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What US society is struggling with is what to replace church with. It provided community and mutual support, but combined it with a myth that many could not acc

What US society is struggling with is what to replace church with. It provided community and mutual support, but combined it with a myth that many could not accept any longer. The big question is what can provide the community and mutual support without the binding myth. There hasn't been a replacement thus far that has taken hold. Also, the combination of online life and recently the pandemic has weakened what local community life still exists.

medium_burrito 6y ago
If our population was better educated, I feel like togas, buggery and acropolises could be a real option. Not more degrees, but well read- history, philosophy, religious literature, science shit, etc. Also, the whole wokespeak has seriously destroyed public discourse- not just from the right but on the left.
- thephyber 6y ago
  I don’t think generic education / knowledge completely fixes it. Without level-headed critical thinking of all knowledge and teachings, there will always be “sacred” ideas that are culturally off-limits of criticism. Also, “wokespeak” (to the extent that it is a new thing) seems remarkably similar to older concepts of tribe signaling and religions (where members use common terminology and symbols to define in-groups and to declare out groups heretics). I’m happy that the big legacy religions are losing mindshare, but pretending like pure abstract intelligent discussion is a direct replacement confuses why people return to church, temple, etc. Humans seem to crave tradition of conventions, emotional connection with their community, and a reason to bind together for assistance. I haven’t heard a proposal which replaces the church community without reproducing the worst aspects of legacy religions.
koboll 6y ago
>There hasn't been a replacement thus far that has taken hold. The replacement is social media. Is it a good replacement? Absolutely not.
- medium_burrito 6y ago
  You know, it makes me think of William Gibson's idea of Slitscan: “[Slitscan's audience] is best visualized as a vicious, lazy, profoundly ignorant, perpetually hungry organism craving the warm god-flesh of the anointed. Personally I like to imagine something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, Laney, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections.”
p1mrx 6y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Assembly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Assembly is a reasonable attempt... or at least it was when people could actually meet in places.

medium_burrito 6y ago

If our population was better educated, I feel like togas, buggery and acropolises could be a real option. Not more degrees, but well read- history, philosophy, religious literature, science shit, etc. Also, the whole wokespeak has seriously destroyed public discourse- not just from the right but on the left.

thephyber 6y ago
I don’t think generic education / knowledge completely fixes it. Without level-headed critical thinking of all knowledge and teachings, there will always be “sacred” ideas that are culturally off-limits of criticism. Also, “wokespeak” (to the extent that it is a new thing) seems remarkably similar to older concepts of tribe signaling and religions (where members use common terminology and symbols to define in-groups and to declare out groups heretics). I’m happy that the big legacy religions are losing mindshare, but pretending like pure abstract intelligent discussion is a direct replacement confuses why people return to church, temple, etc. Humans seem to crave tradition of conventions, emotional connection with their community, and a reason to bind together for assistance. I haven’t heard a proposal which replaces the church community without reproducing the worst aspects of legacy religions.

koboll 6y ago

>There hasn't been a replacement thus far that has taken hold. The replacement is social media. Is it a good replacement? Absolutely not.

medium_burrito 6y ago
You know, it makes me think of William Gibson's idea of Slitscan: “[Slitscan's audience] is best visualized as a vicious, lazy, profoundly ignorant, perpetually hungry organism craving the warm god-flesh of the anointed. Personally I like to imagine something the size of a baby hippo, the color of a week-old boiled potato, that lives by itself, in the dark, in a double-wide on the outskirts of Topeka. It's covered with eyes and it sweats constantly. The sweat runs into those eyes and makes them sting. It has no mouth, Laney, no genitals, and can only express its mute extremes of murderous rage and infantile desire by changing the channels on a universal remote. Or by voting in presidential elections.”

p1mrx 6y ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Assembly https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunday_Assembly is a reasonable attempt... or at least it was when people could actually meet in places.