Has religion been abused by politicians

[Mainpoint]

This topic came up in another thread where i mentioned that there are many unscrupulous politicians out there today and in the past who may not themselves be religious but whenever it comes to political gain they are not afraid to get on the religious bandwagon.

Now the point of this thread is not to slander someone, because no one knows what someone truly believes or whats in their hearts except God himself.

Please restrict yourselves to historical, religious or geopolitical facts and figures.

As starters i will go ahead and give an example of Saddam Hussein.

I have read his biography from several resources. What i can tell is that he stayed far away from basic principles of islam during his early years.

He had statues constructed of his image in country which goes against the fundamental principles of islam. He had been known to drink and visit prostitutes in lebanon. He was known to be a follower of stalinism. His close friends mention that he was an admirer of Joseph Stalin. He pretty much kept islam to the fringes.

This all changed when he went on his warmongering. He tried to stir up support using religion during many of his wars.

During the end of life i dont know whether he had some type of remorse or not but he seemed to have turned to religion.

In my view he probably was the worst leader of any country during the 20th century. He transformed the oil rich country of Iraq into the wasteland we know today. Male Iraqis tattoo their names in case they can be identified when they get blown up.

My point is maybe Iraq would have been a much better place had Saddam Hussein truly followed the principles of islam from the get go instead of using it just as tool for political gain.

[truethat]

The first person I thought of when I saw this thread was Saddam Hussein. Most Muslims I know were aware that SH was full of it when it came to religion and only using it to manipulate people.

Its the Americans who seemed to take him seriously as a Muslim.

Bush is doing the same thing though don't you think?

[Grandpa Greenman]

Ya Sodaminsane was a total jurk. May he return as a night crawer on a fishermans worm farm.

[RadicalGnostic]

Religion has been so abused by the American president that he has nearly made himself the head of some quasi-christian state religion. I, for one, am absolutely sick of it! I have written to Dubya and let him know my thoughts.

Peace,

RadicalGnostic

[eqgumby]

Religion has been so abused by the American president that he has nearly made himself the head of some quasi-christian state religion. I, for one, am absolutely sick of it! I have written to Dubya and let him know my thoughts.

Peace,

RadicalGnostic

Phht. Not anywhere near as bad as many. Pols always play to their audience. Conservatives tend to be religious, so Bush plays to them. That's not abuse.