[ExI] Food for thought

[Emlyn]

>> I have a particularly jaundiced view of religions.  Most of you know why.
>>
>> Keith
>
> Keith, please don't think an organization such as the one you refer to is a
> worthy excuse for having a particularly negative view of religions in
> general.
>
>
> John Grigg

I think there is a definitional problem regarding "religion" in these arguments.

Generally, definitions of religion (by their followers primarily, and
what John is thinking of I think) would look like:

Religion = Metaphysics + Culture

Contrastingly, I think Atheists / secularists (and Keith's position
above) would say

Religion = Metaphysics

and

Metaphysics = Blatantly wrong and probably dangerous memetic infection

When we say "religion is wrong!", I think normal people often think
"hey, hands off my culture!" And fair enough, from their point of
view. There's really nothing wrong with culture itself.

So perhaps if we can disentangle the metaphysics from the culture, we
can communicate that the metaphysics is bad, but we have nothing
against the associated culture, and that might be received better.

OTOH, much of that culture falls down without the metaphysics to stand
on, so hey.

-- 
Emlyn

http://emlynoregan.com - my home
http://point7.wordpress.com - downshifting and ranting
http://speakingoffreedom.blogspot.com - video link feed of great talks
on eCulture