animalpipes posted:

Riktor posted:

Religion isn't inherited, it isn't an accident of birth. To follow or not to follow the anachronistic moral tenets of some medieval book - bronze age, in the case of Christians and Jews - is not an expression of genetic inheritance. It is a choice. In every other way conceivable society expects us to take responsibility for our choices. In the case of religion, however, we're all given a free pass.

I agree with what you're saying in principle, and I know that we're all able to make up our own mind once we are adults, but the old saying "we worship the gods of our fathers" holds true to a certain degree. In part, religion in many places, including the US, is a culture; a highly pervasive culture, and a part of daily life for billions of people the world over. Whether its the ladies doing the bake sale down at your local Presbyterian, or a group of muslims gathering after daily prayers in a nearby cafe in Riyadh, this part of religion is less easy, I think, for people to shrug off, because it is about community.

I understand the reasons people get into religions and why they stay when they are adults, but that's not really what I'm getting on about. I'm saying that, when viewed objectively, the different religions are, in fact, very different. Some are bad, others are terrible. It's simply not truthful to roll over and say "all religions are the same" whenever somebody starts pointing out the negatives of one particular system of belief.

One example Sam Harris likes to use in defense of New Atheism is Mormonism. It is one thing to believe a man was nailed to a cross and three days later rose from the dead to ascend into heaven, whereupon at the end of time will return to judge all of mankind.... but then to believe once Christ has returned he'll take up summer residence in fucking Missouri is so absolutely batshit I don't even know where to begin. And that's without mentioning the Book of Abraham or Adam-God or polygamy or the various frauds of Joseph Smith. The two religions, despite each having their own brand of zealots and being superficially similar, are not equally nuts. Mormonism is simply crazier than vanilla Christianity.

How people come to believe in either or doesn't really concern me. What concerns me is the truth, and the truth is not all religions are created equal. Some are a lot dumber than others.

posted:

Like you, I don't mind the ladies having their bake sales or the muslims gathering for daily prayers. I mind when their religious zealots make a mess out of our world that we inhabit together.

Exactly. I wholeheartedly support a man's right to believe whatever the fuck he wants, I just don't want his beliefs informing public policy, and, in the case of the aforementioned fiasco, I don't want religion used as an excuse for inhumanity.