Imagine 'Murica without religion

[Silver]

There would be less ignorant twats denying science for the sake of a silly religious ideal that has nothing to offer except false comfort.

There would be more scientifically minded people getting the proper education they deserve.

[Minimalist]

It would be heaven without xristards.

[emjay]

I second that and I don't even live there... but America has such an influence on the rest of the world and it's basically a theocracy. Tbh I have no idea how it ever reached its current level of scientific progress with religious fundamentalism seemingly built in at its very core and exerting its influence at every step.

[Opoponax]

Please. People will always find a way to be shitty to each other. The Church(es) were oppressed in the Soviet Union and that wasn't exactly an intellectual paradise. I'd much rather put up with TV preachers begging for private jet money than waiting in line for ass-wipe.

[Minimalist]

Tbh I have no idea how it ever reached its current level of scientific progress with religious fundamentalism seemingly built in at its very core and exerting its influence at every step.

Actually, you have it backwards.  Perhaps the highlight of our scientific endeavor was the moon landing in 1969.  Once we did that and could pat ourselves on the back for "beating the russians" most people lost interest.  The Apollo program ended in 1972 the same year Nixon was elected to his second term.  The country dissolved into Watergate hysteria and all of a sudden everything was political.

The religious right grew up in the aftermath of our great technological achievement.  Allow me to quote a well-know republican.

In the past couple years, I have seen many news items that referred to the Moral Majority, prolife and other religious groups as "the new right," and the "new conservatism." Well, I have spent quite a number of years carrying the flag of the old conservatism. And I can say with conviction that the religious issues of these groups have little or nothing to do with conservative or liberal politics.  The uncompromising position of these groups is a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative system, if they gain sufficient strength.

As it is, they are diverting us away from the vital issues that our Government needs to address. Far too much of the time of members of Congress and officials in the Executive Branch is used up dealing with special-interest groups on issues like abortion, school busing, ERA, prayer in the schools and pornography. While these are important moral issues, they are secondary right now to our national security and economic survival.


Sen Barry Goldwater  1981

The stupidification of 'Murrica has proceeded from there.

[Silver]

Tbh I have no idea how it ever reached its current level of scientific progress with religious fundamentalism seemingly built in at its very core and exerting its influence at every step.

Actually, you have it backwards.  Perhaps the highlight of our scientific endeavor was the moon landing in 1969.  Once we did that and could pat ourselves on the back for "beating the russians" most people lost interest.  The Apollo program ended in 1972 the same year Nixon was elected to his second term.  The country dissolved into Watergate hysteria and all of a sudden everything was political.

The religious right grew up in the aftermath of our great technological achievement.  Allow me to quote a well-know republican.

In the past couple years, I have seen many news items that referred to the Moral Majority, prolife and other religious groups as "the new right," and the "new conservatism." Well, I have spent quite a number of years carrying the flag of the old conservatism. And I can say with conviction that the religious issues of these groups have little or nothing to do with conservative or liberal politics.  The uncompromising position of these groups is a divisive element that could tear apart the very spirit of our representative system, if they gain sufficient strength.

As it is, they are diverting us away from the vital issues that our Government needs to address. Far too much of the time of members of Congress and officials in the Executive Branch is used up dealing with special-interest groups on issues like abortion, school busing, ERA, prayer in the schools and pornography. While these are important moral issues, they are secondary right now to our national security and economic survival.


Sen Barry Goldwater  1981

The stupidification of 'Murrica has proceeded from there.

Indeed, interest in science is at an all time low. It steadily went down after the moon landing, as Min stated.

[Aegon]

"Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." - George Washington's 1796 Farewell Address

It's hard to answer such a strong hypothetical when this country's history is so rooted in religion.

[Whateverist]

It isn't hard to do.

No hell below us.

Above us only sky.

[Minimalist]

Which religion is that?  What was common in Washington's time was mainly Anglican bullshit with a mix of Quaker, Catholic in (mainly) Maryland, and Congregational in New England.  I've seen estimates that perhaps as few as 10% or as many as 20% attended any church on a regular basis.

The horseshit which spews out of the mouths of bible bullshitters these days dates from the early 20th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_fundamentalism

Christian fundamentalism began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries among British and American Protestants[1][2] as a reaction to theological liberalism and cultural modernism. Fundamentalists argued that 19th-century modernist theologians had misinterpreted or rejected certain doctrines, especially biblical inerrancy, that they viewed as the fundamentals of the Christian faith.[3] A few scholars regard Catholics who reject modern theology in favor of more traditional doctrines as fundamentalists.[4] Scholars debate how much the terms "evangelical" and "fundamentalist" are synonymous.[5]

Interpretations of Christian fundamentalism have changed over time.[6] Fundamentalism is a movement manifested in various denominations with various theologies, rather than a single denomination or systematic theology. It became active in the 1910s after the release of The Fundamentals, a twelve-volume set of essays, apologetic and polemic, written by conservative Protestant theologians to defend what they saw as Protestant orthodoxy. The movement became more organized in the 1920s within U.S. Protestant churches, especially Baptist and Presbyterian.

Frankly the last people you can rely on for a reasoned statement of their own history are religious fucktards.

[Fake Messiah]

To achieve this kind of world we wold probably need to ditch religion