Inspired by some of the discussion in this thread. I don't think it's appropriate place for that discussion there, but hey why not have a separate thread for it
If I think religion is not good in general, am I Reddit and cringe and basically Richard Dawkins?
Liberal idealism on hexbear, from a longstanding member of this community? You should know better than this. Early colonialism was a mercantilist crime, Cortez slaughtered the Inca for their gold, not because they were pagans. The missionary aspect was a flimsy justification after the fact. The Spanish crown didn't send fleets across the Atlantic because they were so devoutly Catholic, but because it was highly profitable for their burgeoning empire. Same for the superstructure of the British empire, or for the other imperial powers. Their mix of racism and violent missionarism was the civilized veneer for their realpolitik, not the driving force for it.
This is what seriously pisses me off about the "all our problems are due to Christianity" crowd, you become politically illiterate through this shit. "Capitalism grew out of Christianity", do you think Calvin invented industrialization and capital accumulation or what? ofc he didn't, he just gave the bourgeois a metaphysical justification for their exploitation and a tool of control for the masses. You got it completely backwards, comrade.
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Bang on. I don't vibe with all of his analysis, but Weber's exploration of the intertwining of the rise of capitalism and protestant Christianity is very important to understand how they're inseparable from each other and how often one reinforces the other.
Sociology: sometimes it works, folks.