Thanks to Mishy, who actually gave me the idea to start this blog, and provided this quote:
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side.–Aristotle
Dave,
You are “en fuego” this weekend! Keep the big guns a firin’!!!
That is a great quote and yes, I have seen that happen with many religious leaders. Thanks for sharing the quote with us.
My husband, who is still a xian believer, said the quote is very thought provoking.
Great quote, but it falls apart once you start considering more modern leaders (especially of the communist state) The Stalins and Maos are athiests too.
A lack of belief in a deity has little to do with devotion. Stalin and Mao were devoted to their therories and ran their countries as if they were gods.
I’m pretty sure the quote says religion, not cause. The overall message of the statement is that leaders who appear to have “god on their side” usually last longer than those who dont. After all it is one thing to challege a leader, but to challege god..unthinkable to most.
Amen! And awomen…True so true…
In Communists states, however, the leaders take the place of gawd.
“You keep believing, I’ll keep evoling”
darwinluvsu,
You need a duplication mutation of that v, followed by an insertion mutation.
Great sigs.
DD
Pardon my ignorance, but are you saying that darwinluvsu needs to get fuc*ed?
???
DD Dropout,
There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. The other “V” is off fulfilling a vendetta.
DD
Nevermind…I see what you’re talking about now.
Sorry for going off in the wrong direction!
Karen…..I didnt know
Curly once said
” I tried to think and nothing happen “
I love the three stooges
speaking of tyranny. dave is any action being taken in the seven states that require belief in god to hold office.
I actually prefer a quote by Seneca:
“Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.”
According to this, the rulers will user religion as a tool for whatever suits them. If Lenin and Stalin’s ideas about how the world should be had included religion, I’m sure they would have used it, but since Communism precluded religion, they couldn’t use it.
This is one reason why I think statements like “Hitler was a Christian”, or “Stalin was an Atheist” miss the point. I’m convinced they use whatever they can, be it Atheism, Christianity, Bhuddism, or whatever in order to get what they want. They’re not really interested in these “tools”, just in using them.
Karen;
I’m appalled, astonished, outraged…well, I never…
BTW, did you have a beear too many while cleaning the blinds…he he…
Ahright…now, I’m all confused…~scratching head~
“Proud to be everything the right wing hates”
Atomic:
Really, the other “V” was in my oVaries but I don’t have control of those anymore because you know who can make all choices and decisions concerning my body (and yours)…~sigh~ I’ll keep looking for it though, maybe I’ll find it a bottle of Vinegar…
“Stop being a hypocrite! Pro-life, pro-greed, pro-death penalty, pro-war…” (This one is special for our friend Phreddie)
darwinluvsu
Heheh. The beer/blinds factor was not an issue. However, we might consider the meds/mind part of the equation.
I was certainly having a very public “d-u-u-h-h-h” moment!
I was, however, prepared to step up in your defense. Glad to find it wasn’t necessary…only that I was being stoopid.
’scuse me, I think I see my short bus coming…
Karen:
I appreciate the gallantry and chivalry…and sorry, didn’t take the meds to mind to Alzheimers to reading glasses factor into the equation…As I always say “of all the things I’ve lost, I miss my mind the most…” He he he…
“Anyone who claims god is on their side is dangerous as hell”
honzipe-
The usage of the term religion in ancient greece was a little more liberal than the way we use it today. The Marxist/Hegelian philosophy that inspired the Stalins and Maos you mentioned certainly would have fit under Aristotles usage. Remember, the Pythagoreans regarded math as a religion. Hegelian metaphysics sounds an awful lot like religion (authoritative, teleological, ambiguously explanatory) and it is easy to get sucked into it.
Aristotle was quite the empiricist and cherised reason above all. Devoting oneself to any ideology would have been repugnant to him. Using it rhetorically to deceive the people would be intolerable. Hence the quote.
Zac,
The Pythagoreans may have regarded math as a religion – me, I regard it as the devil!
I certainly understand what you?re saying. I mean in the time period which this was written the idea of a monotheistic religion was absurd. Nevertheless I took the quote as being used in a more modern context and thus defined it appropriately. However, looking beyond what you said, Aristotle was specifically referencing the more traditional worship of deities over the scholarly pursuits. This is evident from his choice of diction, specifically “god-fearing” and “pious”. On another note I think it?s a common misrepresentation from those of western birth to assume that Stalin, Mao, Lenin, etc were simply power hungry tyrants. If history has taught us anything it?s that men of this stature are anything but one dimensional. They truly did believe in what they advocated. On the other hand it?s only fair to mention that my family is from Georgia (the country…not the state) so I might be a bit biased in that school of thought.
Pixel,
Math? The devil? Blasphemy! Math is all that is good and true in the world. Repent or be forced to face the horrors that can only be brought forth by the power of non-terminating decimals.
VegeBrain,
I like that one also. Religion is almost always used to scam other people.