[muad_kyrlach]

I can only speak from experience about Christianity: I have found very few sects of christianity that don't have some mixture of 1. arbitrary claim to absolute certainty regarding the "Will of God" --Bible is inerrant, the denomination's understanding of it is inerrant, etc 2. Non-sensical "lesson-of-the-week" structure" where very few actually make any progress on any lesson 3. blind acceptance that the church has to be a functional business. the first one is the most hurtful -- the leaders offer certainty when certainty is far from possible. It amounts to "God gave you your brain, but it's mostly for decoration, you don't need to think when it comes to your faith, just accept what we tell you/is written." The business side can also be hurtful.

I was reading recently about scientists attempt to measure cognitive differences between the religious and non-religious -- by looking at things like math proficiency. I think that's really missing the impact of religion. Religion doesn't make you bad at math, but it likely makes you bad at 1. finances -- how much pct of your income are you regularly giving away? 2. philanthropy -- how much of that income really went to helping people vs church administration, continuing the Sunday lesson? 3. Political engagement -- i would hypothesize that being religious leads folks to more frequently vote against their own self-interests.