Theism is literally childish

[Brian37]

I'll help you both;  When you see a topic that makes you feel uncomfortable because it asks questions you've refused to ever ask yourself that isn't provocation, It's discussion.

If you see a thread and the beginning line is something like "I think we can all agree Christians are all just morons" that is, in fact, provocation.

I hope this has been informative and I return you to your regularly scheduled martyrdom.

The OP was not intended to be insulting but I knew that many people would find it so. But it is something that I truly feel the more I think about religion and see just how fantastical and out of touch with reality it is. And I do think that it needs to be said. It's a case of the Emperor's new clothes. No one wants to make everyone embarrassed but after a while it gets too frustrating not to call out the horse shit for what it is. I did not mention the subject of an imaginary friend but I am glad that people did bring it up.

My thoughts first turned along these lines when I saw this picture

---

---

It's not odd to think of children praying to an imaginary friend, but then you see the parents holding hands and praying and then the grandparents and my thoughts are, just grow up. Do they really think that their thought waves are emanating out of their heads like a wi-fi signal to be sent to a god who is reading each message? Or when I see a picture of my brother on Facebook laying hands on someone to faith heal them as if he has magical powers. Does he really think that he is channeling some magical power that can sense what is wrong and rearrange the atoms in the receiving body according to some unknown template? Answer: yes. And I've seen him become more and more immersed in the fantasy over the years since he converted.

I do get why people are insulted though. They'll know that they don't act childishly and they'll miss my point about religious indoctrination arresting personal development. To explain what I mean, compare how children solve problems. Something is bad so ban it. This is binary thinking and the religiously inclined do tend to suffer from binary religious thinking. But then you tell the child about why we can't ban the use of something like oil, because we need it to power our cars and produce plastic and they're at a loss and expect the adult to give them the answer. Much like the religiously indoctrinated want the answers given to them in a book or sermon without question.

Now compare this thinking to how people grow more aware about all the different issues the more worldly they become, how they can feel able to give more leeway to someone who they recognise as behaving badly because they are deeply troubled for example. In the same way, you never feel more clever or enlightened as you learn more about the world because it seems obvious once things are pointed out to you. instead, you just start to wonder why other people don't see it as well. Organised religion deliberately slows down this process.

Being childish isn't a problem. I suspect that we maintain the desire to play as adults so we play with our children and help them learn and to expand their mental capabilities. I've started playing Dungeons & Dragons myself and am having a real good time doing it. But the difference is that I don't think D&D is real. No matter how hard I try I know that i will never be able to summon up a magic missile in real life. Yet I have in the past read many occult books from people who think that they do practise magic, or out of body experiences. Praying and attempts at faith healing is exactly the same thing. It's giving yourself the illusion of control over your environment rather than actually facing up to the real world.

^^^^^^^^SO MUCH THIS.

I think even well intended liberal atheists, miss this point. I am a liberal. I do defend pluralism from a legal government standpoint. I am very pleased to see our current elections in many locations reject the far right bigotry that 45 has pandered to.

But as much as I do love my well intended left, even then, just like with my own mother, it does not mean everything you might claim is true because you like the idea of it.

In her book "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, she described being a kid, watching I think it was her grandmother praying and looking around not seeing any real person being talked to. Ayaan also grew up in religion, and really did try in her life to believe it. But her constant skepticism was a seed that never left her. And I think what she did for girls/women in the middle east by criticizing Islam's treatment of females is good for women's rights. Just like Susan B Anthony challenged Christian men when they used th bible to justify trying to prevent women from voting.


And @Whateverist

I am not special to anyone but those who know me, and to myself. But in cosmic time I am not. I am 1 of 7 billion humans. I was not special 4 billion years ago, and I wont be remembered 5 billion years from now. I would hardly call accepting that "pompous".