From: bill.sloman@ieee.org   
      
   On 10/01/2026 1:44 am, john larkin wrote:   
   > On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 11:12:34 +0100, Jeroen Belleman   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >> On 1/9/26 01:50, john larkin wrote:   
   >>> On Fri, 9 Jan 2026 00:57:24 +0100, Gerhard Hoffmann    
   >>> wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> Am 08.01.26 um 22:39 schrieb bitrex:   
   >>>>   
   >>>>> Incidentally, Bertrand Russell once said that if humans really believed   
   >>>>> there was a God and an afterlife they'd have no fear of death, but as   
   >>>>> many US soldiers who fought in Afghanistan could attest (and part of the   
   >>>>> reason the US ain't there no more) is there are definitely a substantial   
   >>>>> number of religious people out there who don't give one single shit   
   >>>>> about dying.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Religion and killing have been best friends forever.   
   >>>>   
   >>>> Gerhard   
   >>>   
   >>> I seem to recall "thou shalt not kill" from somewhere.   
   >>>   
   >>>   
   >>> John Larkin   
   >>> Highland Tech Glen Canyon Design Center   
   >>> Lunatic Fringe Electronics   
   >>   
   >> It also says "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live" somewhere.   
   >   
   > That must be somewhere esle.   
   >   
   > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten_Commandments   
   >   
   >   
   >> Substitute "witch" with anything you don't like.   
   >>   
   >> Religion is, and has always been, fertile ground for killing.   
   >   
   > The 10c's were an early and critical step in The Enlightment. As was   
   > the Reformation, English common law and the Magna Carta, and the US   
   > Constitution as amended.   
      
   You need to read   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Israel   
      
   He's written a lot about the Radical Enlightenment - which ran from   
   about 1680 to 1800. I've read several of his books   
      
   The ten commandments and Magna Carta were a lot earlier, and aren't seen   
   as all that enlightened.   
      
   If you haven't heard of Spinoza, you aren't actually enlightened in any   
   useful way.   
      
   --   
   Bill Sloman, Sydney   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)