• Justaguymakingapost [he/him]@hexbear.net
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          1 year ago

          While yes, certain (sometimes large) parts of (usually) monotheistic religions are definitely incompatable with progress and human decency, that mostly comes down to, imo, extreme adherence to traditionalism and intellectual stagnation among the believers of those faiths. Now certainly, polytheism has , occasionally, given a lot of people a very bad time. But, and this may not be the best example, I don’t often hear about hinduism, shinto, or taoism being involved in human rights violations/ genocides. Now, I’m not as well informed on those as I should be, admittedly, but you can see what I mean.

          I agree that religion is partially responsible for the ever worsening state of the world, but it’s not, like, the root cause. Not every rich asshole thinks it was ordained by god for them to be a rich asshole, sometimes (most of the time, even) rich people are just assholes, usually because they’re rich. That may be an over simplification, but like, come on. In a world where traditionalism is less a rule and more a suggestion, religion could evolve properly and be less problematic, it’s just that, currently, that’s not going to happen.

          Idk if this is at all coherent; I’m just trying to say that defining religion as just EVIL isn’t the awesomely correct take you seem to think it is, imo.

          • IHadTwoCows@lemm.ee
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            1 year ago

            Hinduism is absolutely violent…it’s the basis of the caste system. Shinto is a religion in which there is no religious practice; it is basically just respect for nature and for known pioneers and geniuses of various disciplines. It exists alongside Buddhism, which is a philosophy more than a religion yet there are still violent and oppressive sects of Buddhism. Taoism is philosophical and based on enlightenment rather than serving any gods. It us often defined as a philosophy and not a religion at all.

            As for tradition: we have learned ad nauseum that religios tradition leads to destruction and death. I stand by my statement.