NationStates Jolt Archive

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Religious extremism has been responsible for more genocides and wars than any political ideology. The Jews of the old testament killed off many other civilizations. The moslems wiped out the predominantly christian cultures of the middle east to gain land and power. Christians used their god as an excuse to fight everyone in sight. All three religions used their scriptures to justify slavery. Some islamic nations, for example sudan, still keep slaves. Saudi Arabia only officially banned slavery in the '80s. Religious extremists blew up the world trade center. Religious extremists (bush and his cronies) seized control of the US government and mismanaged the hell out of our economy and foreign policy.
I could go on with examples forever.

Not to mention the Inquisition.

:(

The EU! ;)

Out of these choices, I would say religious extremism. Religion has been at the root of so many conflicts, contemporary as well as those in the past.

I picked 'other.' I just think that despotism in general is the greatest evil.

Religous extremism, it goes against many religons, such as my own. Which so happens to be the most extreme one, IMO. (Hint hint: Middle East)

The USA.

Generalization. Categorization. Fear of the unknown or different.

It's what leads to any group of "Us vs. Them".

a lack of intelligence. Ignorant, small minded people are the greatest evil of all time, they misinterpret religions, they cannot reason with others so start wars, they cannot run countries so plunge them into turmoil. They can't do anything right, stupid people and the insane cause all the problems.

But seeing as bar lining them up and shooting them all (which I don't think many people would like) their is no real way to deal with that issue, Religious extremism has to get the honour, for the reasons others have already listed above.

Religious Extremism, without a doubt

The USA.

The USA died many, many decades ago, though. :(

Don't like the word evil since it is connected with Judeo Christian morals. What is the cause of the most problems, I'd say the capitalist mode of production.

I voted for communism, but I would say the idea of taxation would have to be up there. Any kind of tyranny, be it by majority or militants or terrorism, is also a big one.

It's really hard to say since the world is a lot more connected than most people would expect. Crime is evil, but it is largely the result of other evils, which in turn are the result of or reinforced by other evils. Overall, I'd say alienation from nature and eachother is the greatest evil.

The belief that such a thing as evil exists: it is almost inevitably placed outside us, and is used to justify our own actions - if we fight against evil, then we must be good, whatever we do.



(and yes, the irony of my statement neither escapes me, nor is it unintentional)

Hard to decide which is greater, indifference or intolerance. But as I'm an optomist about these things and believe that most intolerance is due to a lack of knowledge of others which is a result of indifference, then I'll say indifference is the greater evil.

Crime is evil...

On what basis do you claim that crime is evil? By definition it is illegal, but that does not mean that it is evil, unless the laws themselves are embued with the very essence of morality.

I voted for religious extremism (voting for "other" is lame!).

I think that the greatest evil ever is close-mindedness and fear of the unknown. Pretty much all of the other evils stem from it. It's the mother of all evils.

On what basis do you claim that crime is evil? By definition it is illegal, but that does not mean that it is evil, unless the laws themselves are embued with the very essence of morality.

Good point. I was really using examples they would understand, though.

ignorance

Nothing is evil, everything is relative. Good and evil are what you make it out to be.

I would have to say that it’s the very notion of the word evil itself. It is very easy to simply categorize something as being evil without even trying to fully understand it. In other words it has a tendency to breed ignorance. When something is categorized as being evil people only tend to look at it’s negative aspects without fully appreciating anything positive associated with it.

The greatest evil of all time is the rise in popularity of civil court. *nod*

The greatest evil was before common era, when Satan ruled the world. It's a good thing that his death grip has been broken. All of the others (except the Democrats, Republicans, and Illuminati) are deplorable, and perhaps evil, but not nearly as much as Satan's control of the planet. Now at least our souls have a chance to reach heaven.

religious extremists are merely tools of politicians.

censorship is the only evil.

you forgot to add capitali$m...

There should be multiple voting.