Linda, I wholeheartedly agree with you as far as we should...

Linda,

I wholeheartedly agree with you as far as we should focus out attentions to our national economy and less about religion.

You are correct when you state that oftentime religion is a source of conflict.

However, I would be remiss if I failed to add that religion is not the only source of conflict in our world.

It is a historical fact that ithe twentieth century was the bloodiest century in the history of mankind.

Two major world wars, numerous massacres and genocides and almost none of the deaths registered in that century had anything to do with religion.

For example: The Nazis leaders from Hitler to Goering to Himmler, to that little weisel propagandist, Joseph Goebbel were all atheists (twelve million dead).

Pol Pot and his Kamer Rouge-communist materialists (three million dead).

Mao and his cultural revolution (six million dead), The butcher, Joe Stalin, (estimated 12 million dead), Minor dictators: Duvalier, Pinochet, Idi Amin, Somoza (father and son), Haile Miriam of Ethiopia (Famine killed over a million people), The Ruwanda genocide, Gen. Videla, et al (the dirty war of argentina), Maj. Dubuisson and the death squard of El Salvador, etc. etc. None, none, none had anything to do with religion.

Coridally,

McKenzie

P.S. Using China is a poor example of "progress".

Yes, China has made spectacular progress as far as her economy, but at the expence of personal freedom.

For example, one child per family, slave labor, organ farming, the highest rate of capital punishment in the world, one of the most skewed and uneven distribution of wealth in the world (farmers living in utter destitution while in the cities, the fat cats are doing very well), corruption that makes Haiti looks like Norway, etc. etc. etc.