The Supreme Court on Thursday, in a 4-4 ruling, said Oklahoma cannot create the nation's first religious charter school funded directly with taxpayer dollars.
Right. And FIFA, a secular organization headquartered in Switzerland, selected Qatar knowing all this and they were perfectly ok with that sort of exploitation to make the World Cup happen. To say nothing else of their history of bribery and corruption.
Companies with no religious affiliation are no better. They’ll produce bombs, sell weapons to terrorists and genocidal governments, whatever brings home the bacon.
PTAs and school boards discriminate against trans and queer kids all the time. HOAs discriminate against minorities all the time.
People in groups have always used their power to enrich themselves, hurt others, and control the world around them. This is a phenomenon that isn’t limited to any one organization, sacred or secular.
Not being churlish I’m genuinely a little unclear - what’s your thesis here? I don’t think it’s news that a secular organization can be involved with vile systems, but that appears to be the crux (sorry) of what you’re trying to say. I think we may be arguing past one another.
My point is that religion isn’t inherently a negative thing. And not worse than any other human institution solely because of its belief in the supernatural, and that organized religion is just as susceptible to corruption and weaponization as any institution.
Because I’m a skeptic, and I don’t see any reason to believe in a creator or higher power. And if I did, a creator/architect is as far as that belief would go, I wouldn’t think that being was personally involved in our lives or morals, just someone who pressed play on the program.
And if there was one, I don’t think any human-made religion is so wise as to have found all the answers. That’s just prideful foolishness.
I’m open to the idea that there may be aspects to our existence and the universe of which we are not entirely aware, though as long as we can’t see any evidence of it I don’t think there’s much need to dwell on it.
On a more personal note, I think the way organized religion is the most damaging is how it makes people satisfied in their ignorance. Both because in their eyes it already explains so much so there’s no need to learn more, and also because there is a divine plan so there’s no need to question why things are the way they are or how they could be different.
Yeah sure, wars and genocide and slavery and all that. But like I said, people can find any excuse to be horrible and greedy and hurt others. It’s not hard to do, doesn’t need to be divine. But I think it’s a lot harder to convince someone to keep themselves uneducated when humans are naturally curious.
Right. And FIFA, a secular organization headquartered in Switzerland, selected Qatar knowing all this and they were perfectly ok with that sort of exploitation to make the World Cup happen. To say nothing else of their history of bribery and corruption.
Companies with no religious affiliation are no better. They’ll produce bombs, sell weapons to terrorists and genocidal governments, whatever brings home the bacon.
PTAs and school boards discriminate against trans and queer kids all the time. HOAs discriminate against minorities all the time.
People in groups have always used their power to enrich themselves, hurt others, and control the world around them. This is a phenomenon that isn’t limited to any one organization, sacred or secular.
Not being churlish I’m genuinely a little unclear - what’s your thesis here? I don’t think it’s news that a secular organization can be involved with vile systems, but that appears to be the crux (sorry) of what you’re trying to say. I think we may be arguing past one another.
My point is that religion isn’t inherently a negative thing. And not worse than any other human institution solely because of its belief in the supernatural, and that organized religion is just as susceptible to corruption and weaponization as any institution.
To be clear, I’m an atheist.
So, why are you an atheist?
Because I’m a skeptic, and I don’t see any reason to believe in a creator or higher power. And if I did, a creator/architect is as far as that belief would go, I wouldn’t think that being was personally involved in our lives or morals, just someone who pressed play on the program.
And if there was one, I don’t think any human-made religion is so wise as to have found all the answers. That’s just prideful foolishness.
I’m open to the idea that there may be aspects to our existence and the universe of which we are not entirely aware, though as long as we can’t see any evidence of it I don’t think there’s much need to dwell on it.
On a more personal note, I think the way organized religion is the most damaging is how it makes people satisfied in their ignorance. Both because in their eyes it already explains so much so there’s no need to learn more, and also because there is a divine plan so there’s no need to question why things are the way they are or how they could be different.
Yeah sure, wars and genocide and slavery and all that. But like I said, people can find any excuse to be horrible and greedy and hurt others. It’s not hard to do, doesn’t need to be divine. But I think it’s a lot harder to convince someone to keep themselves uneducated when humans are naturally curious.