(October 31, 2016 at 2:14 am)operator Wrote: To OP
That sounds very frustrating and aggravating. Kudos to you for not flipping out on that guy. Unfortunately religion allows people to have gaps in their logic and ability to reason. It allows otherwise intelligent (and sometimes not so intelligent) people to be very stupid at times. Religion gives people an out, a way to explain evil in the world, a way to deal with hurt, a way to cope with difficult emotions or situations in life.
Does that excuse the shitty behavior that people sometimes exhibit in the name of religion? No. But sometimes it does help to understand where other people are coming from, even if you want to choke those people sometimes. I hope your mother is happy and healthy, given her situation. Concerning the priest... he's a sheep who doesn't know any better. Let the sheep live in ignorant bliss. If he challenges you or makes you feel unbearably uncomfortable, maybe then it will be time to confront him with some harsh truths about his god. Until then, let him be an asshole and ignore him.
I wouldn't say every religious person or holy person doesn't know any better. I think even in the face of evidence people are so desperate to ignore harsh reality that the idea of having a cosmic security guard is too much for them to reject. But ignorant sheep or willfully ignorant it is a universal behavior with our species to far to much put gap filling above reason. Dawkins in "The God Delusion" explains in evolutionary terms why humans gap fill based on false perceptions. And Victor Stenger's two books "God The Failed Hypothesis" and "The New Atheism" really put a nail in the coffin of sky hero claims.
