RE: Why religion should not vanish
June 13, 2014 at 5:39 pm
(This post was last modified: June 13, 2014 at 5:44 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
(June 13, 2014 at 5:13 pm)Vox Wrote: Would the world really be better off without religion? Even if we work from the premise that all religions are entirely false, made-up fairy stories I see several merits to their continued survival.
Better, I don't know, but at least not shitty for the same tired old reasons. My grandfather used to say something along the lines of "when you don't know whats wrong, start getting rid of everything that isn't right". A quixotic saying, but the gist is there. None of the things you listed are an intrinsic value -of religion-. Religion can be with them or without them, as just about anything else can. Which is to say, that you could have all 4 without religion. Any added negative baggage that comes with religion makes the equation entirely one-sided. Number 1 is a non issue, secular charity has far surpassed the coin thrown at the plebs. It's hard to beat ole Uncle Sam. 2 is grotesque. Eternal judgement for transgressions which happen in the blink of an eye erodes the concept of justice and law...just as the main tenets of major beliefs erode our concept of ethics et all (vicarious redemption, for example). In listing common causes you showed precisely how a secular goal can be achieved by a secular process with secular resources - for good or ill, while invoking tha nazzees, so boss. Again, religion offers nothing we can't get elsewhere, without all the garbage preloaded.
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