I realize this is a joke, and it did elicit a good chuckle from me, but I have two technical sort of nit picks / factoids.
As I understand these things:
To the vast majority of Catholics, the Pope is not literally a god-king, who becomes basically a minor god oh his physical death, or just literally is onenof the greater gods made incarate… the Pope is God’s chosen representative on Earth, sort of like a more formalized version of many Old Testament prophets, who also leads God’s church.
Also… the Amish, the Mennonites… they very much do have as part of their culture, which very much revolves around religion… that you more or less are a expected to, and by this cement that you are a good person of faith and character, that you help others by participating, often regularly, in work-gangs, to stand up at least the basics of barn or house, in what is a shockingly short amount of time, and done in a very high quality manner, with less technologically advanced tools than what is normal for others.
Seriously, if you’ve never seen this, go look up something like Amish Barn Raising on youtube.
They start with basically just raw materials, assemble large parts of the framing, stand em up with just ropes, set up and join the whole thing, get the outer walls and roof on and doors on, in under a a single work day.
Also… the Amish, the Mennonites… they very much do have as part of their culture, which very much revolves around religion… that you more or less are a expected to, and by this cement that you are a good person of faith and character, that you help others by participating, often regularly, in work-gangs, to stand up at least the basics of barn or house, in what is a shockingly short amount of time, and done in a very high quality manner, with less technologically advanced tools than what is normal for others.
Yeah. And this sort of attitude is common - or was common, at least - in religions from Islam to Buddhism to Mormonism. Good people support their communities. Wealthy people give back their wealth to the community in greater measure. From those to whom much is given, much is required.
Reddit-type atheists? The ones who post edgy memes about religion being an evolutionary dead end and useless to humanity?
I mean, I am myself an atheist, but absolutely I agree that a large number of vocal internet atheists are basically just smug assholes who get off on intellectual masturbation as a sign of moral superiority.
Perhaps ironically, I think this actually comes from them not fully deconsctructing their likely Christian extremist indoctrinated worldview enough… they still at their core have that deep seeded framework of ‘everyone who does not see things exactly my way is damned to hell!’
If you can find an atheist youtube personality or something like that, who just raised atheist/agnostic, or at least not in an extremist form of Christianity… well, they are often much less traumatized and thus much less bitter.
There are tons of religious people who… actually are generally kind and accepting (at least of their own grouo, but often toward outsiders as well), have problems with a hateful and exclusionary and enemy-driven version of their, or any other religion.
Jesus himself said many things that blatantly contradict modern American prosperity gospel, care for the sick and needy, be welcoming to the poor and to the foreigner and the homeless, think of everyone in prison as yourself in prison, and pretty much just, the rich are evil and will burn in hell for their sinful ways that lead to their wealth accumulation.
While I may not agree with their worldviews on a more… academic, intellectual, comprehensive, level, I try always to remain as objective as I can, and realize that to varying extents, pretty much everything is a mixed bag, with pros and cons, and an absolute pro of many non hateful versions of religion is a sense of community responsibility, a collective empathy.
Its just that on the intarwebz, you are much more likely to get asocial or antisocial basically recluses.
I realize this is a joke, and it did elicit a good chuckle from me, but I have two technical sort of nit picks / factoids.
As I understand these things:
To the vast majority of Catholics, the Pope is not literally a god-king, who becomes basically a minor god oh his physical death, or just literally is onenof the greater gods made incarate… the Pope is God’s chosen representative on Earth, sort of like a more formalized version of many Old Testament prophets, who also leads God’s church.
Also… the Amish, the Mennonites… they very much do have as part of their culture, which very much revolves around religion… that you more or less are a expected to, and by this cement that you are a good person of faith and character, that you help others by participating, often regularly, in work-gangs, to stand up at least the basics of barn or house, in what is a shockingly short amount of time, and done in a very high quality manner, with less technologically advanced tools than what is normal for others.
Seriously, if you’ve never seen this, go look up something like Amish Barn Raising on youtube.
They start with basically just raw materials, assemble large parts of the framing, stand em up with just ropes, set up and join the whole thing, get the outer walls and roof on and doors on, in under a a single work day.
Yeah. And this sort of attitude is common - or was common, at least - in religions from Islam to Buddhism to Mormonism. Good people support their communities. Wealthy people give back their wealth to the community in greater measure. From those to whom much is given, much is required.
Reddit-type atheists? The ones who post edgy memes about religion being an evolutionary dead end and useless to humanity?
This is why they’re wrong.
I mean, I am myself an atheist, but absolutely I agree that a large number of vocal internet atheists are basically just smug assholes who get off on intellectual masturbation as a sign of moral superiority.
Perhaps ironically, I think this actually comes from them not fully deconsctructing their likely Christian extremist indoctrinated worldview enough… they still at their core have that deep seeded framework of ‘everyone who does not see things exactly my way is damned to hell!’
If you can find an atheist youtube personality or something like that, who just raised atheist/agnostic, or at least not in an extremist form of Christianity… well, they are often much less traumatized and thus much less bitter.
There are tons of religious people who… actually are generally kind and accepting (at least of their own grouo, but often toward outsiders as well), have problems with a hateful and exclusionary and enemy-driven version of their, or any other religion.
Jesus himself said many things that blatantly contradict modern American prosperity gospel, care for the sick and needy, be welcoming to the poor and to the foreigner and the homeless, think of everyone in prison as yourself in prison, and pretty much just, the rich are evil and will burn in hell for their sinful ways that lead to their wealth accumulation.
While I may not agree with their worldviews on a more… academic, intellectual, comprehensive, level, I try always to remain as objective as I can, and realize that to varying extents, pretty much everything is a mixed bag, with pros and cons, and an absolute pro of many non hateful versions of religion is a sense of community responsibility, a collective empathy.
Its just that on the intarwebz, you are much more likely to get asocial or antisocial basically recluses.