3 ms·
I'm not sure that religion is a good example. I mean, religion is quite openly a set of guidelines and rules that establish how a society should operate. Some r
by rualca 6y ago
I'm not sure that religion is a good example. I mean, religion is quite openly a set of guidelines and rules that establish how a society should operate. Some religious text books use parables as rhetoric devices to show scenarios that illustrate how behaviors harm or benefit society. Thus, we don't need the supernatural to be religious. It helps, but it's not necessary.
- inglor_cz 6y agoYeah, plus large swaths of land have grown irreligious in relative short timespans (< 100 years), indicating that religion is pretty vulnerable in the memetic war. Even in the Islamic world the number of secret atheists is growing. [0][1][2] It is not too hard to become disillusioned in faith if you witness entire countries pulverized in the name of God. [0] https://insidearabia.com/the-rise-of-atheism-in-morocco-and-beyond-in-the-arab-world/ https://insidearabia.com/the-rise-of-atheism-in-morocco-and-... [1] https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/1/atheists-in-muslim-world-growing-silent-minority/ https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/aug/1/atheists-in-... [2] https://thearabweekly.com/iraqs-growing-community-atheists-no-longer-peripheral https://thearabweekly.com/iraqs-growing-community-atheists-n...
- prawn 6y agoThe distinction from OP might've been "human created fictions"? That was my interpretation anyway. If you were all about the societal guidelines, would you find the idea that those parables were invented by humans inoffensive?
- rbanffy 6y agoThere are religious people and then there are those who believe the Earth is 5000 years old, and that humans lived along with dinosaurs prior to the Deluge. Whatever mechanisms that enable that kind of belief were useful in our evolution, but now are an existential threat to our species.