Seven-year-old sacrificed to the gods for good harvest in India

[skepticscott]

25. No, that's NOT what you were pointing out

Your exact words: "It is quite a stretch to compare this in any way to most organized religions or to use it as an example of how religion goes wrong" (my emphasis)

That's a completely different thing than using "an event like this to universally condemn religion", wouldn't you agree? No one here did that, and it's nothing but a straw man that you invented to deflect from the real issue. (my emphasis)

I'll ask again...how is this NOT "an example of how religion goes wrong"? (my emphasis) How can this not be attributed to the fact that these people were religious? If they were "bad", "ignorant", "desperate" atheists, would they still have sacrificed their child to the gods to get a better harvest? And frankly, it's pretty condescending of you to dismiss their form of belief and their expression of it as not typical (Would you put yours in that category?). Not every legitimate form of religion involves sitting in pews in a nice comfy sanctuary on Sunday mornings and singing hymns and taking communion. (Knew you could't resist NTS). You yourself pointed out that similar examples are posted here every day. And the fact that what they did is not acceptable is exactly the point.

BTW, what Stalin and Pol Pot did was not dictated by or done in the name of atheism, so these examples are actually quite dissimilar. That's the argument which has been repeatedly and justifiably shot down here, so I'm not sure why you're still resorting to it.