<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:comic sans ms,sans-serif;font-size:small;color:#000000">That religion is about control, being the authority, is exactly why the Chinese fight it. Religion is an enemy, another contestant for the hearts of the people. Look at the incredible influence the Roman church had for hundreds of years. Not only influencing politicians, but becoming politicians as well. Politicians had to bow to them. That this is not longer the case, for the most part, is a great and wonderful achievement for the human race. The church just got outrageous and got knocked around and then down. But not out. bill w</div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Fri, Apr 24, 2020 at 1:04 PM Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <<a href="mailto:extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org">extropy-chat@lists.extropy.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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On 24/04/2020 18:16, Jason Resch wrote:<br>
Various things.<br>
<br>
<br>
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 <i>finding out</i>. Religion
is about <i>believing</i>. In science, evidence is king. In
religion, evidence is the enemy.<br>
<br>
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 <i>that</i> is what religion is about.<br>
<br>
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'?<br>
<br>
PS Please don't CC your replies to the list, to my email address.
There's no need, and it's annoying. Thanks.<br>
<pre cols="72">--
Ben Zaiboc</pre>
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