The harm of religion is historically evident whereas the presence or absence of gods is not. Ultimately, the continued existence of religion is predicated on the indoctrination of children and suppression of rational thought. Therefore I am against religion but not necessarily against the idea of gods. For all we know gods are computer scientists and we are in their video game.

  • JamesConeZone [they/them]
    ·
    1 year ago

    Since religion necessitates the indoctrination of children and suppression of rational thought, I consider it evil. Religion should only be thought in history books. All of it. The good and bad. And if individuals of a ripe age still come to decide they want to be religious, let them. However, these will be few, for it is no match against history and philosophy.

    I am begging you to first learn historical materialism about the development of religions across the globe, what roles other than "indoctrination" they have played socially, and how capitalism co-opted religion and has hollowed it out as it does with everything. A lot of your critique is about the powerful utilizing societal tools in the language of religion to exploit followers. Second, please for the love of any god you choose read some actual scholars of religion or philosophy of religion. it isn't enough to build strawmen with Hitchens and Harris and South Park. if your thesis is to consider antireligion as a viable alternative to religion, you need to engage with actual scholars, actual lived experiences of the religions and irreligious in the midst of capitalism, and the historical repercussions of labour history in and around religious movements.

    Joking aside, I feel strongly that a Copernican revolution in education is the most promising contestant that could fill the largest part of the hole religion left behind... Imagine an opposite environment where not individual test scores but mastery and cooperation is central. How nourishing that would be, especially to those with with stifling parents. I'm almost religiously convinced that after having gone through such an education system the students would way more easily and organically learn and remember all the knowledge they're now being force-fed. Moreover, because many parents haven't the foundation to engage in proper parenting, which puts many children on a virtue-ridden path, it would provide a home for those who don't have one. A safe haven to look forward to, something to live for. My goodness, the amount of human potential that still has to be unlocked is immense.

    education is never objective, it is never apolitical, and systematic education does not unlock human potential under capitalism, it signals social credentials to the bourgeois that you can move in that world and are most likely going to uphold those mores.

    you've got a good start with putting your figure on a problem, that religion has been a tool used to exploit peoples for centuries and keep them in the lower classes through education, control over bodies, etc. keep going, just interact with more marxism and scholars in the field to dig further.

    • CynicusRex [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      1 year ago

      I didn't say antireligion should be the alternative to religion, ideally neither exists. Thanks for your input though. However, I am not trying to put forth essays of academic rigour. My main objective is to get people to think and talk, more often than not about topics that are often times avoided. That being said, I'm open to any source you send my way; ideally somewhat terse to get me started. No time to go delving into a dense book.

      • GarbageShoot [he/him]
        ·
        1 year ago

        more often than not about topics that are often times avoided

        Were you not around for ~2010 and the entire Nu Atheist "movement"?

        Listen to this on a walk or something: https://librivox.org/socialism-utopian-and-scientific-by-friedrich-engels/

    • CynicusRex [none/use name]
      hexagon
      ·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      “education is never objective, it is never apolitical, and systematic education does not unlock human potential under capitalism, it signals social credentials to the bourgeois that you can move in that world and are most likely going to uphold those mores.”

      I neither agree nor disagree. You're addressing the past or current way of doing things. I just enjoy dreaming about what could be to give me hope and motivation to endure the incremental progress.