I’m starting to think that a lot of #atheist #leftist misunderstand #religion. I went to church today. It wasn’t amazing but I did enjoy it. I think that religion, especially in the west, largely isnt about faith anymore. I enjoyed going to church because I saw people I knew, I saw people I didn’t. There was music.
It was a reason to gather.
Religions can be fun, interesting, and educating. Why limit yourself to only one?
Many atheists have a strong understanding of many religions. IMO eastern religions like Buddhism and Hinduism provide a much healthier outlook of life. Their stories can be interesting as fuck, and their events are simply beautiful.
The main problem is with Christianity and the Catholic church, looking things through the spectrum of good or evil, is manipulative at best, if not downright evil (pun intended)…
Also, and I cannot stress this enough, aren’t these the same guys (specifically men) that banned abortion? The people hurting millions of women in America as we speak right now. Not to touch on how they are planning to ban gay marriage…
If you had fun at church, go to a Satanic Temple party, I guarantee it’s going to be much more fun!!
Last but not least, you minimize other people’s experiences, it’s not healthy… Try asking more open ended questions without being critical of other people or making assumptions. Be open minded like an atheist, not judgy and condescending like a priest.
@finnbar_m @leftism @atheism I think atheists just want to know if the claims a religion makes are true, because if they aren’t then we should probably build community elsewhere.
It may just be a social activity for you, but a lot of people literally believe in a god and that affects the way they treat people. People are passing harmful laws in the U.S. and other nations right now because of their faith. It’s not just a reason to gather, it’s a worldview.
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Fanatics aren’t passing laws because of their religion, they are passing laws and using their religion as justification.
@Randomgal Well that’s just not true.
I get that some people are just using religion to justify bad stuff, but a lot are doing bad stuff because their holy book tells them to. Again, someone’s religion is often a worldview that informs everything they do.
You don’t just get to say “well it’s not because of the religion” when a lot of holy books explicitly support the immoral acts they legislate.
Have you ever been to a church? Or a mosque? There is a human standing in the pulpit who chooses what to preach. That human is making a choice, not the book.
You can paint it as “religion bad” all you want. But religion is *made up" literally and figuratively, by humans making choices, no one blindly follows a book. Everyone follows what makes sense to them, thst is a choice ON religion, not by religion.
All religions also talk about kindness, love and compassion, your argument makes no sense. People either pick and choose or they don’t. They can’t be both blind followers who have their worldview given by religion, but also ONLU follow the parts about hate.
By making religion and religius people a monolithic scapegoat for what’s wrong with humanity, you are doing exactly the thing you are criticizing: Being a blind follower.
A lot gets lost in translation and debates. I don’t mind going to church when I do. I don’t mind the people usually. It’s the politicalization and money I don’t like.
Cut out all the bullshit and it’s basically about being respectful and living for building community. With every culture/subculture there’s going to be those people that abuse it for themselves.
I had the same upbringing in the Catholic church. Went to a couple services last year at a progressive christian church that’s queer-welcoming & non-denominational. I’m not all of a sudden a christian again, but it was actually really healing. Rather than focusing on how you’re going to (fucking) hell, it focused on the “love thy neighbour” aspects. I dunno, take what I’m saying with a grain of salt but it was nice to see religion being used as a positive force for good.
It’s not the sense of community or the music that’s problematic with organized religion.
It’s the fact that when you convince people that a virgin gave birth to the son of the creator of the universe, you can convince them to do horrible things too.
@sardaukar @finnbar_m Of course they try to indoctrinate them as children. Once the idea of a pervasive god is established, they can be easily programmed.
I guess this is why dictators use religion as a control mechanism…Putin is a big christian these days and so are all our leaders in the west…