Thanks for starting this thread, Steph. That way I don't have to.
I was thinking this would be a topic you'd want to discuss Ann.
They talked about how David Koresh and his sect had had their human rights violated, how they had had their religous rights violated etcetera.
I'm guessing you're referring to the media in this instance? I don't follow the news enough to even remember what was said about the whole Koresh thing.
Their religions allow them to feel good about themselves when they blow themselves up in crowded marketplaces and take hundreds of people with them. Their religion bestows virtue and righteousness on them when they marry dozens of women and rape underage girls. Their religion even promises them that God will reward them for committing these horrible acts!
I agree with pretty much everything Ann said (which I think is a first for us Ann
).
I don't think that these crazed pedophile lunatics should be considered Mormons. (my own personal disclaimer: I don't think the Mormon theology is correct but I still don't think their religion teaches what these crazy men were doing) They're like any other crazed fundamentalist religious group, bending reality to what their sick and twisted minds desire. I'm reminded of Jim Jones who started off teaching the Bible and then found he'd rather twist it into a religion that suited his needs.
Well, my second thought is that it is horrible that ordinary people accept this line of reasoning at all. Why do so many normal people seem to buy the argument that religious people always deserve respect for their religious beliefs?
This part you lost me on Ann. I don't think that people accept this line of reasoning. I think that most of America is outraged by this kind of behavior. Anyone who thinks differently is probably following the same path of thinking that led to the sect in the first place.
Remember that there was no Iraq war costing money in those days, among other things. What is a 51-day siege, or a 100-day siege, against a five-year Iraq war?
Ouch. Let's not bring up the war on Iraq. That's a topic for an entirely different thread I think.
Terefore I am convinced that he committed suicide by setting the compound on fire himself. And not only did he commit just ordinary suicide, but he committed what is called "extended suicide", which meant that he took his "family" with him.
That theory makes sense to me. Those crazy leaders tend to do that kind of thing - or try - quite often (Jim Jones, Pyotr Kuznetsov, Marshall Applewhite, etc).
What respect do people like Warren Jeffs, polygamist guru of the renegade Mormons, deserve? None, if you ask me.
Agreed.
