#fundamentalism

The evils of the dance. 1850.

Are you against religions and want them to be gone or just against the extreme ends of religion?

What do you think the world would look like or be like if everyone collectively strung away from religion?

I think this is one of five or six Asks you've submitted in the last couple weeks, Anon (you're the Australian of Lebanese heritage, right?).

Some Asks contain big questions which take significant time to answer properly - but this one is easy.

Am I against religions and want them to be gone?

No. I wouldn't want that even if I believed it was possible...and it isn't.

As an atheist, I do not believe in any anthropomorphic, sapient, interventionist Gods.

That's all the word means and that's all I mean when I say I'm an atheist.

That doesn't tell you anything at all about how I view religion.

Religion is soooooo much more interesting than most ex-Christians and ex-Muslims seem to realize. For example:

Some religions aren't really theistic.

Some religions have almost no metaphysics.

Some theistic religions don't leverage their theistic beliefs in violent or oppressive ways.

Metaphysics and theism aren't the parts of religions which I value.

I value many kinds of religious culture. Judaism, for example, is an ethnoreligion, a civilization, and a peoplehood as much as it is a faith. With or without belief in a deity, I value the texts, the history, the rituals, and the community. I see similar kinds of value in most religious traditions.

I have found that religious people who are intellectually honest (whether they are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Hindu, Bahai, Sikh, or any other faith) are often some of the most thoughtful people I know. I judge people by how they behave, not by their metaphysics.

I judge religions by their effects, not their textual sources.

What do I think the world would look like if everyone collectively stepped away from religion?

I suspect it would look very similar to the world we have now...with different labels for our tribes.

When people abandon organized religion, Anon, they often still need an orthodoxy and/or orthopraxy to help them make sense of their lives. There are secular points of faith which serve the same purpose as religion for many people who find religion distasteful.

Examples include (but are not limited to):

Communism - Explicitly tried to replace religion and replicated nearly every function: sacred texts from infallible prophets (Marx, Lenin), orthodoxy/heresy, confession (self-criticism sessions), and eschatology (the withering away of the state).

Nationalism and political tribalism - Even in religious societies, national identity often competes with or supersedes religious identity, complete with sacred founding myths, martyrs, pilgrimages (to memorials), and rituals (pledges, anthems). Beyond nationalism, some people's entire social circles, consumption habits, moral frameworks, and daily practices revolve around their political identity, complete with heresy (being "canceled" by your own side), confession (public apologies), and sacred/profane distinctions.

Consumer capitalism and lifestyle brands - People finding identity, community, and meaning through consumption and brand loyalty (Apple devotees, CrossFit culture, fandoms, etc.).

Like religions, these provide:

A framework for understanding the world

Moral certainty and right belief (orthodoxy)

Prescribed behaviors and rituals (orthopraxy)

In-group/out-group boundaries (Community and belonging)

Answers to existential questions, ways of creating meaning, purpose, and belonging

Religion is just one category of ideology which can be abused to hurt people.

People don't need relgiion to embrace dogma, purity tests, and tribal belonging, they just need to be human. Most people who claim to loathe religion don't become rationalists, they just turn their politics, social justice movements, or even their fandoms into secular 'religions.' Some modern political movements (like the far-left antizionist movement or MAGA) function exactly like cults.

Maybe the problem isn't religion, but fundamentalism, authoritarianism, and the human tendency to seek certainty and belonging at the expense of critical thinking and compassion.

Self-described Atheists who dream of an idealized society which embraces scientism or communism in place of religions and thereby becomes a technotopia or workers paradise are going way beyond atheism and into their own irrational eschatologies...which makes them resemble a religion.

If we removed religion, humans would just fill that void with new ideologies that demand the same unthinking obedience and offer the same dangerous sense of righteousness.

So I focus on promoting ideologies which value humility, integrity, generosity, collaboration, pluralism, constructive disagreement, and peace...and I try to point out the problems and dangers of ideologies which don't share these values.

What I am against is fundamentalism and the weaponization of faith.

I oppose Kahanists, Islamists, and Christian Nationalists. I believe almost every flavor of fundamentalism is regressive and harmful. I am against religion when it is used to enforce conformity, justify violence, or strip people of their rights...but I am not against the existence of religion itself, and my lack of faith doesn't incline me to feel hostility for people just because they have a faith or hold metaphysical beliefs I don't share.

Because St. Valentine's day has ONCE AGAIN given fake news regarding Christian holidays AMPLE opportunity to spread like wildfire, I am obligated to point out the following, for the umpteenth time:

No, Christmas is NOT Saturnalia or Sol Invictus. Jeremiah 10, by the way, is NOT a text about Christmas trees.

No, Easter does NOT come from feasts of Ishtar. It is literally called an equivalent of "Passover" in practically all non-English Western languages.

No, Halloween is NOT Samhain. The two do not even fall close on the calendar.

No, St. Valentine's day is NOT Lupercalia. There is no link between the two, any more than the Greco-Italian war is related to the fiscal policies of the Song Dynasty.

No, Sunday worship is NOT a hidden celebration of Sol. We celebrate Communion on Sunday because our Lord rose from the dead on a Sunday, not because we have "changed the day of the Sabbath"; we have not, and I also assure you that Constantine had NOTHING to do with this.

I cannot believe that we have reached the point where I really have to emphasise this: St. Patrick has nothing to do with Pan, much less with Peter Pan.

If you are interested in learning about the origins and evolution of Christian feasts, consult the work of actual scholars like Ronald Hutton. Jack Chick, John Ramirez, The History Channel, and ChatGPT are NOT reliable sources, for crying out loud.

Quoting Isaiah 5:20 and James 4:4 whilst presupposing that your argument about holidays is true...does not prove that your argument about holidays is true.

Most importantly: especially if you are a follower and worshipper of Jesus Christ, washed in the blood of the Lamb and partaker of the holy Sacrament of the altar, then you cannot "accidentally" worship pagan deities which nobody has worshipped for millennia simply by virtue of decorating a tree, or making a log-shaped pudding, or hunting for chocolate eggs, or going to a ball dressed up as Legolas or Esmeralda, or giving your wife red roses.

Please let us calm down at last. The Holy Spirit does not go on annual leave on 2/14, 10/31, 12/25 or ANY other day of the year. Stop propagating lies and half-truths peddled by attention-seeking "armchair pastors" -- this cultivates an increasingly strong mentality of "touch not, taste not, handle not" which borders on adding to the Gospel.