RANT PT. II
OH RELIGION, IT MAKES ME SO MAD.
I think that this can be brilliantly summed up in these three songs:
( So you're gonna live in paradise... )
I think that this can be brilliantly summed up in these three songs:
( So you're gonna live in paradise... )
Comments 7
Reply
I am glad you agree! ... I was half expecting to get flamed when I woke up this morning and remembered what I'd written last night. 8D
Reply
Reply
I'm glad I'm not the only person who sees something very, very wrong with this around here.
Reply
And that's what I can't stand about how people, when they don't simply gasp, handle criticism of their religion. All at once we dive into a grand subjectivist muddle. “Well, you may believe X, but you have to acknowledge that other people believe Y.” or the less obvious “ My religion offers people [list of practical psychological benefits, e.g. sense of community or comfort in difficult times].” Of course I acknowledge other people think differently, I just happen to think they're wrong. You may very well get those benefits from religion, but that doesn't speak to why you -- supposedly -- think this religion is a great and transcendent Truth. I don't expect religious people to justify their beliefs in strictly empirical (or even rational) terms; people -- even we noble and mighty logical positivists -- have large patches of irrationality in our day to day thought, and there's nothing to be done about it. But I expect everyone, including the religious, to at least try to articulate their beliefs in ( ... )
Reply
I agree with everything you've said here (and had a bit of a laugh at the irreverent capitalist loony part), especially finding it frustrating that often a response to criticism of religion is along the lines of, "Well that's fine that you don't believe in it, but we do."
What I find most mind-boggling about people who continue to believe in their religion past all the evidence that it can't possibly be true (and that's all well and good -- if your spiritual beliefs aren't hurting anyone, fine) is when they insist that theirs is the only one that's true. And then a few sentences later (or earlier), they will persist in telling you that you just don't understand, aren't open minded enough, or aren't accepting enough. I think a perfect example of this is the Flying Spaghetti Monster and the sheer amount of hate-mail receieved by irate Christians crying out against the "falsity" of that site ( ... )
Reply
I'm glad you had a laugh at the irreverent capitalist loony part because, on re-reading, I thought it sounded much less amused (and much more bitter) than I had intended. Happily, it seems I worried for nothing!
I also think that those sorts of arguments often become counter-arguments to any sort of criticism, not just criticism of religion's validity. Which is absurd, when you think about it, because why should the reasons why you believe in something have anything to do with any of the injustices and politics associated with it? Or with things done in its name?
I have to cop to having difficulty in parsing "those sorts of arguments." If you mean "well even if you don't believe, I do, and you oughtn't be so closed minded", I honestly don't know what accounts for it. I suppose a big part of it is that people take it as personal criticism in a ( ... )
Reply
Leave a comment