[ExI] No gods, no meaning?

[Ben Zaiboc]

On 24/04/2020 18:16, Jason Resch wrote:
Various things.


The problem is, the very nature of religion is about control, not 
figuring things out. Religions are about prescriptions and 
proscriptions. You have to do this, you can't do that. You must believe 
this, you can't question that. That's one problem, rather. Another one 
is that science is about /finding out/. Religion is about /believing/. 
In science, evidence is king. In religion, evidence is the enemy.

You can say that the word 'god' can mean a lot of different things. 
Fine. Sell that to the religious folks, see how far you get. All the 
things you mention might (or might not) be reasonable, but none of them 
are any reason to worship, obey a set of commandments, or otherwise bow 
down and accept unquestioningly what some priest or ancient book tells 
you. And /that/ is what religion is about.

If you, or anyone else, wants to start a religion that's not about power 
and control, doesn't assert that magic (the supernatural) is real, that 
doesn't care who you have sex with or what you eat or wear, and doesn't 
tell you that you must believe certain things without question, great. 
Go ahead. I might even join it (of course, I'm already a member, on 
account of being an Omnitheist :D ). But I'd have to ask, what makes it 
a 'religion'?

PS Please don't CC your replies to the list, to my email address. 
There's no need, and it's annoying. Thanks.

-- 
Ben Zaiboc

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