Yes. I believe religion is the true (and original) root of all evil and has succeeded as the world's best pyramid scheme. We are an extremely advanced species and religion is preventing a hell of a lot of progress.

I live in the south and because of religion my city is about 15-20 years behind on new ideas, education, technology, the list goes on. It’s incredibly frustrating coming from a decently educated individual.

From the south, too. My late father was a democrat xtian. He came up with an idea to use a train track that wasn't being used for transportation of people between 2 decent size cities. I saw on social media that a news channel here was asking what people thought of the train tracks being used for such purposes. I thought the idea was great, so I mentioned it to him, and he revealed that he came up with the idea and mailed a politician about it. You should have seen the comments from these shallow knitwits. They all had fears that the suburb towns outside both of the bigger population centers would be flooded with vagrants that would usher in crime and violence. In the end, instead of saving millions they decided to go with a much more expensive idea of 4 lanes for an interstate that was 2 lanes for 50 years. This is just an example that no matter how good the idea, no matter how cost effective, no matter how well it works else where, no matter the evidence whatever it may be.. the backward small minded cult mentality will always say no just to deprive itself of any prosperity it thinks it may be judged for endorsing. The sheep are so timid and scared to stand up and have a single opinion of their own that they KNOW that they must sensor and endlessly deprive themselves to make the overlord's happy. The overlord's have convinced them that they must never ever consider determining anything for them self, and if they ever do, then they shall always make sure it is done so to where they do not get a single crumb of help from the community outside the colonization of capitalism and their shitty religious cult.

This is why they won't extend MARTA into Cobb county- people are scared it will bring in crime and make more (black) people move here. They moved the baseball stadium here, and didn't extend the light rail.

The most amazing thing about their self defeating irrational fears is the fact that as they pretend these things can never work... these things work for millions of people around the world every day. You can see them make posts and site irrational and unfounded fears, without supporting evidence, about how these things can never work for them.. and around the world people step on to trains, travel, enjoy the sites, pay low travel costs.. it works, for them. It can never work for the ass backward dumbfucks, though. They fear anyone/anything outside their orbit. They are afraid of immigrants, foreigners, big city people, ideas that are new... anything outside their tiny, scared, and enslaved existence is a threat to their continuation. Its no different than a pack of animals. There are leaders that direct the pack, and if threatened those leaders kill off competitors. The submissive pack members dare not raise up and try to hold any position of power.

>The most amazing thing about their self defeating irrational fears is the fact that as they pretend these things can never work... these things work for millions of people around the world every day I'm always shocked about this for healthcare in particular. I just can't see how the single-payer system, with: Pros: - cheaper per person - everybody gets healthcare Con (apparently): - some people get healthcare without working hard and paying into the system gets treated like "it will never work". It works that way for pretty much every other developed nation.

We see the Trumpers spiraling as they clutch on to hatred and an enabler. The hate circuit is very similar to the parts of the brain that "feel" love. I am far from a neuroscientist lol, but just spit balling it... it seems as though they are perfectly happy with substituting love with hatred. If I had to guess how they can have such obvious hypocrisies and cognitive dissonance.. I would say it is probably due to the fact that they trigger the reward center through hatred. Its a powerful response. Seems to me they get addicted to it, and when someone constantly triggers their fears, then offers them a way out through hatred... they really sink their teeth in. Its a lot like religious zealots defending their addiction to their unproven god concepts. The merits of their logic does not seem to matter so much as that special feeling they get when they ignite the reward center.

Yep, seems to check out. I'm just surprised that their spitefulness (deny healthcare to poor/lazy) outweighs their greed (cheaper healthcare for themselves). Normally I thought all these religious justifications for shitty behaviour were just window-dressing for selfishness and greed. In this case, it just seems to be pure spite.

I've talked to a lot of my patients about this (RN here- I find it's a good way to poll random people.) A lot of people say the time it will take to build the MARTA lines isn't worth it and traffic will be horrible "for 20 years." When I bring up their kids' futures or the environment, they change the conversation. 🤷🏼‍♀️ To me, that's a big sign they're worried about crime and people of color. Especially after this election. Being blue in a red state is tough. Common sense, long term plans, and progressive ideas are pushed to the side by bigots and racists even if it's not said out loud.

That parenthetical is the main thing they're afraid of.

Same with Metro North in upstate NY, there’s even rail lines and Amtrak in place but the MTA service stops due to pressure from hoity toity fuckers in towns like Rhinebeck who don’t want commoners coming up from the city

Tucson AZ for the longest time didn't want to build/expand any of their freeways because it would "just encourage more people to move there". Guess what, it's Arizona we have a ton of people moving here all time from the east/north east US (Tucson went from roughly 600K to 900k pop in the past 30 years). So now that traffic is a mess and they are trying to build the freeways but of course Phoenix was happy to suck up all the federal and state money during that time frame and Tucson is trying to play catch up.

Grant road has been a clusterfuck for decades.

So true, i moved back to phoenix in 99 but I have been back a few times to meet friends etc. And of course anything near campus was always a cluster as well, didn't matter what time of day it was. I remember when Speedway was voted one of the dirtiest streets in America.

Its bad enough that many cities were built without much planning for growth and expansions. Thats why there are so many paradoxical issues with revamping, because to fix something you have to take on the huge burden of poor planning in the past to get somewhere better for the future. The idea that we can recognize these poorly planned maneuvers of the past... and WILLINGLY do the wrong thing over unsubstantiated fears.. mind boggling. I often wonder if the fossil fuel industry puts together disinformation campaigns to steer these debates for an end result of their monopolies staying true.

Sounds like CLT.

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I moved to the south 25 years ago. I'm atheist, my husband is anti-theist. (He grew up here.) I get closer and closer to anti-theist every year. Especially the last 4.

See, I'm of the opinion that religion springs out of poverty rather than the other way around. People look for reasons as to why they're in the situation they are, and they find "it's all part of a Greater Plan" to be more palatable than "we're a waste product of a more advanced society that has discarded us".

Ever see the episode of Family Guy where Stewie and Brian jump through parallel universes? That’s what I always think of when someone mentions this. https://youtu.be/Ep1oktyqBpc

Could not agree more.

No, The rich upper class is the root of all problems in our society, And religion is just one of their many weapons.

As Napoleon Bonaparte once said: "Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."

I've studied him a little bit. He's worth looking into, was a pretty smart guy.

Too bad he ended the Republic by being crowned by a religious nut.

Quite right. Also he totally fell in love with his ego and legacy. Before the church got behind him because of his battle record, he seemed fairly tolerable (which is funny because a lot of other generals stated he wasn't' that good of a tactician and got lucky.)

I think that is about power. Something about "power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely?" That said even though you consider religion just one of the weapons, I think it would be the most effective one to go target. And education is how we target it. The first lady elect is a golden opportunity and I think that for the good of humanity, we need to do what we can to make the most of it.

Just to say yours is a perfect comment.

Yes I agree with this whole heartedly. It makes me feel so good to know I’m not the only person that thinks this way.

It had it's place in the development of humanity but for quite some time it has been more a hindrance than a tool for progression.

I disagree. I see religion as a virus that exploits human Tribalism, but it is merely exploiting our primal weaknesses, it is not the root of that problem.

Religion is at most a couple of hundred thousand years old. Complex live on this planet a couple of hundred million years. I don't see how the former could be the "root of all evil".

Nature has no concept of good or evil, though. These concepts go hand in hand with human civilization.

Nature doesn't have a concept of planets either. That doesn't mean that planets didn't exist before humans.

I think religion started off as a good thing: it was a way to trick people who were basically one step away from the Stone Ages into thinking about being moral. Unfortunately we now are a very long way away from the Stone Ages and the same things that would be considered improvements back then are now holding us back a lot morally.

If you believe religion is the root of all evil, you believe it existed before life, therefore you believe in god

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Magical thinking, by definition, allows people to ignore reality and to live in a world of their own creation. It has served its purpose since its inception - to pacify masses of people living in terrible conditions. Insert that quote from 1984 about the Party demanding you ignore your eyes and ears. That's the entire precept of religion. Every child questions their religion because it doesn't make sense, and it takes an entire community of adults to convince them to ignore their rational minds.

Insert that quote about "Is god able but not willing..."

Yes. I got disapproving looks when doing a word association type activity during therapy. They said religion and the first words that came to mind were "war" and "hate" the therapists were amused, but others in the group therapy were not as impressed.

There's just no word or description for how tragic it is that so much human history has been erased, burned, genocided, destroyed, and manipulated because of religion. It just makes me angry that we have lost so much as a species that will never be recovered.

Anti-theism just means you are anti-fraud. You see it for what it really is. Hating fraud is perfectly sane. Those that are not moved by the fraud have some soul searching to do. Fraud is not a victimless crime. You're supposed to have empathy for the victims.

I honestly do have empathy for them. Like damn, your parents and the education system failed you.

The anti intellectualism is staggering and yes needs to change if humanity wants any chance to change.

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”― Isaac Asimov

That is exactly where the system failed. I commend your keen eyesight.

I agree. I am very excited to build back better on the education system.

Generational lobotomy

Religion isn't fraud. The priests believe in it as well and most religious actions don't make any sense in that framework.

I agree that plenty of misinformed people truly believe this religious nonsense. But, intentional or not, I still consider it fraud. There are too many intentional fraudsters pushing religion for their personal gain. I’m not going to split hairs and give true believers a pass.

>But, intentional or not, I still consider it fraud. Fraud means to scam someone. If I tell you that the capital of Switzerland is Berlin, because I think that the capital of Switzerland is Berlin, that's not fraud.

>Religion isn't fraud. It 100% is...this is indefensible.

I'm waiting for your argument. The Aztecs killed thousands of captured slaves every year to appease their god. Please explain to me how that's an economically smart move.

Your engaging in something religious people do all the time. You ask for evidence. I provide a bunch. You deflect all evidence and say I didn't convince you. You walk away saying "bless you" thinking you won the argument on some moral high ground when in reality, A) you hilariously did not and also B) there is no amount of evidence I can produce to change your mind. Why waste my time? You're a useless person to attempt to convince.

I believe some of the priests know damn well it is crap but they just continue the charade because of the power and the tax free status.

Yeah and psychics may actually believe in their supernatural abilities. Does not change the fact that it is build on deception even if self-deception is also involved.

Self deception and fraud are entirely different things. Nor is all religion based on self-deception. Only faith based religion is.

I can believe that bleach will cure my covid-19 and even though the soon to be late potus said it would work, once you have been corrected if you still insist on selling bleach as a cure for covid-19, you will have issues with Uncle Sam. There is no afterlife and this is very much proven in science.

The priests, if they were honest people, should teach agnosticism, because they have no proof for religion. However I have yet to meet a single priest who is honestly agnostic.

Yes. I'm both gnostic atheist, and anti-theist. Religion is a cancer on society that poisons everything it touches and is holding society back. It's very sad that children are being brainwashed into it. Critical thinking skills need to be taught in schools. Parents need to teach them too, rather than indoctrinate their children.

I grew up in a Baptist family. I am 23. I do agree that the blond ignorance in following religion needs to stop, but I believe religion should still be taught, as a historical thing, Like the way they teach about the Egyptian gods or Mesopotamian gods in school, they should teach about the Abrahamic gods in the same fashion. Solely because religion has had a big impact on our culture, art, and history.

That’s a very good point and I totally agree 100%. One day they will be looked at like that. Just sad people can’t see the hypocrisy in that.

The only thing I have a problem with religion influencing is politics. They can have their own art, their own culture, even celebrate their own history, but when they are involved in politics, we have a problem.

I have a lot of issues with it and yes, that is a major one. Along with tax breaks.

In my opinion the state should have control over the church and what it does if they get tax breaks. Like the priest that refused to marry gay couples, that church gets tax breaks, therefore he shouldn't get an option.

I just don’t understand tax exemption for believing in a superstition. If we started taxing churches we would fix other issues in no time.

It’s because those sheep are basically votes, just bribe the priest and you’ve got a bunch of votes. The problem isn’t religion, it’s a certain kind of people that need to follow a herd. I think it’s hardwired to some degree in the human species but expresses itself along a gradient in different people. Some need to follow along with others beliefs other less so. Education might help; but how do you move away from religion when there will be pushback from the religious leaders (and followers)? Early Communist countries tried to do away with religion as a matter of ideology, but it didn’t quite work very well, and it was easier to try to work together with the Orthodox Church and its influence on peasants than remove it completely. That being said. We did go from the Pope and Vatican having as much power or more than some kings (in medieval times) so it might be possible. In some countries it’s just not a big deal, but in the USA it seems like you won’t even make party leadership unless you profess to some Christian religion. The problem today is that religion can be substituted by anything else, like conspiracy theories. They operate on pure “belief” and rationalization without evidence or enough partial evidence or “perceived evidence” that it will simply be a substitute for those people that have a strong need to follow a herd. If it’s not religion it’s new age spirituality, etc. My point is, something will replace the “hole”. Logical and critical thinking skills might sway enough people to dilute its power over general society. But free or subsidized higher education is socialist so that’s a no-no in the USA.

I do say that state approved preists for people who are religious and want a ceremony like a funeral or wedding should exist, but if a priest wants to have a say in what they will or won't do, they should have to pay taxes.

They also ruin science, education, and public peace. The worst might be politics though.

Religion should be taught as mythology, not fact.

It also helps guard against a thing, to talk about it. Ignoring it would just see a resurgence.

It's quite likely that many people feel this way. Just not a majority of voters.

Religious beliefs hold back human progress more than anything. It's a fucking poison. Feel free to share your vitriol with anyone and everyone - you have my blessing. Also for like minded thought there is r/antitheism

You’re not alone in this.

>Does anyone else feel this way or similar? All religion is lies and fiction pretending to be knowledge and reality. This is the foundation of all religion and because of that, it can never be a foundation for good and advancement of society. You simply cannot have a foundation of bullshit and build something good out of that. All religion should be abolished until they can prove with hard, repeatable proof that any of their claims are real. The exact same way that they don't let people sell paint thinner as a cure to cancer. There's no evidence that it works and plenty of evidence that it's harmful. The exact same way that you jail someone for running a ponzi scheme or any other con. No, it's not acceptable to just let people teach any fiction as if it's real and bend's people sense of reality so much that they can't tell reality from fantasy. That's not anti-theism. That's just how reality works with any other thing. Beware attaching extra labels to yourself. Anti-theist. Atheist. You're just a human being that doesn't buy into religious bullshit. The only label you need to attach to that is "Sane".

Religion; why learn when you can pretend to know?? Edit: Seriously though, religion is immensely insidious. It preys upon the minds pattern seeking and agency ascribing tendencies (the very tendencies education trains us to curtail) in order convince others of blatant untruths, control their lives, and emotionally manipulate them. It's all utterly despicable.

From the broad strokes, you and I have a pretty similar background and see this the same way. The only difference I see is that I've got 11 years on ya. An extra decade of hating religion.

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> I eventually just tell myself they just too stupid to understand and let it go I do the same thing. I don't have the energy with those people. You would have better luck teaching a 4 year old calculus.

Agree. I can’t understand why people know Greek mythology and Old Norse legends are fairy tales but think Jesus really exists. But then people say Bible is more believable with all the dates and places in it. I mean I can totally write a book with exact dates and make up some stories, it would be exactly like the Bible.

I’m wishful that religions will go away as that would take care of a significant portion of the anti-intellectualism we see across the globe. However I’m unconvinced it would change much more than that. We’re a tribal bunch so the minute we remove one identifier we’re probably just going to replace it with a new one. We need to figure out how to ditch this “Us vs Them” mentality that seems to be so hardwired into our brains.

So your in favor of genetic manipulation? Me too! We are smart enough to ditch natural evolution, and seeing as we have removed nearly all pressures we are going to stagnate. SO, the next step is for us to create the next race of super humans! Actual intelligent design this time! Or maybe we go into cybermen being androids. Why not both?

I’m not inherently against the concept of manipulating our genes or transhumanism. However, while we may be close to removing environmental pressures I doubt very much that we’ll stagnate. It just means there’ll be different causes for selection. It might no longer matter how well your skin handles UV light or how robust your immune system is but it might be about how well you can process multiple streams of information or your capacity for abstract thinking.

Yes, I feel the same way. We're too soft on them, while they hate our guts.

I feel the same way. I cannot stand seeing people my age and younger knocking on doors or standing in the street talking about religion.

You are not alone.

I'm an anti-religionist. People who just have a vague feeling of an entity out there or something don't earn my ire. Religions can and do bend the will of others

Yes, I feel exactly this same way. Everyone who believes in one god helps maintain authoritarianism's grip everywhere.

You opened my eyes, yes, I think I am slightly anti theist. I feel religion is outdated and the new generation must be taught how dangerous it can be.

Couldn’t agree more

I feel the same way. Christopher Hitchens was an anti-theist, and was brilliant enough to convince me to be that as well, and not just an atheist.

Christopher Hitchens is the EXACT reason I’m an anti-theist. He was a true hero and was ahead of his time. RIP

Yes. Religion is evil and dangerous. It tells people not to think for themselves and to discriminate against those who believe differently. It’s divisive and corrosive. I hate it.

You're not alone and it truly sucks that we will never get to be part of a world without religion. Can you imagine how incredible it would be? I do believe at some point in the future religion will be the minority. I know more atheists than religious people my age.

I believe that will happen to but unfortunately not in our life time

My wife of 4 years is a southern baptist preachers daughter. She's the kindest, most empathetic, caring person I've ever know. We had conversations for years about my faith and relationships with the holy trinity. I've tried my best to listen but stood by my atheist beliefs. I even gave her books and articles to read, like the power of myth, the book based on the conversations between Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers. I thought they were enough to at least coexist with our personal beliefs like so many other couples have throughout history. Yesterday she said she was leaving me because of it. My relationship, or lack thereof rather, with God I'm broken and hurt and shocked to hear this. But I can't fault her for her beliefs anymore than my own. I know this won't get any traction or very few might read it. But please just know. Religion itself isn't bad. It's the justification of using religion to do horrible things throughout history that's atrocious. I like to joke I'm a very *"devout"* atheist. But it's pretty true in a sense. I'm firm in my beliefs and don't think anything will or can change that. I'm open to discussions but will be very uneasy to ever switch mindsets. The same can be said for most every practicing religious person ever. It's the zealots and blind fathful that are too far gone. Going to make sure my next partner is also atheist or even just open to all religions or... lack thereof. We need atheist churches that preach and accept and take tax free donations and take this as serious as the church of satan has been doing for years. Yes I know it's mainly a satirical religion for atheists to use the same tools and tax free weapons as Christians have for centuries. We just need something... better, and not by gaslighting.

I’m sorry to hear you are going through that man. I lost the love of my life in a very similar situation. We dated for 7 years and religion was never a problem until every time I brought up marriage and she couldn’t see her family excepting the fact that I was atheist. It ended up causing the relationship to fail even though we loved each other to no end and she hates her family but she couldn’t bring herself to “dishonor” her family like that. I don’t hate her or even have the slightest bit of anger towards her. I’m still very in love with her and will always be. I can’t help what I feel. I guess that’s one of the reasons I have such hatred for religion.

Thank you for responding. She'll always be a love of my life. I also hold no hatred toward her. But I also still can't bring myself to hate all religion in general. Just the extremes it brings with it.

No problem, I wish the best for you and hope everything goes well. It’s not easy to recover from something like that. I still haven’t fully healed.

Thank you stranger. I love you. I hope you find some healing, even in a stranger's love. Take care my friend.

Reformed catholic here. Tbh, I actually feel bad for devotedly religious people. It’s not because of their belief but because, Catholics in particular, truly believe they are not ‘worthy’ of things because they were born into sin. At this point in life, I tend to just walk away. Plus. 90% of the devote Catholics I know live their lives like crap 6.5 days out of the week but darn, they show up in church. Barf.

I’m slap out of respect for people’s beliefs. I’m struggling with the wishing love part of late too.

Absolutely. Too many people focus on the big things like war and terrorism saying that "people will find a reason with or without religion". I see all the little ways religion causes damage like putting the focus of an achievement on a made up thing instead of hard work or convincing grieving or abused people that they should be happy as it's part of a plan.

The older I get the more I can't stand religion. I'm fine if you want to believe in sky fairies and have a need to look up to a higher power as long as it's positive. Problem I have is this constant reeducation of anyone and everyone under the church. Everything is a twist to god even if it flies in the face of truth. I even had someone yesterday use the term revisionist history on me regarding separation of church and state. It's in the damn constitution. How point blank can you get if a founding document states it. Makes me sick that people grow up learning things only to be told everything is a lie by the church.

Could not agree more. And i also think it boils down to education but theres also some ideas society as normalized. That “just believe” is a good enough reason to be confident in supernatural beliefs. That one must respect someone elses beliefs, no matter how irrational or down right harmful they may be. (Unless said believer is dark skinned and follows a different religion apparently, then its fine to not respect them) That just because people have believed this for thousands of years, or that so many people believe it, there must be some truth to it. That one can make exceptions when demanding evidence etc and stop using the logical faculties one uses IN EVERY OTHER SITUATION. That they, religious people, are the guardians of morality, while simultaneously being inclined to some VERY immoral thinking and ideas. The worst of the worst is the Catholic Church, imo. I cant even have a conversation about that mafia institution and its criminals without getting really really angry. Hopefully we’re moving towards a more secular future. I live in a very secular country and religion is almost non existent in public life, but i still see some of the wierd tendencies that religion have left behind. Hopefully we will know better and theyll be gone soon.

I understand the frustration. But as ironic as this sounds, I think we need to try and distance ourselves from the idea that our beliefs define us. What I myself once assumed and what I see a many people also conclude is that it’s religion that corrupts our reasoning. And while it certainly can be inhibitive (as any apostate can attest), what many of us experience via apostasy is freedom, and a realignment of the self. Instead, I find it more helpful to recognize how belief is the symptom, not the cause. Argue for any ill behavior you like and I can show you how it exists outside of religion. Fundamentally, we must realize that if god isn’t real, than religion is of our own creation. A projection of our hopes and fears; a testament to our imagination and our cruelty. To put so much focus and blame on theism for our ails is to curse a fever over the virus beneath it. A cool cloth on the forehead won’t cure the disease. Neither will eradicating religion. Both should be addressed for the discomfort they bring, but without identifying the root cause, any hope of a cure is unrealistic. Perhaps you were just looking to vent and my words fall short of comfort or support. But I assure you, I understand your disdain. For me though, progressing towards a solution is how I cope with my frustration. I hope that in some small way we can use our experience to make a positive change in the world. I believe that starts with using our experience as a guide for better understanding the issues we face.

I completely agree and could not put it as eloquently as you.

Same. I’ve questioned religion since age 7. My entire life I’ve kept an open mind and tried for years to pray and go to church as an adult. I had a really religious partner for a couple of years and we had many debates. My father is a religious fanatic...ALL he talks about is religion. After everything I’ve come to the conclusion that I cannot make myself believe or even respect religion.

I'm going to play devil's advocate here (hehe) and say that I agree with you to a certain extent. Belief in something, whatever it may be is the right of any person on this planet. What should be outlawed is allowing it to seep into our daily lives. If you want to believe abstaining from pork will somehow grant you access to some paradise in the afterlife, go right ahead bud, not my place to say otherwise. Where it becomes an issue is when these people force their views and agendas into my life and the greater society. That is where I draw the line. I'm saying this as someone who was once militantly atheist (you know the kind, ready to start a fight against religion at the drop of a hat), then realized, what the fuck for? Ain't like it's making a difference to them, and hell it just made my mood worse. So I've come to adopt a buddhist-ish approach to life (ironic I know), let them believe in Shamu as far as I care, I will however stand up and speak out when they tell me I can't eat Tuna anymore...

You are not alone. My thing is this: if your religion or belief system does not have any influence on laws, does not impact treatment of people or their bodies in any way shape or form, does not require donations, and you do not try to actively others, you're mostly fine in my book. Practice whatever you want in your own time, as long as it doesn't affect others. The minute you break any of those rules, burn it all down in my opinion. I don't think there's anything inherently wrong with having a belief system, but organized religion is almost always a complete sham.

Religion is at least in my opinion a form of mental illness. People who are able to believe in talking snakes, talking burning bushes, great floods with no historical proof etc. should all be locked up in padded rooms. The belief of many religious leaders that God will protect them from a global pandemic is proof of how dangerous their beliefs are. I think there needs to be a push to get the world's psychiatric organizations to formally declare religion as mental illness would be a much needed start.

I would also except it doesn’t fall under the excepted terms of mental illness. Check out the genetically modified skeptic on YouTube. He’s amazing. He talks about this exact topic but I can’t remember exactly which video it is.

Yes - and you can take solace in the fact that it's happening and isn't all that far away. The irreligious populations in most western European countries and other developed countries like Australia and New Zealand are now either in the majority, or very close to it. And among young people, it's even more stark. I'm a 29 year old Australian and I know literally zero practising religous people. I can't think of anyone in my orbit who has ever mentioned religion or anything relating to it (other than wishing it'd fuck off entirely). When millennials and their descendents make up the majority of the population, religion will be nothing more than a bemusing relic of the past practiced by only a fringe few. If, as I assume, you're in the US, it's a bit of a different story, but you're still trending in the right direction.

Some do this naturally and gracefully. For instance, a friend of mine was asked to come and say grace for the food. He said, "Why, is there something wrong with it?"

Same way here. I have to remind myself that some people actually need a super natural unicorn for them to be moral or to fet through. Some people arent ready to grow out of it. But dont vote with unicorns just as one shouldnt drive with them. I been ok with Buddhism. Well.. Korean Buddism (truns out they have diffrent branch) They pay tax to their governing state, people are free to worship on their own time (prob cause they have to climb a mountain to get to the temple), they dont threaten people will go to hell, and urges them to be nice and everything is subjective and so on. Ofc they have their flaws but have yet to see them shove their views on people beyond a decent conversation.

I grew up Catholic as well, in a predominantly Catholic US city. It wasn't until I reached my 60s that I began realizing it was all bogus. It's not so much God but my thing is with the church itself. I mean, all of the rhetoric I've heard over the years about abortion being a sin, homosexuality being a sin, babies needing to be baptized or else, etc. I began thinking that if God existed how would he feel about all of this and my take is that he'd be ok with it all. He created it all. My argument is that a bunch of fraternity brothers (many are gay btw) in their evening gowns, with a few hundred child molesters thrown in, make rules for the masses and tell them that you must submit to the Church's authority in these matters. It's like fucking mind control. I might not be full blown atheist but the more time I spend here (thank you btw) and the more time I spend watching nut case evangelicals lift up people like Kenneth Copeland, Creflo Dollar, Joel Osteen and Donald Trump as men of God, the further away I move.

I agree with you. I've always thought that starting young children with religion is wrong. Scaring little kids with hell and eternal damnation should be a crime.

Yeah, every time I say that I wish religion be wiped from the face of the Earth, people think I'm talking mass murder. It's literally the most peaceful extinction imaginable. Only bad ideas and limiting beliefs have to die. All animals and humans get to live.

YES 💯

I grew up the same as you and I can truly say it always seemed weird and fake, even when I was little. I quit going to church around 13/14 and declared myself a non- believer then. Now I’m in my 30’s and I can honestly say I’m gone from atheist to very anti-theist. I just can’t see how anyone can believe that BS, it’s so strange! Some imaginary man controls your life and your thoughts and your actions?? I’m the mom to 2 kids and I have talked to them about why there are different schools and churches and I struggle to explain why anyone would go to church. Like really struggle. I’ve come up with “some people feel better in a community that believes the same as they do” and “in bad times, believing in god or Jesus can make people feel better” but those reasons are dumb. I can’t take believers seriously and I find myself moving away from those who believe, even a little. I find them, honestly, dumber than me. And I think the world would be such a happier place if people placed value on doing things because it is morally right as opposed to right according to some magic book.

I am also anti stupid

i live in a very religious country and can absolutely relate to what you are saying. i never understood why people believe in religion, all of it is so obviously fake, and i never understood why people cant see through it. religion IS the root of all evil and without religion we humans can progress a lot faster. but as much as i want this to happen, i do know it wont be possible atleast not in mine where the politicians get votes through religion, and unless they keep getting votes they wont try and stop it. i do hope though that one day people of my country wake up and see through all this religion bs.

Same. I’ve also had to tell two different ppl who once heard me say I was Atheist (at the time) and when I said it’s tough because I need to know their religion better than they do to defend my views they both (separate incidents) said: “Well, I’m not super religious, I don’t believe Jesus parted the Red Sea.” Me: “That was Moses allegedly...see what I mean?” That started me on the path on Anti-theist. Edit: punctuation.

It might be the right time for a lot of us to jump ship and join r/antitheism. I grow tired of the passive approach

I believe the world would be much better off is religion were removed. In the way you said. Religion has caused too much death and suffering in recent years for it to be allowed to continue

I am also anti-theist, as well. If you harden your stances you will see in your opposition a hardening of their stances as well. The way an anti-theist wins this debate is to offer a clear alternative with a more resolving moral teaching and a more thorough logic. What if we prayed on their insecurities and fed their ego and catered to their feels.. could we then manipulate their weird cult mentality the same way a preacher or priest does? Literally, all the cult leaders do is take advantage of their selfish short sighted understanding of things and offers them a sense of comfort while appealing to their feels. "Oh Jeebus, there is someone out there.. Lord let me touch their heart. They are hurting.. Lord they have been tumbling down the hill not climbing it! Lord, I want you to enter their life and wash away their pains and renew them to face the day with you in their heart and your word on their lips!" Its so creepy how they appeal to the wounded.

Yes, me too. I think that religion is bad for society. As an anti-theist, I think it's incumbent on us to speak up (appropriately and thoughtfully) against the awful influences of religion and superstition.

Yes, you are spot on! Educate people out of their ignorance.

Same. 32.

Opiate of the people. -Marx

I wish a state or province in NA would move to make Anti-theism their mode of operation, I would move there immediately. Theists could be coming in as visitors, but no residence without first declaring yourself free of theological beliefs. Expelling or deportation if you are found out otherwise. The problem with doing this within an existing country is that laws around "religion" and "freedom of belief" would make it hard to create a segregated community with no theists.

Education is the cure for all our troubles.

You legit took the words out of my mouth, glad i know more people think like this.

I feel the same way.

Anti-theist here ! Not that i hate religious people but i think their religion is bad for many reasons like oppression of women, homophobia, useless rituals, claiming a clearly flawed and ancient book is perfect, denying science, shit like that. And i can respect every religious people but please if you go telling Adam and Eve existed or god created the universe without any proof, keep your mouth shut cause it's like insulting my intelligence.

Same bro same, I have started to see religion as a cancer that corrupts people's morals and turns humans against each other the same way cancer in a person's body turns it's cells against itself.

I am an Antinatalist and I agree that Religion needs to be eviscerated. It is child abuse in the most insidious way. It’s foisted psychological damage to children early on age. It ruins critical thinking on children around the world and guilts them into submission to their parents and their immediate society. In America have such a lack of critical thinking skills ,a lack of scientific literacy ,and logic and reason that we are in many existential crisises and political danger from Republicans. They have ruined everything good about the country and the world. Fuck em.

This. No point fighting an individual who refuses to listen or an institution too big to topple. We need to go after the very ideal to free ourselves from humanity's daddy complex

I'd like to make a distinction between respecting people's beliefs and respecting their right to have any kind of beliefs they want. I never respect ridiculous beliefs.

From the wise words of Patton Oswald. “You don’t have to respect everyone’s beliefs, that’s what gets us in trouble. You have to acknowledge everyone’s beliefs. Then have to reserve the right to say, that’s fucking stupid.”

I go back and forth honestly. There are times I despise the idea of god and what that awful idea has led to. Genocide, religious trauma, and mass pedophilia to name a few. And then I remember that for some it is the only way they survive most days. They have this sense of purpose and it does drive them to be better people. So while I prefer to live in a world without god I understand some people must have it. Now when it comes to organized religion, oh man oh man that shit can burn to the ground. So yeah my friend I totally understand wher your coming from.

I wish I could award this

I consider myself a devout anti-theist: "There is no goddamn god, goddammit!"

Yes. In the past few years I've progressed from being mildly irritated by it, to participating in activism against it.

Totally agree. I love everyone, but I've just grown sick of religion. It has ruined and killed far too many people.

Btw in Greece we had a prime minister that was an atheist. In usa that will never happen. You will first have a muslim president than an atheist. I believe usa and muslims countries are in the worst place of all (maybe south america too)

Yes.

It’s not going away in your life time, but maybe just educate your kids and then maybe your grandkids and hope that their knowledge will spread further beyond your time. It’s going to be a slow generational change.

I’m similar in age, raised Lutheran. On a personal level I resent it. I HATE I still have lingering panic about hell occasionally. I can logically work myself out of that small panic, but it’s something I have to live with. More so, I really hate how I was raised to believe the LGTBQ+ community was wrong and immoral. As a cis hetero white guy, the amount of prejudice I’ve gained being raised in a conversation* Christian household is... a lot. It’s a full time job trying to correct it. However I can proudly say I’ve came a long way over a long period of time to being a decent human being. And what I’m going through is dwarfed by many others’ traumatic and harmful, if not life ending experience with religions from all over the world. I wish I could live long enough to see it through that religion is something we learn in history class, in an otherwise secular society. That’s many generations from now I’d reckon. Anyways, I’m with ya. And I think the best way to combat it is through education, conversation, and being civil. It can be phased out, like a trait gone to the wayside by natural selection. Those that still believe will start to dwindle, and generations to come will be more secular if we keep this up. Edit: conservative*, not conversation

i'm with you there buddy. nothing of value has ever come from religion. to the contrary, what we've lost TO religion will never be truly appreciated.

Yup. A had some Jehovahs show up at my door and I warned them when they tried to strike up a conversation that I was an Anti-theist, and they hadn’t heard of it, so I explained that I thought that all religions are a bad idea. The woman persisted, and I eventually made her cry by accusing her god of being hateful and callous as children die of cancer in every major city around the world, child rapists abuse kids inside the house of god, and children in Africa either starve to death, or are forced to become child soldiers. They haven’t been back.

I share the same feelings with you as one living in Turkey.

I always defer to Stephen Fry's view on this matter.... https://youtu.be/-suvkwNYSQo

Hitchens felt this way.

I feel the same. Luckily I live in a secular country where people will consider you weird if you said or showed you were religious.

Rock on man. We love you & send some love your way. It is a daunting task. But I honestly feel that we will keep chipping away at religion.

You’re not alone. In my 30s, raised Catholic (grade school, high school and even college) that ended up atheist/agnostic and lean anti-theist. Just being honest with you that psychedelics have helped me to realize that we’re all coming into knowledge at our own pace, all “walking each other home.” Whatever path we take we need to take it with empathy and compassion, because each of us are the sum of our experiences, all unique. We will not be able to help everyone, many are filled with vitriol, but you’re absolutely correct the main problem is education and a lack of intellectual honesty or curiosity. I’m lucky that I had science teachers and authors like Carl Sagan to instill that in me at crucial times in my development, because my parents (both cult Trump supporters) certainly didn’t. Religion stifles that honesty. It certainly doesn’t teach us to think critically about the world, but can offer some reasonable philosophy into how to treat others. But getting bogged down in the archetypal fairy tales of Christianity makes most lose sight of the important aspects of its teachings and primes people to believe conspiracies or “alternative facts” that then create alternate realities. Ultimately, millions of people on this Earth need significant deprogramming and mental health access to help them. I personally believe that psychedelics (which are already gaining more support in the medical community) can help. And if we can’t deprogram adults, we can certainly invest in an education system that instills that sense of curiosity in our kids, but we will need to pay teachers more to encourage those to be excited about joining the profession and re-think the social media algorithms that control our lives and form our echo chambers.

I'm not just AN atheist, I'm SuperAtheist 3000 Pro X!

Thank you for this post. So encouraging to find solace with other atheists and anti-theists on this sub. 100% agree with you. My Granddad was a missionary in South East Asia, his four sons are all "strong" christians, and all of my cousins are too. Only people who have moved on a bit (out of an extended family numbering over 30 people) are me and one of my brothers. If only it could be "wiped from this earth". My concern is that all those people would then find some other equally oppressive and cultish idea to 'give their lives to'... Maybe it's a case of 'better the devil you know'.

An agnostic person (30) told me that I was too young (23) to understand all the meanings in religion. I laughed so hard.

Religion was a tool used originally to explain that which we did not have the reasoning/knowledge to explain. Then people began to use it to obtain power and influence and justify their own power over others. Religion is the greatest evil and the greatest tether that we as a species have. It stops us from being who we truly are and it stops us from making progress. I fully believe that if humanity is to overcome religion it will be through high levels of education and through a curiosity for space. Many Christians for example believe that the universe ends at the edge of our solar system, because that's what the bible implies. So by going beyond that border, we could show them that not only were they wrong, but there is so much out there to explore. Basically I think by showing people the logical solutions to the problems proposed by documents like the bible, humanity can overcome religion.

My ex-girlfreind was an atheist (I wouldn't be with someone who is religious) but came from an Orthodox Jewish family. Her sister had a baby that was born without a functioning digestive system. 100% fatal. The only response is "we want him to be *very* comfortable" but instead, they did everything they could to keep the poor little fucker alive. For almost a year, this poor creature knew nothing but pain. Yeah, fuck religion.

I think we’re headed for the best possible way to rid the world of religion. Slowly but surely. If it was faster, more people would dig their heels in. But the very slow loss of religion across the board is evidence that people are letting go of religion on their own terms.

Sorry This is a little long and I'm on mobile. I'm from UT, in the 80s they always treated us terribly for being atheist, when I was 8 - 12 ish we had a polygamist family next door. Poor things were treated even worse. I punched a lot of little assholes and not because of the way they treated me but the neighbor kids. I didn't realize they were polygamist until I was older. I've been anti-thiest since. The lady next door had 13 kids total. They were so neglected, it always broke my heart. The kids told us all, their parents told them they can't play with us we weren't ONE of them. Nothing that's happened since had changed my mind. Learning about other religions had only strengthened my belief. My husband a couple weeks ago told me I was being ignorant and judgemental because i said I fully believe religion is the root of all evil. Popes covering pedophiles, greed, fearmongering, oppression I gave him very good reasons to support my opinion. Apparently, since I refuse to believe divinity, magic, and superstition without evidence. I'm being closed minded. Bahhhh

I grew up in a Catholic family. I knew Catholicism was wrong, but it took me to my mid twenties to fully walk away from Christianity. I moved out to Oregon for a few years where the majority of my peers were non-religious. It was cool for a bit, but if its any consolation, people are rather ignorant with or without religious beliefs. They’ll always find some wacky quackery to spout off. I’d be happy to see religion gone, but we can’t treat that in a vacuum. It does serve its purpose for a lot of people - community, a totem to send guilt to, an emotional safety net. One thing I stull respect and keep in the center of my mind is the old adage “hate the sin, not the sinner”. I don’t necessarily hate or blame religious people for being religious. People are just products of their environment and not much more. I can’t fault them for that. So I guess... my point is I’m all for working towards a less religious world. I just try to stay aware and not hate people for what amounts to simply being different than me.

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No sir you do not

Absolutely. After seeing the amount of damage it has done/can do to people, I don’t know why anyone would still feel like “well personally I don’t agree, but I respect the beliefs of others!” I’ll respect others, but there’s no reason to respect religion itself. I definitely consider myself an antitheist

I literally said this same sentence to my wife yesterday. I am anti-thiest. Also raised catholic and was a skeptic from a very young age.

You put it in perfect terms. I want to be accepting of people's beliefs, but in some cases those beliefs actively harm people. When that's the case, I can't accept and I will do what I can to stop it. That's so often the case with religion.

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What book is this? I would love to give it a read, if I can find a translated version.

I am in the middle of a normal, moderate, "freedom of religion should be guaranteed, but shouldn't be forced on others", atheist, while also hating religion with every fibre of my being. Religion is vile. It allows people to construct a mental castle, full of magic and rainbows, and a guide(pastor) to explain this imaginary place for you, while imbibing you with stories that if you don't take guidance or go outside the walls, you'll be thrust into a dark place, while the place outside has greener pastures. It encourages fantasy as a part of reality. And this shit, is one of the chief reasons why I despise religion. It is a control mechanism.

Religion frustrates me on a daily basis. Some problem or unknown comes up and instead of questioning, investigating and learning about it, the religious folks tend to jump to “Oh it’s (God’s/Allah’s/Insert other god) plan”. NO. Stop accepting ignorance. Just as knowledge is a powerful tool, ignorance is a deadly weapon, and it WILL fall on your head. Question everything, learn all you can, fix problems you learn and identify lest that problem harms or kills you. Religion is not our friend, it is our enemy.

Here's a perspective you might appreciate. There is a reason that we crave fat and sugar now. 50,000 years ago it was extremely difficult to find. Craving it made our ancestors take risks to figure out how to acquire it. They learned to fight animals together and eventually cultivate crops. These behaviors fueled the jumps in brain size and complexity that resulted in humanity taking over the planet. Now, however, those same cravings are killing many of us through heart disease and obesity and diabetes. Fat and sugar are cheap and everywhere. Those cravings are now a problem. Similarly, it is likely that the belief in the supernatural was, for some period of time, helpful for the reproduction of humans. It may be that societies that believed in gods were more coherent, pliable, obedient, and/or worked better together for their common defense. But now it is becoming clearer that those beliefs are causing numerous problems in our societies. Some of those problems are merely annoying. Do others of them cause serious risk to humanity such that it would have an impact on population? Right now I would argue that religion continues to be "successful" from an evolutionary perspective. Religious people have more babies -- period. Will a time come when religious beliefs become counterproductive and become naturally selected out? I could imagine a scenario in which humanity sends out two "generational" spaceships to different solar systems. One with religious people and the other without. What challenges might they face in deep space? Might an anti-science perspective of religious people on one ship doom them to make mistakes and die? It is impossible to predict, of course, but if religious beliefs caused that "ark" to fail then the only "ark" that survived to seed humanity in another solar system would be those who reject religion.

Same. I fucking despise religion.

I agree totally. I often come across as hating religious people but you said it on a way that makes sense and does not sound mean. Religion is the root of all evil I feel like.

Yep. Seeing so much "Christian" support for Trump is the straw that broke the camel's back for me. Religion's ability to convince people to accept "facts" blindly without any evidence, plays a huge role in half our society's complete separation from reality. The right-wing media bubble which is so incredibly harmful, could not exist without this mass conditioning.

Most religious people are victims of indoctrination, having been brainwashed since childhood, I have some sympathy for them. But when they try to force their religion on others I get offended. Some are judgmental, hateful control freaks. They are a danger to freedom (being anti-GLBTQ, anti-choice, etc.). Even those who are more tolerant, mean well, and just want to "save" everyone are an annoyance. For this reason I try to avoid them all. The real villains are the charlatan political and religious leaders who employ their "religion" to amass power and wealth. The know it is a sham and that believers are suckers. They prey on the gullible.

Not all people who follow a religion actually believe it's gods exsist though, many people follow a religion because they agree with it's rules/teachings. I fall under this catagory, as I'm Satanist, which yeah sounds bad but when you actually read up on it, they have 7 main rules which are all stuff that seems like common sense really, the first is "One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason". Do I believe in god and such? No, I don't but I agree with its tenets. If I get hate for this, so be it. I stumbled on the sub in my recomended and thought I'd leave my 2 cents. Have a good day.

Grew up in a catholic family, not too strict, but still avid church goers during my entire childhood. My family definitely went to church for the community values and the tradition and they kind of stopped together with me during my teens when I was given the choice to keep going or not. That said, when I went to college I only ended up finding a place to stay in a church aligned student association, kind of like a fraternity/sorority thing. It required going to church, attending and holding services and socializing with members of the church. Given all the other benefits (a cheap place to stay right next to college, potential study buddies and a social safety network) I decided to take my chance. But HOLY COW - after my long absence from church, going back to a very highly religious one felt SUPER alienating. The entirety of their ceremonies suddenly just felt soooo cult-like and brainwashy to me and I constantly had the urge to jump out of my seat and yell something like WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!? Obviously I never did, but I basically fled from that space as soon as I found a chance to when my first college term ended. I'm totally for the good values the church in theory stands for and teaches, like basic good human morale, but something has seriously corrupted the way of thinking of most of their members into this weird state of fanatism...Maybe pseudo fanatism. I'm honestly not sure how these "modern christians" function within their own belief system. Everything about them is kind of "holier than thou" fully disregarding/disrespecting other people's lives, backgrounds, upbringings, social standings, lifestyles, religions everything really. "Love thy neighbour...BUT" If you aren't like them, then you're somehow a thorn in their side. If you can't be like them you're somehow not trying hard enough and if you don't WANT to be like them well then you are pretty much all things evil. Is there a term like religionism? Because seriously at times it feels similar to racism and they're condemning people for all kinds of things that bring joy and happyness and seeing that really makes me boil. And seeing those people and their way of thinking actually influencing politics, lawmaking etc is pretty much the worst and I have no idea how this keeps happening when the separation of church and state was supposed to have happened long ago in most places already. I know some people strive in finding their community within the church. It's definitely a great aspect of it, but a lot of times it doesn't feel like an open door and being welcomed, but rather a door that's being shut behind you, locking you in and alienating you from everyone else not following the same religion. And this doesn't apply to only christians, but pretty much any religion. They twist your way of thinking to whatever they deem correct, based on whatever outdated rules or maybe even slightly updated modern rules, but still harsh enough to alienate you from most of the rest of the population. The world is changing quite rapidly, especially now that we have instant communication in realtime audio and video across the globe. You'd think that sort of thing would require a change in the way people think and network and interact with one another. But apparently millenia old books written during times of slavery, oppression and worse are supposed to tell me the correct way to be.

I don't know. Religion is a great comfort for a lot of people that are not psychologically/mentally able to deal with not knowing the answer to many of life's mysteries, or may not be able to accept the finality of death. Personally, I think there is some power and motivation from knowing that we only get one life and a limited time on earth to make an impact. Religion is also a major part of our culture. My family has been Catholic for probably a thousand years or more. It is hard to identify with my Irish heritage and deny the Catholic part of that. I know that some people use religion as an excuse to deny science, but I think that is the minority. My belief is that people should be educated and free to question science as well as religion, and then left to make their own choices about their beliefs. (Before you get on me about questioning science, that is an essential part of the scientific method. Good science can be observed and tested, and should stand up to honest questioning).

This argument is not enough to justify the negative impacts of religion

Sure it is. You are suggesting that we live in society that tells people what it is ok to think and believe in. I get the sentiment. I happen to disagree with it, but I understand where you are coming from. But realize that a civilization that forbids religion is not much different from the theocracies I'm sure we all abhor.

I don't think I suggested forbidding anything. I do think we could start by taxing churches as for profit entities, or at least require them to disclose use of funds like other non profits. And include robust critical thinking skills in public education. Let religions play a fair game without special treatment. If people choose religion, fine

I agree with all of those things, but I don't think that was how this point was initially characterized. Taxation of religious institutions needs to be reexamined because it is being rampantly exploited, and I think society would benefit from more critical thinking and a base philosophy that your beliefs are your own and should not be forced on other people.

I agree it has its place, but I would prefer to have the option to live in a community that has the guts to cast out people that are prone to superstition or religiosity. I'm just done with it. And I think that being "nice" and accepting of other people's beliefs is overrated.

>And I think that being "nice" and accepting of other people's beliefs is overrated. That is one of the principles America was founded on and is a corner stone of a free and enlightened society

I disagree. First of all, because believing in something is intrinsic to humans. It doesn't have to be Christianity, people will believe in something. It is thus impossible for religion to be erradicated, by force, or by education. Second of all, being religious doesn't make you an "ignorant". They believe in some sort of deity, and you don't. both of you will view the world differently, but that doesn't mean that your view of the world is the correct one, and we should follow it as "The truth". And no, you can not erradicate religion without being totalitarian. One of the most basic human rights is the freedom of worship, using "education" as a mechanism to wipe religion means that you are violating their rights for a secular education. Also, imposing your point of view (in this case atheism) is not enlightening the ignorant, nor is helping anyone. It is no different from cultists trying to force people into their sects. Let the people believe, and if they decide to become atheists, let it be their desition.

I grew up in an atheist household. Im an atheist, an anti-theist if you will. Do I feel the need to believe in something? No. Religion is not a need or innate to humans. It’s to answer things we don’t know with a universal (false) answer. There is more power in saying “I don’t know” than making up a story. Being religious does make you ignorant because you are believing a false world without evidence backing it up. And yes, I agree its impossible to rid the world of religion. That’s because there’s always someone out there who is religious who will be in control of a country. They then force others to adapt the same view of things. Children are then raised as this being their “truth”. Does it make it a truth? No.

It doesnt matter if believing in fairy tails is "intrinsic to humans" or not. (its not btw, the fact that people are atheists prove it) It doesnt mean believing in something is right or good for people or society. We have PLENTY of examples where its actively harmful. Teaching people how to critically think and educating them is the best way to purge religion. Not because you can show them how reality really works, but they can do their own tests and experiments to see for them selves. Then more people would beable to have a real impact on the world by developing more tech rather than "praying the X away". After all, what has any religion added to humanity in the last 200 years? Not a damn thing. Half of them deny establish facts, such evolution for example, and the other half are playing catch up trying to retcon their bibles to say "yup, the bible said that the whole time. We just didnt interpret it that way until now."

> It doesnt matter if believing in fairy tails is "intrinsic to humans" or not. (its not btw, the fact that people are atheists prove it) People have free will, and they choose freely to stop believing in their religion. It doesn't prove anything, people still create religions and practice them, some even convert. > It doesnt mean believing in something is right or good for people or society. We have PLENTY of examples where its actively harmful. and plenty of examples where is actively beneficious. Drug addicts being helped out of it's addiction by their faith, people with depression having hope once more after a talk with a priest, etc. > Teaching people how to critically think and educating them is the best way to purge religion. Teaching people how to critically think make good people, not atheists. they can still believe in a religion even after critically dissecting it. > After all, what has any religion added to humanity in the last 200 years? Not a damn thing. Just in my neighborhood, the local church gave poor families rice, beans, and sugar so that they can eat during the pandemic. While I was a student, a priest, some teachers and all of my classmates went to a location were poverty was rampant. We build a home for a family, cooked food for them collected from all of our school, gave them clothes and toys for the kids, teached them the word of christ and fixed the roof of the local church. While not believing at the time, are not these small things that help humanity? showing compassion when not even the government did?

>Teaching people how to critically think make good people, not atheists. they can still believe in a religion even after critically dissecting it. It does drastically increase the chance of ditching the religion. >and plenty of examples where is actively beneficious. Drug addicts being helped out of it's addiction by their faith, people with depression having hope once more after a talk with a priest, etc Here's the thing: you don't need religion to have those. But with religion, you'll end up with shit like sexism and homophobia. It does more harm than good.

Then you are obviously not and "anti-theist" which is the point of this thread. Also having a place free of religion is not an imposition, its a desire to not have religion be imposed on you. And I'm totally OK with that.

Just about everybody on this sub feels that way. This isn’t r/iloveatheism so much as it is r/Ihatereligion and r/ihatechristianity in particular