I gotta go with the Rabbi' comments on this one. I won't use words like vitriol and the like, but most of the suggestively aggressive points of view have come from folks who brush off traditional faith. There seems to be some who would discount the beliefs of many because of the failure of a few.
The problem is when the few are men of power and they fail the impact they have is great not small and there are numerous examples throughout history of the few being men of power. At the micro level the individual adherent of the numerous organized religions more often than not do their best to live within the tenets of their faith but those individuals in general have little influence on the power structure of their faiths. Thus
the few in power are the one's who make history not the many who are not. The concept of absolute power corrupting absolutely applies as much to religion as politics. When the leaders of a religion
fail the organization fails with it and it is the organization that gets the blame not the individual adherents.
I will allow for the fact that some of those comments are steeped in experiential realities. But an example of the falacy of that thinking might be described in this way: I had to jump out of the way of a reckless driver in a Corvette. Therefore everyone who drives a Corvette is reckless. Poor logic at best, a bad way to define one's position at worst.
If the discussion was about individual adherents in any given religion the analogy presented would be valid but we're not talking individuals we're talking organizations. It was the CATHOLIC church as an organization responsible for the inquisition. It was the Catholic Church that massacred Christians who didn't toe the line in Southern France in 1100's or there abouts. It is/was Catholics in N. Ireland and Protestants that killed each other over their religion. It is Islamists killing in the name of Allah spreading terror around the world. It was Christians that persecuted Mormons. It is Christians and Muslims that persecute Jews because of their religion.
It is the organization, the group that does the evil. The individuals perpetrating it are doing so at the behest of the organization or if not at it's behest then in spite of it and because the organization turns a blind eye - an organization led by a man or a few men who have failed to follow the tenets of their faith make the organization responsible for the actions of its adherents.
Take a good man and put him with another good man and what do you get. You get two good men. Put them together with a strong willed evil man and you have a 3 man mob at worst and an evil organization at best. Group dynamics are far different than those of the individual. When talking organized religion it is group dynamics that control behavior not the morality and values of the individual. Leaders know that and use it to control the group.
Good men in groups can be made to do bad things by strong leaders. AND way too often bad men end up controlling groups. AGAIN - it is no less true of religious organizations than any other.
To slander the earnest gentle faith of many because of the obvious failures of the few, makes one wonder about what sort of foundation they stand on to be able to lob those accusations. Perhaps "The pot calling the kettle black" is in fact an accurate descriptive adjective.
No one slandered the earnest faith of the many! Arguments were made for the failure of the organizations to live up to their ideals because of the failures of the few IN POWER who controlled the actions of the many.
Stop reading between the lines. Stop taking every statement personally. Think MACRO not micro.
I have been an apologist for my Christian faith many times on this forum and THR and maybe even TFL. I can't remember because I'm old and decrepit. But I'll defy anyone to find words that I have expressed "my way or the highway".
Find anywhere in either my or 280's posts in this thread where we said words to the effect of "my way or the highway".
Why is straight forward, blunt speech written with confidence so threatening to so many? I don't get it now and never have.
ALL THAT SAID:
My main problem with organized religion is not the evil it occasionally perpetrates but that it is an evolved and well developed social structure that has learned to MASTER it's adherents over the ages.
Religion tugs at the the emotional heart strings of the puppets that make up most of humanity instead of it's minds. It promises rewards and punishments none of which will happen in this lifetime but always in another be it reincarnation or an afterlife in heaven, hell, limbo or whatever.
Faith (which is little more than a positive spin way of saying wishfull thinking) is another method religion uses to control it's adherents. Again faith appeals to the heart and not the mind.
Why is appealing to the heart such a bad thing? Because in most cases evil can be undone by just thinking about the consequences of what evil desires. Evil knows that so it appeals to the hearts of people. Bypass the mind so folks don't get a chance to evaluate consequences. And - its easy because the rabble, the unwashed masses in general have neither the capacity nor the desire to THINK! Just pull an emotional heart string, gather 3 or more of them together, watch the show and enjoy the benefit. (think about anti-gunners and the techniques they use - do they appeal to their audience's hearts or their minds?)
The real world is a tough place to live and religion provides people hope that things can be better. But that hope is false HOPE in my opinion. People would be better off reacting to what happens in the known real world than hoping for a reward in a maybe afterlife. In short RELIGION is based on a lot of maybes when it is the here and now reality that counts. (in places where life isn't so tough the power of religion is diminished)
I'd be the first to admit though that many folk need those assurances concerning the maybes. Why? Beats me though I imagine HOPE is a powerful thing for those with nothing else.
Personally I believe that in a world populated by rational people whose world view is grounded in reality religion would disappear. Unfortunately too many people's world view isn't grounded in reality; instead its grounded in wishful thinking filled with ought'a be's and thus religion will be a part of human culture for a long time to come.
I don't have to like but I can sure be a lonely voice in the wilderness against it if I want.
