![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Ive been seeing a lot of anti theist stuff around lately and it gets on my nerves.
It's just silly to me. Getting rid of religion doesn't actually solve bigotry because bigotry continues to exist even in atheist spaces. You can argue removing religion would lessen it to some extent, but that's just an assumption and frankly, it really only opens more opportunities to discriminate on people based on their religious beliefs. You can say you personally dont support this, but you cant really separate anti theism from what is at its core, cultural genocide. Even at its most charitable you are STILL denying people freedom to participate in their cultural practices.
Some people will argue that all religions have been used for evil at some point or the other, and that is true! But like... so has Every ideology and social structure. Presenting this as a problem with religion is very silly.
So ultimately the only thing antitheists really have against religion is the idea that any form of spirituality and superstition is Bad, and i also just dont think thats true. I think having your own personal metaphysical beliefs is fine actually. There are ways to approach that without disregarding material reality. A lot of spiritual people are agnostic about their practice, and I think so long as you can understand your spiritual beliefs are subjective and not some kind of objective truth, you will do perfectly fine.
Im not arguing all religious people do this, or even most of them. But religions are constantly evolving and there are people who already are like this, so clearly its not religion in and of itself thats the problem, but rather how you approach it.
Religion is also not something you can actually get rid of, because people find divinity in the weirdest of things and they will continue to do so. Religion is, in part, about seeking personal meaning, it is legitimately a need for some, so attempting to suppress it genuinely just causes problems and it also doesnt work.
Even if you look at religion as purely a social phenomenon, a coping mechanism.... whats wrong with that? We live in a weird universe. Some genuinely need that.
This isnt me arguing all religious beliefs should be accepted. Religion should never get in the way of material reality or be the source of your morality, and we should criticize shitty beliefs.But again, none of that is inherent to religious belief, its about letting religions grow and evolve like they always have. And its about allowing for people to find personal meaning, religiously or not.
It's just silly to me. Getting rid of religion doesn't actually solve bigotry because bigotry continues to exist even in atheist spaces. You can argue removing religion would lessen it to some extent, but that's just an assumption and frankly, it really only opens more opportunities to discriminate on people based on their religious beliefs. You can say you personally dont support this, but you cant really separate anti theism from what is at its core, cultural genocide. Even at its most charitable you are STILL denying people freedom to participate in their cultural practices.
Some people will argue that all religions have been used for evil at some point or the other, and that is true! But like... so has Every ideology and social structure. Presenting this as a problem with religion is very silly.
So ultimately the only thing antitheists really have against religion is the idea that any form of spirituality and superstition is Bad, and i also just dont think thats true. I think having your own personal metaphysical beliefs is fine actually. There are ways to approach that without disregarding material reality. A lot of spiritual people are agnostic about their practice, and I think so long as you can understand your spiritual beliefs are subjective and not some kind of objective truth, you will do perfectly fine.
Im not arguing all religious people do this, or even most of them. But religions are constantly evolving and there are people who already are like this, so clearly its not religion in and of itself thats the problem, but rather how you approach it.
Religion is also not something you can actually get rid of, because people find divinity in the weirdest of things and they will continue to do so. Religion is, in part, about seeking personal meaning, it is legitimately a need for some, so attempting to suppress it genuinely just causes problems and it also doesnt work.
Even if you look at religion as purely a social phenomenon, a coping mechanism.... whats wrong with that? We live in a weird universe. Some genuinely need that.
This isnt me arguing all religious beliefs should be accepted. Religion should never get in the way of material reality or be the source of your morality, and we should criticize shitty beliefs.But again, none of that is inherent to religious belief, its about letting religions grow and evolve like they always have. And its about allowing for people to find personal meaning, religiously or not.
