(June 21, 2015 at 2:11 pm)Pandæmonium Wrote: Like the matrix, some people are not ready to wake up.
While I personally do not accept the stories, I do aknowledge the power they have in keeping a social order together for a considerable number of people.
I dislike what many of them teach as "good", but I also suspect that given a free reign without fear of consequences we'd see a far more chaotic world, at least now. I don't think the world is ready for Athiesm, nor will it come when Africa and the middle east are so caught up in poverty and strife. In that light I'm not sure it will ever come.
I think Voltaire said something to the effect that while he doesn't accept Christianity he'd much rather his servants were Christians since he'd be cheated and robbed far less often. Clearly it doesn't work in every circumstance but I do think there is a grain of truth to that. If possible, I think redirecting religion to a morality that wasn't so amoral might lead to a better world than an Athiest one. Some people are good for the sake of being good, but many who aren't may become good with the prospect of divine reward (I think late Roman Platonism is the best example of this in practice, had Christianity not swung by this may have been the religion of the middle classes).
Sounds a bit big brother ish I know, and I don't expect many to agree with me.