The strategy of mockery is antithetical to the scientific spirit, which admittedly never stopped scientists getting into the gutter but the fact remains that using mockery is more often a sign of defeat and verbal bullying than reasoned debate.

For eg. I think ideas like “self”, “free will”, “autonomous agents”, are completely lacking in scientific support yet 90% of the population subscribes to these beliefs. However I see little point in going around laughing at people who subscribe to these beliefs, if only because a great many of these people are highly intelligent and well read; which, incidentally, is also true of those who hold religious beliefs. If short, mockey is a dumb and arrogant person’s way of winning an argument. It is essentially schoolyard bullying.

I much prefer the attitude of Daniel Dennett, “Breaking the Spell”, wherein he argues for a respectful debate and a program to analyze religion. Of course that won’t sell as well because it is an approach based on scientific investigation.

The other possibility is that these sort of religiously motivated crimes didn’t make the international news until after September 11/Bali.

Jemaah Islamiyah in the early 1980’s. They were around for 20 years before 9/11.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_Eve_2000_Indonesia_Terror_Attacks

The attack involved a series of coordinated bombings of churches in Jakarta and eight other cities which killed 18 people and injured many others.

Agreed, as long as you include Fundamentalist atheists like Dawkins , Greenies like Bob Brown and all theother left-wingers who have made “Progressivism” their religion.

Of course a fundie islamicist will kill you if you don’t kow-tow to his barabric religion, whilst a fundie Christian will only stop you dancing. yet all the lefty wallies pile on to the Christians and give the islamofascists a free pass. Could that be because your average super-wimp lefty secretly believes that there must be something in any cause if someone is prepared to commit violence in its support. In that case, the left would probably respect Fundamentalist Chrisitianity a lot more if it burnt down a few modern art galleries.

Though perhaps you could argue it was because they didn’t start taking their religion that seriously until recently.

That may improve the situation in Australia, but how would it make any difference in a country like Indonesia where Muslims are the overwhelming majority and routinely commit atrocities against minority religions?

I doubt they’d be going around beheading 15 year old schoolgirls if it wasn’t for religion.

Again, it is religion that is the problem, and people who choose to take it seriously

And .50cal, St Athanasius’ creed was written specifically to identify heretics (Arians, monophysites, etc) so they could be persecuted. Hence the insistence on “begotten, not made, being of one substance with the father”, etc.