In this corner religion. And in this corner the state. Guess which has more power?

[fractional slacker]

Who is more irrational, the religious or the statists?

How is stolen money best spent?(podcast) This American Life has a good story about this topic. Of course, they don't see the issue in clear philosophical terms, but nonetheless the truth is not hard to spot for a typical FDR'r. The title of the podcast is Not-So-Simple Majority. I think it's worth a listen.http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives

 

Now if this religious group actually believed their god was so powerful, how could he allow what they perceive as an injustice to exist in the first place. If an injustice is discovered and their god was so powerful, wouldn't the answer be to use prayer to remedy the problem? No, the solution for them was to garner the power of their god- the state, and dominate and rule over others.Allow me to quote a passage from Larken Rose's The Iron Web. 

"You were taught to resent, despise, and hate anyone who has anything you don’t have. You clamor for the state to tear other people down, steal their property, and give it you. And you call that fairness. The bible calls it coveting and stealing. You are not Christians. You are not Jews. You are not Muslims. And you certainly aren’t atheists. You all have the same God and its name is government. You are all members of the most evil, insane, destructive cult in history. If there ever was a devil, the state is it. And you worship it with all your heart and soul. You pray to it to solve every problem, to satisfy all your needs, to spite your enemies and to shower its blessing upon you. You worship what Nietzche called the coldest of all cold monsters. And you hate those of us who don’t. To you the greatest sin is disobeying your god - breaking the law you call it. As if anyone could possibly have any moral obligation to obey the arbitrary commands and demands of the corrupt, lying, delusional, megalomaniacs who infest this despicable town. Even your ministers, priests, and rabbis more often than not are traders to their own religions teaching that the commands of human authority should supersede adherence to the laws of the gods they say they believe in."Here is the video.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5mZ5FBHg0A&index=1&list=FLtFR0CO0Z3lbS1CL42e-4GQ