I can see this Topic has caused a deluge of responses from many other contributors on the Forum ? I thought it might create some interesting discussion, apart from that of terrorism etc. ? Seems I'm very wrong, there's no accounting for what folks like talking about ? Clearly this topic is not necessarily one of them ? Oh well, perhaps next time ?

All beings have material form of which man has the highest intelligence and the greatest imagination. The idea of demons is pagan superstition and has no body of reality. Human behaviour is formed from what occupies or has damaged the mind.

Dear o sung wu,

I’m afraid you are several centuries too late. Evil is a theological term, and I think that many people really do not believe in such a concept.

Most of us, I think, do not believe in an absolute morality – a morality that is good under all circumstances in all societies. Without that good & evil loses its meaning. What some regard as moral others believe is immoral. Most people think of Hitler as evil. Would they think of him as evil if Germany had one the war? I doubt it. They might even condemn his attempt to exterminate the Jews and not think of him as evil. They would regard the death camps as an aberration to be condemned but not enough to label him as evil.

Even though Lenin set up the gulags and did other nasty things somehow most people do not think of him as evil. He set up the dictatorship, but people condemn Stalin and talk of Stalinism as though that is a separate ideology.

I favour almost unlimited free speech. Any idea, any religion, any ideology can be mocked and ridiculed. However, I think it generally wrong to mock and ridicule a particular person. In my morality it is wrong to mock and ridicule a person you have authority over like your employee or your child. It is not wrong to ridicule and mock a public figure like a prime minister or president. In an authoritarian society it is just the opposite. One must not mock the ruler, and an authoritarian father may mock and ridicule his children.

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In the recent Charlie Hebdo killings the cartoonists were acting as though they lived in a free society, but their murderers had he values of an authoritarian society. Some people have condemned the murders but have also had the opinion that the cartoonists brought it on themselves. Those people believed that one must have respect for religious figures that some revere.

We differ on torture. I believe that we must respect the person of any human being to the extent that we do not torture them. However, that is not an absolute. If there are laws against torture and a person accused of torture is on trial for the offense, a jury may find the person not guilty if they feel the torture was justified.

Dear Josephus,

Pagan superstitions? I feel all religions which incorporate supernatural beliefs resting on faith are superstition and are no better than the older forms. Belief in a messiah, that God is a real estate dealer assigning land to a particular human group and that a divine surrogate can take on the sins of others are no more reasonable than a belief in demons. Pagan superstitions in my opinion are as reasonable as Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist superstitions. Belief in a human virgin birth is no more reasonable than belief in demons.

david f.
So you think if a society accepts evil behaviour it is OK? So in ISIL society shooting children of kafir is OK? So you allow such behaviour. In Islam it is OK to marry 9 year old girls and have sex because their prophet set the example. For you that is acceptable behaviour. You see all things relative to the culture is OK? Human behaviour does not need to change in your world view. What nonsense!

Josephus wrote: <<So you think if a society accepts evil behaviour it is OK?>>

Dear Josephus,

No society accepts evil behaviour. The society defines evil behaviour. The death camps were not evil in Nazi eyes. Their society supported that activity. The Nuremberg trials of the Nazis condemned them based on morality as we defined it. According to their morality they had done nothing wrong.

By the way that book of pagan superstition, the Bible, apparently accepts the idea of demons.

Matthew 8:16 When the even was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick:

Matthew 12:22 Then was brought unto him one possessed with a devil, blind, and dumb: and he healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and saw. 23 And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of David? 24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. 25 And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand: 26 And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? 27 And if I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them out? therefore they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. 29 Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.

Mark 1:32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.

Luke 8:36 They also which saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed.