Opinion

Secularism by far more murderous

Posted September 18, 2014 12:01 am

In a recent letter James Cook espouses "secularism" as an alternate to religion because of the murderous and destructive nature of religious bigotry. To do this, he uses "facts" to prove his point. Unfortunately, his facts are wrong.

Cook claims that religion has "caused more death and destruction ... than all other causes." This canard, popular among secularists and atheists alike, is simply not true. Only a fraction of the 60 to 120 million people killed in the secular wars of World War I, II and the Napoleonic wars were killed for religious reasons. By comparison, the three largest religious wars (the 16 Crusades, the 30 Years War, and the French Wars of Religion) total 10 to 20 percent of this grim toll. And this also ignores the huge numbers of their own people killed by secular communist countries like Russia, Cambodia, and China. The facts are clear: secularism is by far the more murderous.

Secondly, he states that the First Amendment calls for the separation of church and state. It does not; it guarantees freedom of religion, expression and assembly. It forbids the establishment of a state religion.

Separation of church and state comes from a letter by Thomas Jefferson.

Cook concludes that religion will bring an apocalypse. Yet the facts speak otherwise.

John Schreiber

Glen Ellyn

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