[MD] Flying Spagetti Monsters

[ARLO J BENSINGER JR]

[Arlo previously] 
1) at any time in American history, has there ever been issued an "immoral ?
order"?

[Craig]
Yes, examples during the "Indian wars", My Lai & probably the one currently
under investigation in Iraq.  That a war as a whole is moral does not entail
that all orders/actions within that war are moral.  (The end does not justify
the means.)

[Arlo]
Well, Craig, this sums it up perfectly. Thank you.

[Arlo previously
2) neither "theism" nor "atheism" are to blame for historical atrocities, but
rather  blind obedience to the social power structure of either "the church" or
 "the state", and the willful adherence to the belief that one's chosen  social
structure can do nothing immoral.

[Craig]
2)  Besides the two sources of immoral behavior you mention, I would add viewing
your opponent as less than human because of his race/religion/etc. 

[Arlo]
And I would agree. I would note, too, that race/religion and other
physical/praxis demarkations are often used by the state and the church to
villify "the other". They speak a different language, have different skin,
perform different rituals... This is pandering to xenophobia, a successful
historical tactic secure power for whatever social structure adopts it. Thus,
the atrocities of the Indian Wars were likely excasperated by the fact that the
Indian was quite different physically and actively. The Nazis glorified their
own "Aryan" image, making it "easier" for the soldiers to obey orders to gas
and murder countless people. 
I would make the historical caution that wherever you find xenophobic rhetoric,
you'll find a power structure on the verge of immoral behavior.