(July 12, 2016 at 6:51 am)Lucifer Wrote:(July 12, 2016 at 6:03 am)Expired Wrote: Yeah, the biggest factor is get them while they are young, but holding on to faith in the face of all evidence is stupid IMO.
I would not call it stupid. My experience is that it takes a lot of hard work to break many years of indoctrination, and many people just don't have the time to do that, because they have many other responsibilities in their lives and little time to research the basis of their beliefs. Or they don't have the environment that allows that. If people shame you for even questioning your beliefs, implying that you are weak, if they make you afraid to question, saying that you risk your eternal salvation, or saying that the devil is tempting you with his lies, or if any people who leave their religion our ridiculed, excluded and mocked and if you are living in a christian bubble, surrounded only by other christians... well, then it is hard to get out of religion. Unfortunately, this is all too common. Therefore, I empathize with christians. I feel lucky for having had the opportunity to get out, but I don't look down on those who are still religious.
Nor do I look down upon them, but that does not stop me from having the opinion that faith is stupid. I fully understand the situation that some people find themselves in through no fault of their own, but I can not and will not empathize with people who hide behind faith. And yes it's a pity that this nonsense is still allowed to be ruining the lives of many people worldwide, but it will continue to do so until religion is treated with the contempt that it deserves.