From: Reason (reason@exratio.com)
Date: Tue Jul 03 2001 - 19:40:03 MDT
-->Behalf Of Brent Allsop
> "J. R. Molloy" <jr@shasta.com> answered why we should want
> to "debunk" religion with:
>
> > Because we won't move into a better future until we defeat
> > religiosity, which is the most regressive force now operating in
> > society.
>
> To me, religion is simply "a way of life" so everyone has one.
> Mine happens to be extropianism.
I'd suggest that both religiosity (ok, you got me to go to m-w.com for that
one -- it still looks like it has too many 'i's...my parser must be broken)
in the theistic sense and substitutes (some improved, some not) such as
extropianism, et al, are all second order effects arising from a) fear of
mortality, b) being hierarchical creatures who are more comfortable in the
presence of defined rules, c) tending towards being too lazy to do anything
other than hide from and accept a) and b), d) fear of change, and e) the way
in which memes are selected and propagate.
So without removing a, b, c, you're never going to be able to get rid of
religiosity of some form. d) seems to be the thing that's causing you
pain -- that's not exclusive to the religious, believe me. I don't think you
can do much about e).
So back to my conclusion again (everything's just all about me :) -- getting
rid of a) will solve everyone's problems :)
Ok. Not being entirely serious there, but really: think about it. Religion
isn't the problem; it's a symptom of our quintessential apeness (hierarchy,
conditioning to rules, search for lost parents) and being unsure as to
whether we cease to exist when we die.
Final thought: religion personal and religion organized are two very
different things. If you must judge, organized religions should probably be
judged in the same way that you would judge nationalities or countries.
Personal religion should be up the person in question...
Reason
http://www.exratio.com/
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