus innocent people he killed, thousands of those were killed simply because they were not atheists.  Had they been atheists, they would not have been murdered by Stalin.

"Continuous persecution in the 1930s resulted in the near-extinction of the Russian Orthodox Church: by 1939, active parishes numbered in the low hundreds (down from 54,000 in 1917), many churches had been leveled, and tens of thousands of priests, monks and nuns were persecuted and killed. Over 100,000 were shot during the purges of 1937–1938.

Many religions popular in the ethnic regions of the Soviet Union including the Roman Catholic Church, Uniats, Baptists, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, etc. underwent ordeals similar to the Orthodox churches in other parts: thousands of monks were persecuted, and hundreds of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, sacred monuments, monasteries and other religious buildings were razed."

Alexander N. Yakovlev (2002). A Century of Violence in Soviet Russia. Yale University Press. pp. 165.
http://books.google.com/books?visbn=0300103220&id=ChRk43tVxTwC&pg=PA165&lpg=PA165&ots=ICIxg28Jud&dq=a+century+of+violence+in+soviet+russia+the+Russian+Orthodox+clergy&ie=ISO-8859-1&sig=C9k9Hr7Vn222WCHf_1iSJOHVsgo

Richard Pipes (2001). Communism: A History. Modern Library Chronicles. pp. 66.

[loco]

By the way Adonis, Christianity by itself never let to genocide, murder or torture.  Christianity directly and indirectly has rather let to non-violent resistance against oppression.  And I'm talking about Jesus, his apostles, and his many early followers. 

I am talking about Gandhi, whose non-violent resistance of the British empire was greatly influenced by Leo Tolstoy, a Russian Christian, and by Jesus. 

I am talking about Martin Luther King, whose non-violent resistance was greatly influenced by Jesus and by Gandhi. 

I am talking about the people of Chile, who influenced by Jesus, Gandhi and Martin Luther King, through non-violent resistance overthrew the tyrant Pinochet.