Jim Jones and his followers committed suicide. Not suicide bombings or suicide airplane rides, nor did they kill anyone that was their imagined enemy. Likewise the Heaven's Gate cult. They just lay down and died.
Every religion has its kooks as do those without any religion. The problem isn't religion, its people. People are the reason that religion is either a instrument of good or evil and virtually every religion or non-religion has had more than its share of both. Right now, the Muslim religion appears to be the most radical and growing in use by radical elements to empower and enslave its believers. That will not last long (in a historical view) and its believers will eventually realize that it is not in their best interests and it will moderate.
I happened to have one of the last photographs of California Congressman Ryan taken before he was murdered. It ran in a number of major publications that were looking for recent photos of him. He was at the opening of a new I. Magnin store at White Flint, MD where I had been hired to do the PR photography. This was I. Magnin's, a California chain, first store in the DC area. He was a very likeable, engaging sort of guy.
He went down to Guyana at the request of one of his constituents (another photographer who worked for UPI, I think) to investigate the abuse of children by the members of Jones's cult. Some divorced cult members had snatched their children away from the custodial parents and taken them to Jones's jungle camp. Ryan should have brought a detachment of Marines but I don't think anyone expected the kind of reaction their visit provoked or how far Jones's mind had deteriorated. As I recall, they were just shot down in cold blood as they were trying to escort some cult members to the airstrip who wanted to go back to the States. )-: He truly died in the line of duty.
Better question is why aren't ANY of the muslims loudly denouncing the actions of the "slim majority?". One nut case in Florida threatens to burn a Koran and the whole world denounces it but let the muslim nuts declare a holy war on all the religions of the world and nobody says a thing.
Unless you have died and come back, then you THINK when you die you are dead. Not believing in God is every bit as much of a leap of faith as believing. Probably more so. If you believe and you are wrong, then you are dead and nothing happens. You might have a nanosecond or two of feeling a little foolish, but nothing all that bad. If don't and you are wrong, that eternity in Hell thing would be a bummer. You have much more to lose by not believing and being wrong. I admire your guts.
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