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Religions need people to believe that only by following a very specific organization -theirs- can they be good and that anything else falls short of true good. For every religion it's a matter of survival that people believe that the fate of their soul depends on membership of - and obedience to - the cult. So they're willing to threaten ("You'll burn in hell") and manipulate ("Why are you angry with [insert deity]") to accomplish the 'greater good' of brown-nosing their deity.
Also, to me the most objectionable part of any cult is those that they indoctrinate their own children. I know people say "I can raise my children how I want", and maybe that's true. But I find it morally reprehensible that you would use your child's utter dependance on you to the benefit of any organization.
Theists don't need a religion to practice their beliefs, but their religion ain't going to point that out for them.
Religions need people to believe that only by following a very specific organization -theirs- can they be good and that anything else falls short of true good. For every religion it's a matter of survival that people believe that the fate of their soul depends on membership of - and obedience to - the cult. So they're willing to threaten ("You'll burn in hell") and manipulate ("Why are you angry with [insert deity]") to accomplish the 'greater good' of brown-nosing their deity.
Also, to me the most objectionable part of any cult is those that they indoctrinate their own children. I know people say "I can raise my children how I want", and maybe that's true. But I find it morally reprehensible that you would use your child's utter dependance on you to the benefit of any organization.
Theists don't need a religion to practice their beliefs, but their religion ain't going to point that out for them.
The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. ~ George Bernard Shaw
