| Putting this in a separate comment from my JP one: > Christian theologians for centuries consistently modified their belief structure to reflect reality as their understanding of reality improved. That is also laundering the history of religious persecution. Christian theologians embrace scientific consensus hundreds of years after the scientific community does, persecuting, ostracizing, torturing (mentally and physically) thousands of people until then. > Religion is not without it's faults, but that is true of any principle around which people organize. That depends on the principle doesn't it. For example if you take "humanism", then the principle is that human beings are the most important thing that matters, every human being has value, and maximizing humanity's long term happiness and liberty is the key to a successful society. On the other hand if you take theology, then generally, the religions that the vast majority of the world follows are based around 2 key concepts: 1) An omniscient deity whose wishes and directives must be obeyed implicitly 2) An after life that is offered as a reward to the righteous followers. #1 introduces an inherent power structure. Once you accept that some entities are "greater" than the other, it inherently follows to apply the same to the "kingdom of men". Every power imbalance throughout history from Lords to Kings to Slave Masters was justified based on a delegation of hierarchical authority deemed justifiable from religion. This continues to this day amongst Conservatives whose original purpose was to maintain aristocratic power structures after the dissolution of monarchies, and now perpetuate historical inequalities under the guise of individualistic authority (i.e. no imposition on generational wealth and power imbalances through taxes or any other socialist policies) #2 incentivizes obedience and behaviour. It also creates INFINITELY permanent stakes (a 50-100 year lifetime vs an infinity of reward or an infinity of punishment) which incentivizes the desire to convert others to the cause. After all if you believed that your beliefs would bring you SALVATION would you not need to/want to spread this message to others? Logically, yes. But what happens if those do not believe the message or worse force you to question YOUR OWN conviction and faith? Well it turns out the problem with a faith-based belief system is it doesn't hold up well to logical scrutiny and humans aren't great at being flexible in these situation. You can either collapse and give up or lash out at the person who is making a mockery of your beliefs. Hence, the Inquisition, and every "dark" part of Religion throughout history, that is not actually a part of it, but the complete whole. It's not an aberration, it's the default status quo. It's not a bug, it's a feature. |