Coming across more of those religious freaks that inject God into every science thread
If studying the nature of the universe perturbs your faith, what you have is not faith; It is fear of the unknown
God is quite safe from science. But to religion, science is Kryptonite
This is what's called a "low-brow dismissal" wherein offers no counter-argument to what I have said and implies knowledge of my religious education
I come from both Christian and Buddhist parents so these are quite familiar
A common theme I've seen many times before is the default retort of implied ignorance
"Someone diminishing what you believe automatically diminishes you": This is the antithesis of critical thinking and it is the straight jacket religion wraps around your mind. And it highlights the dangers of religion as a concept beyond reproach is also beyond the reach of truth
As a former religious person, I take comfort in knowing escape from the asylum is still possible
Now we still have to deal with the effects religion still has on policy
When it comes to reproductive rights, marriage, equality, or just plain existing in this world unmolested, it's hard to navigate the rapids created by religion. Again, this has nothing to do with what deity(ies) you believe, but the dogma your particular brand of "Reality"(tm) you seek to imprint upon your peers
This need to inject dogma into the search for truth is both insidious and destructive to us a species
@cypnk i went to a christian college, and now i wish i had a more general experience with the perspectives of other religions
@tcql It's not too late. People like to hound the Internet for its frivolousness, but what of its greatest strengths is the ability to connect information like nothing else
There are translations of almost all religious texts available at your fingertips
@cypnk yea, i'd prefer a more personal guided tour i think. Like reading about the bible has always felt quite dull to me, it only felt like it mattered when i heard about people's personal connections to it, ya know?
basically i just need to make friends with somebody from like every religion and convince them to tell me about what it means to them
@tcql YouTube has somewhat bridged the gap there. There are some good resources that seek to educate without an ulterior motive
@cypnk I was raised without religion, so became a Religious Studies major to figure out what I was missing. It was both tremendously fascinating and an inoculation. I don't know how my fellow students who were faithful maintained it for four years.
@jdb This is the biggest tragedy of it all. We don't let beautiful paintings determine how we perceive our reality, but we only let them inform our experiences
When a panting becomes law, it is neither beautiful nor constructive
@cypnk Nicely put!
@cypnk I've always been thankful I had the opportunity to take a comparative religions elective in high school. of course it didn't go into great depth but it still touched on the things you mention and more. I recall my takeway being to note similarities/differences across religions and how subjective religious realities are, because these can't all be true (or, they can all be true, depending on the definition of true). I wish more people had/could have the same education.
@miscellanium It's a beautiful thing when we can approach the subject with the same perspective as art. The similarities are fun to spot as you can observe the giant tree of belief across history and all the branches and roots
You've been very fortunate to have that at a young age
If we study culture, we should also study religion since they're both tightly bound for the most part. Art and music too, for much of history, derived their interpretation from our attempts to explain the universe
@cypnk Daniel Dennett has advocated for this too. Teach kids all the religions of the world, not just the one preferred by their parents or community.
@cypnk Absolutely. It's part of culture and history across the world. And it is a fascinating topic if you can dig right into the philosophical and historical underpinnings in a supportive environment.
But...as someone who has compulsory religious education (much narrower and shallower than this) at two points during my school years, it's a risky undertaking too. It's one of those areas, I think, where the school system and culture can turn it into a minefield for some students.
@cypnk (But that's more a critique of power relations in the school system and society than of comparative or deep religious study.
There's an amazing group of theology scholars at my uni - while I do wish they were a bit more diverse, all of them have consistently been the most understanding and sensitive in approaching their topics that I've seen. Even when they were teaching less directly related courses. And that has made a huge difference in my attitude towards religion overall.)
Somewhat counterintuitive proposal:
More religious studies classes. And by that, I don't mean someone of the faith trying to indoctrinate, but someone stepping outside of themselves to teach what they believe. Many instructors of many religions taking time to teach classes of the same students
When you have a perspective of the variety of faith, you learn to appreciate it as a byproduct of human imagination. I'd love to sit in for lessons on the Bhagavad Gita, the Bible, and Pali Canon