Seluda is correct.  Humans are capable (writing metaphorically) of actions/behaviors that ascend to the heights of heaven, AND pull us down to the deepest depths of hell.  Faith in any dogma, system (political, economic, and/or philosophical) is fine, up to a point.  But when someone so tightly clings to the closed system (essentially circular reasoning) of any of these dogmas, it becomes very easy to use the old "end justifies the means" and find themselves endorsing / using behaviors they never would otherwise use.  Personally, I believe everyone should have an invisible friend that listens to their requests (prayers) and with whom they can 'bare their souls.  Just don't take what your invisible friend says regarding anyone else seriously, and don't go pushing your invisible friends rules on other people. 

Hillel said it best, "that which you hate, don't do to others."  Another, later version of this is golden: "Treat others as you would like to be treated." Mohamed (blessed be he) originally taught a man may have up to four wives.  (Followers of Islam and Hasidim-Judaism still allow this.) His invisible friend told him he was exempt - so he had c20 wives.  However, the man who married Fatima was told, by Mohamed, that he could only have one wife.  OK, why may M have more?  M wanted more.  Why was Fatima's husband forbidden by g-d to have more than one wife?  Simple.  Fatima was Mohamed's daughter.  So, if M followed the golden rule, he would have applied the protectiveness he felt towards his daughter to ALL WOMEN, and insisted no man may have more than one wife.  Its really simple, usually. 

The same gaming (or lawyer-ing) of sacred texts is done by some followers of every faith.  And some followers really do take to heart the better teachings of their various traditions.  Good and bad...

Lets hope we meet many more of the latter...

May I suggest,  Gandhi? 

"Islam preserved science, yes, couldn't they have done that without religion?"

In theory yes...we also could all drive at reasonable speeds without the need for a government posting road signs and police monitoring us...but we both know that wouldn't happen...

Your statement is no different than asking "couldn't we have education for everyone without needing the government"...and of course, once the government runs our education, we immediately get all the baggage that comes with it (biased textbooks, tracking, standardized testing, silly bureaucratic mandates)...but somehow I think most people would take the baggage over not having free and public education...

"Couldn't we send help and not persecute gay rights at the same time?"

Apparently not, because they succeeded while FEMA failed....

Jokes aside, in theory we could have...but we didn't...our government failed where a private religious organization succeeded...and even if the government had succeeded, it would have done so with a paid workforce...the Mormon church however used volunteers...not here to argue about charity and small vs. big government, just trying to make a point...

As for Malcolm X, I think his initial beliefs about white people and race in general were due to things other than religion, such as his father being killed by racists and such...he may have joined a religious organization that agreed with and solidified his beliefs but religion didn't steer him down that path...his Hajj did however steer him down another (one arguably better)...

To go on that point further, Islam has united people from many different nations and cultures...of course, some of the baggage has included terrorism and violence against Israel....

Socialism also united people from many different nations and cultures...of course, that also came with baggage that got a US president assassinated and millions of people in labor camps or 6 feet underground...

Religion, like any belief system, has baggage....

OK, somewhere along the road we've lost sight of the OP.  What WAS a diverting comparison of graphs has become YAAAR.

[Yet Another Argument About Religion].

Colour me silly, but hijacking this particular OP could be injurious to your health...

I'd point out my first post was 2 pages after it got off track but, bah, waste of my time...it's profiling and entrapment all in one....

Anyone heard of the Moral Politics test?  I'm having trouble actually finding it now (it may no longer be up, though references to it still exist)...

Anyway, I'd preferred it over the Political Compass, in no small part because it has far less questions...basic idea of the test is not so much to look at your stance on issues, but rather the fundamental basis of your moral beliefs that in turn affect your stance on political issues...

If anyone finds a link to it (or a comparable successor) I'd be interested....

Anyone one else take the test? Post up some pics!!!

Help! I may be a commie!!!

Re "Hitler was an atheist"

Since we're not going to agree on whether he was or not and it's not a central point to any side's position on the role of religion/atheism to human suffering then put him aside - Stalin and Mao are indisputably atheists.

Human beings do terrible things to other human beings in the name of their ideology. That ideology might take the form of a religion or an ism but it isn't fair to blame traditional religion for the bad deeds done in its name.

Now...

Let's get back to the compass.

Or left at that spot, I suppose.

Might be an interesting person, then. I would surely like to drink a bottle of vodka with him... or three.

I took the test but did not get no plot chart, I got a message stating I should lie on the floor, with my hands and feet spread, and wait for 'authorities'. 

Right now they are kicking in the door of the old lady down the street for whom I set up her internet. 

I looked at this and started doing it and then had to stop. I already know where I fall. And I don't need a graph to tell me where my friends fall....because they are already my friend and I have accepted them and everything I like and dislike about their views- political, religious, or other.  

In fact, some of my closest friends are the ones I disagree with the most, but it's because we enjoy the talk, the argument, the debate...and can respect each other in the process, that we are so close.

And a lot of these questions are so open ended, generic, and misleading, I have to wonder who put it together and for what purpose other than the  drivel they have posted on the home page.

I've decided to post one more time on this topic regarding religion, to simply blast myself for being a hypocrite.  I have read the bible in entirety more than once, and have read several passages several times.  I have read the Koran and other books of religion and philosophy.  And more importantly, I regard many religious teachers like Jesus very highly.   I should never say that religion is all bad, or has not provided any good in this world when I can say that it has given me insight and wisdom in my own life, even if I do not believe in it's supernatural aspects.  

I wear a cross of Saint Peter with "1 Cor 13:11" engraved on it.  I wear a cross of Saint Peter for a couple reasons, one most Christians in my area wouldn't recognize it as a "Christian" symbol, and two it's a symbol of humility which is a virtue I often lack. 

Well, I do believe that "religion" is a fundamentally flawed concept for the reasons Nietzsche so well summarized in his "Twilight of Idols". But let's not hijack a political compass thread.