Religion is power. Ignoring the fact that that precise dynamic is pervasive in every community to some degree amounts to begging to be blindsided.
Yeah that's fair. I'm arguing from the point of view of 'should' in an ideal world. But I appreciate this not a pragmatic approach.
I don't think that's true. It's just that the others aren't as loud or eager to leverage it for power.
Yeah basically. Even the federation had theocracy like societies even though it could be problematic at times
Evangelical Christians make up roughly 25% of the U.S. population just by themselves. Combine them with other conservative sects and taking out nonreligious people (~23%), they are clearly the biggest influencers on national policy among all religions.
That 25% figure seems debatable, and looking it up seems like that's that absolute upper it can be based on variable definitions.
The black church has done more for the good of the US than literally any other movement or organization you've supported.
Because we all know that movements that purport to be rational skeptics in the modern day have turned out so very egalitarian and progressive.
"Some people learn empathy in their religious communities" - sorry, no. I was raised catholic, I don't think I lacked empathy before going to church or doing my first communion or whatever. Are people in religious countries more empathic than people in more secular countries?
I don't think you're clear on what the word "some" is. Moreover "I was raised in a particular religion and thus my experience is universal to everyone else's" is also silly.
I mean, firstly, you don't need to discuss "historical or current misdeeds" to compare the attitudes of the two communities. The Skeptics community doesn't have the power or reach of various faiths because it isn't nearly as old. That doesn't change the fact that despite purporting to be rational, skeptical, and eschewing faith, they come to the same destructive conclusions that the worst of religion indulges in. Because they're assholes that lack empathy and it doesn't matter what their purported belief system is, that's where they're going to wind up regardless.
I agree with you there, but unless you believe in a specific religion, its founders are the powerful assholes and were emboldened by their perceived divinity. The religions are also unavoidably shaped by the times they were created, making many aspects regressive at best. Of course, many powerful assholes in charge of furthering the religion are perhaps more influential in how the religion is interpreted today, but it should still be acknowledged the power the founders had to tailor things to their -- sometimes destructive -- whims.
Look at what you did.
I will never argue religion has a monopoly on bad people so please stop with that. But you've got the key word right there - power. I'll indeed be way more worried about the (exponentially larger) group that has actual power to ruin millions of lives, sanctioned by all kinds of governments and institutions. Guess what, those youtubers actually -can't- prevent anyone from getting married, or from getting blood transfusions.
I don't believe any of us will live to see it happen of course, but religion is absolutely declining globally and it's not like humans were always predominantly Christian/Muslim/Buddhist/etc.
