- Nov 25, 2018
- 153
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- United States
- Faith
- Episcopalian
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- Single
So a little background: A friend of mine, who often sends me inflammatory stuff, recently went on a rant about how religion was the root of all evil. "Herd mentality" and "toxic" were some of the terms used. In my past atheist days, I would have arrogantly and ignorantly agreed. But rethinking the whole thing, this is my response.
I'd argue that just about every belief, perspective, idea, and opinion can be toxic, and can be herd mentality. Nationalism, for instance. Or ethnic supremacy. Or pure communism. Many bad ideas and ideologies are non-religious, as are most wars. Wars are typically political, territorial, economic, or diplomatic disputes, even those that *appear* to be religious; rarely is a war fought solely on the basis of religion. We can probably pick out the historical examples and count them on one hand. The crusades? Sure. But were WW1, WW2, Vietnam, the Civil War, or the Revolutionary war religious? Not even in the slightest. You're using religion as a scapegoat for problems that are simply human problems. There are many open-minded and tolerant religious people like me. My church is full of them. The teachings of Christ are solid. The problem is simply people assimilating biblical teachings into evil biases they already have. For example, tear gassing children at the border. On a Christian forum I'm a part of, we were divided about 50/50, with half finding justifications and rationalizations they were satisfied with for why the act was right, while not acknowledging their unconscious prejudices against these people to begin with. Which is a human problem. At the end of the day, children were tear gassed. Children suffered. I heard "the bible has laws, as does our country, and they must be followed." Well, Jesus broke biblical law intentionally and unapologetically; He broke the sabbath to heal people. The Pharisees (who were rigid followers of Old Testament law) were pretty *staff edit* about it, to the point where they plotted to kill Him. Jesus' response? One can break the sabbath to do good. And likewise, we can skirt or loosen up our nation's laws to prevent or avoid the suffering of human beings. One of the many examples of ways religious teachings can be good, if interpreted and implemented correctly, just like many other ideas.
Mental gymnastics to make an evil "right" and "correct" happens all the time, with everything, religious or non-religious. It can go so far as an entire nation being totes okay with ethnic cleansing and ruthlessly attacking and oppressing one's neighboring countries unprovoked, as was seen with fascist Germany. Religion or no religion, people will find ways to rationalize their evil deeds. Sometimes God is a part of that rationalization, sometimes He is not. Every bad guy believes he is a good guy, and every evil act has a rationalization behind it. Everyone committing evil acts has a justification that they're satisfied with. The followers of Hitler, Pol Pot, Mussolini, Stalin, and even Charles Manson all believed they were doing the right thing, which is why these acts were able to happen in the first place. Many of those committing these acts were non-Christian. Some were, some weren't. But they were all human, and THAT'S the problem. The bible speaks of this EXTENSIVELY with it's concept of man's sinful nature, so ironically, these evils are actually DIRECTLY ADDRESSED by Christianity. These problems are human, not religious.
I'd argue that just about every belief, perspective, idea, and opinion can be toxic, and can be herd mentality. Nationalism, for instance. Or ethnic supremacy. Or pure communism. Many bad ideas and ideologies are non-religious, as are most wars. Wars are typically political, territorial, economic, or diplomatic disputes, even those that *appear* to be religious; rarely is a war fought solely on the basis of religion. We can probably pick out the historical examples and count them on one hand. The crusades? Sure. But were WW1, WW2, Vietnam, the Civil War, or the Revolutionary war religious? Not even in the slightest. You're using religion as a scapegoat for problems that are simply human problems. There are many open-minded and tolerant religious people like me. My church is full of them. The teachings of Christ are solid. The problem is simply people assimilating biblical teachings into evil biases they already have. For example, tear gassing children at the border. On a Christian forum I'm a part of, we were divided about 50/50, with half finding justifications and rationalizations they were satisfied with for why the act was right, while not acknowledging their unconscious prejudices against these people to begin with. Which is a human problem. At the end of the day, children were tear gassed. Children suffered. I heard "the bible has laws, as does our country, and they must be followed." Well, Jesus broke biblical law intentionally and unapologetically; He broke the sabbath to heal people. The Pharisees (who were rigid followers of Old Testament law) were pretty *staff edit* about it, to the point where they plotted to kill Him. Jesus' response? One can break the sabbath to do good. And likewise, we can skirt or loosen up our nation's laws to prevent or avoid the suffering of human beings. One of the many examples of ways religious teachings can be good, if interpreted and implemented correctly, just like many other ideas.
Mental gymnastics to make an evil "right" and "correct" happens all the time, with everything, religious or non-religious. It can go so far as an entire nation being totes okay with ethnic cleansing and ruthlessly attacking and oppressing one's neighboring countries unprovoked, as was seen with fascist Germany. Religion or no religion, people will find ways to rationalize their evil deeds. Sometimes God is a part of that rationalization, sometimes He is not. Every bad guy believes he is a good guy, and every evil act has a rationalization behind it. Everyone committing evil acts has a justification that they're satisfied with. The followers of Hitler, Pol Pot, Mussolini, Stalin, and even Charles Manson all believed they were doing the right thing, which is why these acts were able to happen in the first place. Many of those committing these acts were non-Christian. Some were, some weren't. But they were all human, and THAT'S the problem. The bible speaks of this EXTENSIVELY with it's concept of man's sinful nature, so ironically, these evils are actually DIRECTLY ADDRESSED by Christianity. These problems are human, not religious.
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