War, Religion and Monty Python.......

[BlueStreak]

""...And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O LORD, bless this Thy hand grenade that with it Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy." And the LORD did grin and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats and large chu... [At this point, the friar is urged by Brother Maynard to "skip a bit, brother"]... And the LORD spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it." Amen.""

I can't help but wonder how many people have murdered each other in the name of "a compassionate, loving God" over the millenia? Waaaaaay into the billions, to be sure.

Personally, I have often wondered how much senseless brutality could have been avoided if religion were more like Santa Claus-----a nice story for children to learn, that the grownups realize is really nothing more than that?

Dave