Every time this shit comes up we have to have the same discussion.
These people aren’t shitty because they aren’t following Jesus, they are shitty because they have been made credulous by religion, believing whatever is convenient for the scam artist on the pulpit.
This isn’t going to get fixed by trying to argue some romantic interpretation of Jesus that you think would be nice. They are stories, made up stories, contradicting stories and lies. You will never find truth in the Bible or any religious text because it’s made up bullshit.
We need to help free these people from religious shackles. There have been studies that have shown that as you become less religious you become more compassionate and less judgmental.
OP’s argument has to be made. You want to shave off as many of the fools following that twisted ideology as you can, via any argument that rings true. Which means your argument also needs to be made, but I don’t think it’s going to convince a lot of conservatives or undecided voters. Hell I think pointing out the hypocrisy as OP is doing is more likely to convince them to become atheist, than your argument is.
Removing religion altogether is a long term goal that sounds nice. Not having the world’s superpower go fascist is a short-term one that is essential. Turning a fundamentalist christian into a compassionate christian makes the danger go down significantly. And you can get decent traditions of charity and even activism from the compassionate side of christianity.
And on a final note, I’ve been in atheist circles long enough to see some of them go bad. Like racism, mysogyny, etc. Atheism does not cure all. Religion makes things worse but is not the source of our problems.
What I’m trying to get at, is society’s problem run deeper than religion vs atheism, it’s just one dimension, and not the most important.
Wherever it’s going, step 1 is, if possible, engaging on their own terms with material they have accepted. No one is going to be receptive to just rejecting the belief system they grew up with just because someone said so.
If the scam artist is tapping into the material they were fed growing up and framing what they want in those terms, and your counter point is “well everything you were fed growing up with was stupid”, guess who wins?
I agree with your sentiment, but I have to push back on Hitler not relying on religion. At the very least he used religion to get his population with him. As far as I remember his religiosity has been questioned as being sincere or not, but he himself never claimed not to be christian if I’m not mistaken.
I think even that is giving them too much credit. They like to hurt and abuse people and fundamentalist, far-right churches give them groups to abuse and absolution from their imaginary friend.
We all already know it is stories, your based atheist take however, in perfect irony, does not detract from the logic of the statement and is not fitting here
Every time this shit comes up we have to have the same discussion.
These people aren’t shitty because they aren’t following Jesus, they are shitty because they have been made credulous by religion, believing whatever is convenient for the scam artist on the pulpit.
This isn’t going to get fixed by trying to argue some romantic interpretation of Jesus that you think would be nice. They are stories, made up stories, contradicting stories and lies. You will never find truth in the Bible or any religious text because it’s made up bullshit.
We need to help free these people from religious shackles. There have been studies that have shown that as you become less religious you become more compassionate and less judgmental.
OP’s argument has to be made. You want to shave off as many of the fools following that twisted ideology as you can, via any argument that rings true. Which means your argument also needs to be made, but I don’t think it’s going to convince a lot of conservatives or undecided voters. Hell I think pointing out the hypocrisy as OP is doing is more likely to convince them to become atheist, than your argument is.
Removing religion altogether is a long term goal that sounds nice. Not having the world’s superpower go fascist is a short-term one that is essential. Turning a fundamentalist christian into a compassionate christian makes the danger go down significantly. And you can get decent traditions of charity and even activism from the compassionate side of christianity.
And on a final note, I’ve been in atheist circles long enough to see some of them go bad. Like racism, mysogyny, etc. Atheism does not cure all. Religion makes things worse but is not the source of our problems.
What I’m trying to get at, is society’s problem run deeper than religion vs atheism, it’s just one dimension, and not the most important.
Wherever it’s going, step 1 is, if possible, engaging on their own terms with material they have accepted. No one is going to be receptive to just rejecting the belief system they grew up with just because someone said so.
If the scam artist is tapping into the material they were fed growing up and framing what they want in those terms, and your counter point is “well everything you were fed growing up with was stupid”, guess who wins?
Hitler and Stalin didn’t rely on religion. Assuming that’s the only cause it’s a big mistake.
I agree with your sentiment, but I have to push back on Hitler not relying on religion. At the very least he used religion to get his population with him. As far as I remember his religiosity has been questioned as being sincere or not, but he himself never claimed not to be christian if I’m not mistaken.
The SS literarily wore “God with us” on their belt buckles…
I think even that is giving them too much credit. They like to hurt and abuse people and fundamentalist, far-right churches give them groups to abuse and absolution from their imaginary friend.
No it is a very valid argument
We all already know it is stories, your based atheist take however, in perfect irony, does not detract from the logic of the statement and is not fitting here