I’ve said that, word for word. When I actually sit and think about it though, I think it’s more like appendicitis. Religion once served a purpose (passing on of useful cultural norms and expectations), has become vestigial, and is now inflamed and likely to kill us (as a society and individually, in some cases)
Social / cultural norms don’t require belief systems and made up deities to function. Putting that magical thinking to it makes people fanatical and works against logic or ideological evolution. Religion has always worked against societal advancement. It was a collective delusion to soothe ancient fears of a world we could not comprehend. Clinging to it now is just a salve to people’s fear of death. It’s a weak minded cope to fragile egos who can’t stand that we are just animals and there is no greater purpose to our existence. It helps powerful people to get poor people to die for their causes and to manipulate emotions. It’s a disease against progress.
The supernatural claims are just a byproduct of the mechanism that passed along the creation myths and cultural norms. It would be great if that wasn’t how it happened, but it did. Rational people can agree at this point that the magical thinking is a net negative for society, but IMO, to ignore that there were some positives to come along with religion is the same sort of blind denial that religious folks use.
It was a collective delusion to soothe ancient fears of a world we could not comprehend
Agreed, but can’t you see that that was an advantage during the formative ages of society and civilization?
I can say it was a way to reach an end, but it wasn’t the only way to reach that end. Society in the formative ages could have just as easily organized around collective strength and pack principals instead of magical thinking. It served some purpose, but it was a poor way to reach that end. It is a net negative on humanity, but it’s how we got here so we have to deal with its corrosive residue in society today.
Agreed, that’s my whole point. It was not the ideal way to get where we are, but it’s how it happened. There was a… I don’t want to say purpose, but “benefit,” might be the right word.
If we were designing things from scratch, then obviously religion would be left out. But it’s an unfortunate accident of the evolution of consciousness and evolution of civilization that certain societal benefits were included with the magical thinking. Just like the health of the human gut biome is tied to the existence of the appendix, even through the appendix doesn’t provide much in the way of direct benefits these days and can become inflamed and kill us.
I think if we were sent a history book from the year 2200, we would see that history has determine the US was already effectively gone by this point. Most just don’t see it yet. What’s left for us to figure out is where we go from here. So far, I don’t like the chance it is a better country or world.
In the trek franchise, people finally get it, after they nuked themselves in a 3rd ww3 which costed 600mil lives, and of course a little alien intervention aftermath.
America really is falling through, huh? Might just be best to dissolve the union and leave behind the garbage.
Conservatism is late stage cancer. You either lop it off or let it kill you
Religion in general is a cancer on societal progress.
I’ve said that, word for word. When I actually sit and think about it though, I think it’s more like appendicitis. Religion once served a purpose (passing on of useful cultural norms and expectations), has become vestigial, and is now inflamed and likely to kill us (as a society and individually, in some cases)
Social / cultural norms don’t require belief systems and made up deities to function. Putting that magical thinking to it makes people fanatical and works against logic or ideological evolution. Religion has always worked against societal advancement. It was a collective delusion to soothe ancient fears of a world we could not comprehend. Clinging to it now is just a salve to people’s fear of death. It’s a weak minded cope to fragile egos who can’t stand that we are just animals and there is no greater purpose to our existence. It helps powerful people to get poor people to die for their causes and to manipulate emotions. It’s a disease against progress.
The supernatural claims are just a byproduct of the mechanism that passed along the creation myths and cultural norms. It would be great if that wasn’t how it happened, but it did. Rational people can agree at this point that the magical thinking is a net negative for society, but IMO, to ignore that there were some positives to come along with religion is the same sort of blind denial that religious folks use.
Agreed, but can’t you see that that was an advantage during the formative ages of society and civilization?
I can say it was a way to reach an end, but it wasn’t the only way to reach that end. Society in the formative ages could have just as easily organized around collective strength and pack principals instead of magical thinking. It served some purpose, but it was a poor way to reach that end. It is a net negative on humanity, but it’s how we got here so we have to deal with its corrosive residue in society today.
Agreed, that’s my whole point. It was not the ideal way to get where we are, but it’s how it happened. There was a… I don’t want to say purpose, but “benefit,” might be the right word.
If we were designing things from scratch, then obviously religion would be left out. But it’s an unfortunate accident of the evolution of consciousness and evolution of civilization that certain societal benefits were included with the magical thinking. Just like the health of the human gut biome is tied to the existence of the appendix, even through the appendix doesn’t provide much in the way of direct benefits these days and can become inflamed and kill us.
Or a constantly inflamed tissue becomes cancerous overtime, and the theory of field cancerization, much like with celiacs and untreated gerd.
It’s accelerating very fast
I think if we were sent a history book from the year 2200, we would see that history has determine the US was already effectively gone by this point. Most just don’t see it yet. What’s left for us to figure out is where we go from here. So far, I don’t like the chance it is a better country or world.
In the trek franchise, people finally get it, after they nuked themselves in a 3rd ww3 which costed 600mil lives, and of course a little alien intervention aftermath.
Oh I agree, it’s been on a downwards spiral for a while, I was just saying how it’s sped up it’s descent.