Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer
Many people need the threat of punishment to refrain from being monsters. As long as there are people like that then gods serve a purpose. It is one of the reasons we invented them.
Religion is like a romance novel. It can be entertaining and even inspiring and you're fine amusing yourself with it. Just don't take it literally, don't obsess over it, and for Hypatia's sake don't use it as an excuse to project your hatefulness and revenge fantasies.
To a person who can only imagine transcendent kindness and love as God the knowledge that God is fictional is deeply unsettling, because they make the category error that then kindness and love must be fraudulent. But the one has nothing to do with the other. Kindness and love are what are real. If you preach that then I am with you, whether you do it directly in their names or use a cipher like a god or aliens or magic crystals. If you're doing good then keep doing it.
Many people need the threat of punishment to refrain from being monsters. As long as there are people like that then gods serve a purpose. It is one of the reasons we invented them.
Religion is like a romance novel. It can be entertaining and even inspiring and you're fine amusing yourself with it. Just don't take it literally, don't obsess over it, and for Hypatia's sake don't use it as an excuse to project your hatefulness and revenge fantasies.
To a person who can only imagine transcendent kindness and love as God the knowledge that God is fictional is deeply unsettling, because they make the category error that then kindness and love must be fraudulent. But the one has nothing to do with the other. Kindness and love are what are real. If you preach that then I am with you, whether you do it directly in their names or use a cipher like a god or aliens or magic crystals. If you're doing good then keep doing it.
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