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I can never understand why religious people can be so insecure about their religion. If you believe that the all-powerful creator of the universe is on your sid

I can never understand why religious people can be so insecure about their religion. If you believe that the all-powerful creator of the universe is on your side, why would you care in the slightest about some movie?

atennapel 7y ago
Because the all-powered creator will not stop the movie, which I guess shows the weakness of the god. So they have to act for him instead.
- btmorex 7y ago
  What makes you think that God didn't find the movie funny?
  - atennapel 7y ago
    Well some of his followers certainly thought that.
LifeLiverTransp 7y ago
Because if some modern author can make up a fantasy universe, so can a prehistoric one- and when its all a fairytale, nothing you anchored your life around is not flimsy.
knolax 7y ago
Presumably, that all-powerful creator judges not just the individual but entire societies by their actions, so by allowing such films to be made the religious might become guilty by association.
kleton 7y ago
Is it hard to understand defending your society's values?
- ajmurmann 7y ago
  What values are being attacked by the movie? The movie doesn't make any claim to be factual.
- mikeash 7y ago
  When an omniscient and omnipotent entity is on your side, yes.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
Religion is about belief. Organised religion is about control. Heresy was just as serious as blasphemy - both could get you executed. Can't have people saying anything against the church, they might start to question their tithes.
ttul 7y ago
My take is that religious people protest in this way go show their membership in and loyalty to their tribe. It’s for this reason that Jehovah’s Witnesses preach on the street corner as well. They know they won’t change anyone’s mind. But the action of standing up for their beliefs makes them feel like part of something. Part of their tribe.
newnewpdro 7y ago
It's a lot less frustrating to not bother reasoning about the actions of irrational people.
pacala 7y ago
There is something to be said about the certitude of the cynical nihilist. There is no such thing as beauty, or good, or truth. Anything goes, who am I to tell anyone anything about values? They might become a better person for it, the horror. Who am I to tell myself, my spouse, my children, my brother and sister, my neighbor what I believe is beautiful, is good or is true? Let us drift through the valley of sorrow carried by the whims of the collective fads, sporadically titillating our biological pleasure centers to get some relief. Utopia dawn upon us, any moment now.
pentae 7y ago
The same way that the ideologues on the left and right are so insecure about their politics. It's an attack on your ideology.
mb_72 7y ago
It's similar to a trademark - if you don't defend any even small slight or 'misuse', it becomes worthless and meaningless. Apparently.
slim 7y ago
it's about ego. if you insult my god, you are insulting me. what you are telling me implicitly is that you don't respect me, you don't care about me and my feelings. religion is an identity. it works for any identity not just religions : country, ethnicity, language and even football team.
- Koshkin 7y ago
  True; note also that the personal ego is a social phenomenon, like much of the human consciousness, and it gets amplified proportionally to the size and the strength of the community.
  - LocalH 7y ago
    This is also the main reason psychedelics are illegal in many areas, in my opinion. Society benefits from that ego being nice and protected, and psychedelics have a way of breaking the ego down and reconstructing it slightly differently.
fsloth 7y ago
Because the critical component in organized religions is social control, and one of the most critical factors in social control is maintaining the 'social proof field'. If everyone believes something it enhances the belief, but if there are non believers they diminish the social proof field in the vicinity of their social graph. Alone these 'heretics' are not a threat, but as soon as two get together it's no longer about one lunatic deviant who you can ignore, but a social phenomenon. The more you have heretics the stronger their social proof field becomes, enticing people away. Religions are much more understandable as social movement and political constructs that lean heavily on propaganda rather than as methods of investigation into the nature of reality.
natch 7y ago
I think for many of them, though not all, a secret they would never admit is that they don't really know whether they believe or not. And some simply do not believe, but would not want to admit that because it would be embarrassing given all they have said in the past. And I think these people very much want to believe, so they resent anything that tries to tug them away from delusion. But they still cry at funerals.
buboard 7y ago
> I can never understand They can't understand either
basementcat 7y ago
They ban films and books for the same reason that some authorities may ban articles and images of certain events that took place at Tiananmen Square in 1989.

atennapel 7y ago

Because the all-powered creator will not stop the movie, which I guess shows the weakness of the god. So they have to act for him instead.

btmorex 7y ago
What makes you think that God didn't find the movie funny?
- atennapel 7y ago
  Well some of his followers certainly thought that.

LifeLiverTransp 7y ago

Because if some modern author can make up a fantasy universe, so can a prehistoric one- and when its all a fairytale, nothing you anchored your life around is not flimsy.

knolax 7y ago

Presumably, that all-powerful creator judges not just the individual but entire societies by their actions, so by allowing such films to be made the religious might become guilty by association.

kleton 7y ago

Is it hard to understand defending your society's values?

ajmurmann 7y ago
What values are being attacked by the movie? The movie doesn't make any claim to be factual.
mikeash 7y ago
When an omniscient and omnipotent entity is on your side, yes.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

Religion is about belief. Organised religion is about control. Heresy was just as serious as blasphemy - both could get you executed. Can't have people saying anything against the church, they might start to question their tithes.

ttul 7y ago

My take is that religious people protest in this way go show their membership in and loyalty to their tribe. It’s for this reason that Jehovah’s Witnesses preach on the street corner as well. They know they won’t change anyone’s mind. But the action of standing up for their beliefs makes them feel like part of something. Part of their tribe.

newnewpdro 7y ago

It's a lot less frustrating to not bother reasoning about the actions of irrational people.

pacala 7y ago

There is something to be said about the certitude of the cynical nihilist. There is no such thing as beauty, or good, or truth. Anything goes, who am I to tell anyone anything about values? They might become a better person for it, the horror. Who am I to tell myself, my spouse, my children, my brother and sister, my neighbor what I believe is beautiful, is good or is true? Let us drift through the valley of sorrow carried by the whims of the collective fads, sporadically titillating our biological pleasure centers to get some relief. Utopia dawn upon us, any moment now.

pentae 7y ago

The same way that the ideologues on the left and right are so insecure about their politics. It's an attack on your ideology.

mb_72 7y ago

It's similar to a trademark - if you don't defend any even small slight or 'misuse', it becomes worthless and meaningless. Apparently.

slim 7y ago

it's about ego. if you insult my god, you are insulting me. what you are telling me implicitly is that you don't respect me, you don't care about me and my feelings. religion is an identity. it works for any identity not just religions : country, ethnicity, language and even football team.

Koshkin 7y ago
True; note also that the personal ego is a social phenomenon, like much of the human consciousness, and it gets amplified proportionally to the size and the strength of the community.
- LocalH 7y ago
  This is also the main reason psychedelics are illegal in many areas, in my opinion. Society benefits from that ego being nice and protected, and psychedelics have a way of breaking the ego down and reconstructing it slightly differently.

fsloth 7y ago

Because the critical component in organized religions is social control, and one of the most critical factors in social control is maintaining the 'social proof field'. If everyone believes something it enhances the belief, but if there are non believers they diminish the social proof field in the vicinity of their social graph. Alone these 'heretics' are not a threat, but as soon as two get together it's no longer about one lunatic deviant who you can ignore, but a social phenomenon. The more you have heretics the stronger their social proof field becomes, enticing people away. Religions are much more understandable as social movement and political constructs that lean heavily on propaganda rather than as methods of investigation into the nature of reality.

natch 7y ago

I think for many of them, though not all, a secret they would never admit is that they don't really know whether they believe or not. And some simply do not believe, but would not want to admit that because it would be embarrassing given all they have said in the past. And I think these people very much want to believe, so they resent anything that tries to tug them away from delusion. But they still cry at funerals.

buboard 7y ago

> I can never understand They can't understand either

basementcat 7y ago

They ban films and books for the same reason that some authorities may ban articles and images of certain events that took place at Tiananmen Square in 1989.