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I grew up in the southern United States and experienced all manner of churches. They’re universally bad. How many churches are you an expert on, exactly?

ranman 6y ago
Well I was raised by a famous “pastor” who traveled around and “preached” to both receptive and dismissive congregations across the US. I experienced more churches than most people. I’m telling you this whole Christianity thing is a scam. sudo apt-get remove religion It’s a mental cancer.
- wernercd 6y ago
  And you'll replace Christianity with what? Another religion? Atheism? Other religions have the same problems and Atheism is its own religion - requires faith to believe. Humans are religious beings... you won't get rid of it by only focusing on the negative aspects of your own experiences.
  - ben_w 6y ago
    > Atheism is its own religion - requires faith to believe. Atheism is two (or more) different things. It is both the active belief in the non-existence of any God, and also the passive lack of any belief in any God. It’s not like I have to have active faith in the non-existence of Quetzalcoatl to have no interest in worshiping that deity. And I’m saying this as someone who went from Catholicism via Wicca to something in the general area of Apatheism or Ignosticism.
    - brohee 6y ago
      > It is both the active belief in the non-existence of any God, and also the passive lack of any belief in any God. The second one would be agnosticism.
      - heinrich5991 6y ago
        > Atheism is, in the broadest sense, an absence of belief in the existence of deities.[1][2][3][4] Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist.[5][6] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atheism&oldid=969416710 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atheism&oldid=969...
      - ben_w 6y ago
        Agnosticism is that the existence or non-existence is unknowable, which is related but not quite the same, hence me specifying “Apatheism or Ignosticism” rather than Ietsism or Agnostic atheism.
  - john4534243 6y ago
    > And you'll replace Christianity with what? Another religion? Atheism? Religion is a disease like cancer and aids. You dont replace it with another disease. Atheism is the cure.
    - dang 6y ago
      Religious flamewar is not allowed on HN. Please don't post like this again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- juskrey 6y ago
  Look, you were raised by fraudster, to begin with, and have seen only fraud. The whole Western modern humanism (which we like so much) is based on Christianity.
  - fastball 6y ago
    Much of humanism can be traced back to a single idea, the "golden rule". The golden rule pre-dates Jesus by a fair margin.
  - henriquemaia 6y ago
    Yes, historically, Christianity's theological contribution was the idea of a god that cares equally for everyone. But western humanism goes beyond that (building upon) in that human life is valuable in itself, regardless of the social, economical and, the big innovation, religious/ideological stand of that particular individual. All of that is supported by philosophical arguments, giving western humanism a much older foundation than Christianity. So, succinctly, I would put like this: was Christianity a necessary condition for the development of western humanism? Yes. Was it sufficient? No. Bigger and better ideas were needed to make it what it is today.
    - juskrey 6y ago
      Sorry, who were all that Western humanists you are talking about and where (ideologically) did they come from?
      - henriquemaia 6y ago
        I can recommend an interesting podcast series covering that topic. Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps [^1]. Some of the series is already in book form, which goes into more depth than the podcast. [^1] https://historyofphilosophy.net/ https://historyofphilosophy.net/
    - rational_indian 6y ago
      > Yes, historically, Christianity's theological contribution was the idea of a god that cares equally for everyone. Only if you believe in him! The "caring" is not unconditional.
- john4534243 6y ago
  > I’m telling you this whole Christianity thing is a scam. Its not just Christianity, Hinduism and Islam are also bad.
- dang 6y ago
  Posting about your personal experience is fine, but religious flamewar is not ok and not allowed on HN. Please don't post like this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
AsyncAwait 6y ago
It doesn't take an expert to realize that a place where belief in irrational things is encouraged isn't amazing.

ranman 6y ago

Well I was raised by a famous “pastor” who traveled around and “preached” to both receptive and dismissive congregations across the US. I experienced more churches than most people. I’m telling you this whole Christianity thing is a scam. sudo apt-get remove religion It’s a mental cancer.

wernercd 6y ago
And you'll replace Christianity with what? Another religion? Atheism? Other religions have the same problems and Atheism is its own religion - requires faith to believe. Humans are religious beings... you won't get rid of it by only focusing on the negative aspects of your own experiences.
- ben_w 6y ago
  > Atheism is its own religion - requires faith to believe. Atheism is two (or more) different things. It is both the active belief in the non-existence of any God, and also the passive lack of any belief in any God. It’s not like I have to have active faith in the non-existence of Quetzalcoatl to have no interest in worshiping that deity. And I’m saying this as someone who went from Catholicism via Wicca to something in the general area of Apatheism or Ignosticism.
  - brohee 6y ago
    > It is both the active belief in the non-existence of any God, and also the passive lack of any belief in any God. The second one would be agnosticism.
    - heinrich5991 6y ago
      > Atheism is, in the broadest sense, an absence of belief in the existence of deities.[1][2][3][4] Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist.[5][6] https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atheism&oldid=969416710 https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Atheism&oldid=969...
    - ben_w 6y ago
      Agnosticism is that the existence or non-existence is unknowable, which is related but not quite the same, hence me specifying “Apatheism or Ignosticism” rather than Ietsism or Agnostic atheism.
- john4534243 6y ago
  > And you'll replace Christianity with what? Another religion? Atheism? Religion is a disease like cancer and aids. You dont replace it with another disease. Atheism is the cure.
  - dang 6y ago
    Religious flamewar is not allowed on HN. Please don't post like this again. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
juskrey 6y ago
Look, you were raised by fraudster, to begin with, and have seen only fraud. The whole Western modern humanism (which we like so much) is based on Christianity.
- fastball 6y ago
  Much of humanism can be traced back to a single idea, the "golden rule". The golden rule pre-dates Jesus by a fair margin.
- henriquemaia 6y ago
  Yes, historically, Christianity's theological contribution was the idea of a god that cares equally for everyone. But western humanism goes beyond that (building upon) in that human life is valuable in itself, regardless of the social, economical and, the big innovation, religious/ideological stand of that particular individual. All of that is supported by philosophical arguments, giving western humanism a much older foundation than Christianity. So, succinctly, I would put like this: was Christianity a necessary condition for the development of western humanism? Yes. Was it sufficient? No. Bigger and better ideas were needed to make it what it is today.
  - juskrey 6y ago
    Sorry, who were all that Western humanists you are talking about and where (ideologically) did they come from?
    - henriquemaia 6y ago
      I can recommend an interesting podcast series covering that topic. Peter Adamson's History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps [^1]. Some of the series is already in book form, which goes into more depth than the podcast. [^1] https://historyofphilosophy.net/ https://historyofphilosophy.net/
  - rational_indian 6y ago
    > Yes, historically, Christianity's theological contribution was the idea of a god that cares equally for everyone. Only if you believe in him! The "caring" is not unconditional.
john4534243 6y ago
> I’m telling you this whole Christianity thing is a scam. Its not just Christianity, Hinduism and Islam are also bad.
dang 6y ago
Posting about your personal experience is fine, but religious flamewar is not ok and not allowed on HN. Please don't post like this. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

AsyncAwait 6y ago

It doesn't take an expert to realize that a place where belief in irrational things is encouraged isn't amazing.