MrHambre writes:
Since there's nothing to suggest that religion in itself leads to such behavior, I see no cause and effect there.
But in fact the bible does condone acts of violence and teaches its believers that it is their responsibility to act in the proscribed manner. case in point:
In reference to worshipping "other" gods or doing evil in the eyes of the lord (which I am sure isn't limited to the 10 commandments)
Dt 17:5 "...take the man or woman who has done this evil deed to your city gate and stone that person to death."
Dt 13:5 "That prophet or dreamer must be put to the death"
While I agree that we must not confuse the acts with the religion (ie. if a book tells you to kill someone that doesn't excuse it) I disagree that there is nothing in the religion that lends itself to such behavior, when it actually condones it. It tells people to kill those who do evil in the eyes of the lord. The contradiction that occurs, at least for those living in the U.S., is that our laws prohibit such acts. The association to me is clear, if you believe in the bible as a literal truth then believing in stoning those who do evil isn't far behind. If we had a less secular government and we attributed our laws to the bible the laws may actually reflect those teachings. There are plenty of nations that do proscribe their laws according to their religious belief. I think what Schraf is trying to point out is that science doesn't tell you to kill while the bible does. There are people who are so infused with their religious belief's that they think they are doing gods work by killing, (ie. abortion clinic killings), or the stoning deaths in various countries for adultary.
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