David Silberstein <davids at kithrup.com> writes: > On 27 Nov 2002, David Dyer-Bennet wrote: > > > > >I object strenuously to the whole concept of religion, spirituality, > >etc. It's superstitious nonsense, and hurts people, and destroys > >great civilizations. > > > > Eh. I sometimes think this, but I am less certain than you are. > > The way I would re-phrase your statement is that cruelty and wilfull > stupidity hurt people, and that all too often religion is used as an > excuse to commit cruel and stupid acts. > > But religion or spirituality is just a way of thinking and/or feeling > about the universe. It may not the "best" way to think or feel about > the universe, but it can just as easily be neutral or positive as > negative in its effects. Religion introduces the infinite into the discussion. It takes the discussion outside of human scale. This leads to all sorts of unavoidable human mistakes -- we can't think meaningfully at that scale. > If religion is harmful, does it necessarily follow that the absence of > religion is beneficial? Relatively, yes. For me the real bottom-line argument is that religion, any religion, is *false*. Basing your life on a falsehood is bad. > The usual counterexample, by the way, to "religion considered harmful" > is Josef Stalin - a non-religious man, he believed in himself, and in > his right to kill or imprison anyone who disagreed with him. *shrug* > Damned if you do and damned if you don't. At least nobody thought they'd go to hell for killing him -- just to prison for being caught trying. -- David Dyer-Bennet, dd-b at dd-b.net / http://www.dd-b.net/dd-b/ John Dyer-Bennet 1915-2002 Memorial Site http://john.dyer-bennet.net Dragaera mailing lists, see http://dragaera.info