Any belief system? And yet I bet you value freedom over slavery, wisdom over ignorance and compassion over brutality. That’s a belief system, despite not being a religion.
If the majority says, no we want to be able to control other human beings, these people will reinact slavery. From a society point of view though we see that its not a working model anymore.
A real believe system can't be argued with. You believe in this god? This god says x and thats why you do things? Okay thats it. You don't even question were this information even came from.
If we delete all religion tomorrow and science, there is a realistic chance that the society rediscover the same existing rules like math and gravity, but religions might appear again but with different names, different rules etc.
I can change your mind with logic and arguments if its not a believe system, i can't do that with religion.
Wisdom over ignorance: The chance of survival is higher with wisdom
Compassion over brutality: This is just basic Game theory
What may make sense for you individually may also be empirically proven to be detrimental to the whole.
The new testament contrasts with the old, the gospel is one of tolerance and equality. It's a big part of why you have the rights that you do, as do women.
That said a lot of what you're saying can be ascribed to religious institutions and sects and individuals and specific churches. But your general prescription is like saying "this logical axiom is evil because XYZ ascribes to it and they are also evil".
You also have a belief system -- that people who believe in God do so because they don't question their beliefs, that religious people are only led by dogma. Yet your belief is wrong. Have you tried questioning it?
> but religions might appear again but with different names, different rules etc
Religions and scripture spread also evolutionarily. Christianity is popular because it is rooted in many truths.
> Compassion over brutality: This is just basic Game theory
And the game has been played.
Its just a control structure from the church without education.
Its probably even because of missing education. Educate people properly and they can handle "Fornication culture".
I don't have a believe system. I have a theory why people believe in gods and religions. We have evidence for it. People studied the origin of religions:
"It evolved from humanity's psychological and social needs, primarily our desire to make sense of the natural world, cope with the fear of death, and foster community cooperation."
We know how little people knew when religion started to emerge. Never seen space, never seen above a cloud besides a few poeople going up mountains. Thunder was not understood. Between 1400-1700 we had witch trials.
It is dogma. What is your argument against dogma?
"Christianity is popular because it is rooted in many truths." were is your argument for this? Its popular due to luck, power and wars. Missionaries as well and especially probably the most critical thing: Early indoctrination.
>> Compassion over brutality: This is just basic Game theory > And the game has been played.
Yes exactly. Compassion wins because its better, not because religion says so. Its an evolutionary win.
ok
"and any kind of believe system hurts our society and divides us."
People shouldn't believe anything?
Disagreement and conflict are natural. How we handle these disagreements while striving for widespread peace and prosperity is the question.
There is no inherant issue with this. in contrary it makes me mentally stronger.
I can choose on my own terms if/when i want to end my life. If i get very sick, i don't have to hope for a god or priests blessing to end my life, i will just do it.
But religion is different: if you believe that homosexuality is wrong due to your religion, there is nothing i can argue about. Your priest told you this based on some book or story from 2000 years ago and you do not question this.
I know plenty of strong christians and muslism in germany who do not like homosexual people. And its dividing our society.
You believe that you don't believe.
> But religion is different: if you believe that homosexuality is wrong due to your religion, there is nothing i can argue about. Your priest told you this based on some book or story from 2000 years ago and you do not question this.
This isn't the Church doctrine. The Church doesn't target homosexuals or even homosexuality in particular but ALL sexual practices that deviates from the unitive and procreative aspects of human sexuality. Christians don't believe in this because a book written thousands of years ago say so but because deep in their souls it makes sense and is the truth for them. Homosexuals are welcome on the Church as any other sinner what is ridiculous is to expect the Church to condone sins and bless sinful relationships be them homosexual or heterosexual.
> I know plenty of strong christians and muslism in germany who do not like homosexual people. And its dividing our society.
Perhaps it is something else that divides.
There is also a clear definition for it:
"Believing is the mental act of accepting something as true, real, or correct, often without requiring absolute, physical proof."
I'm absolutly fine saying that I don't know something. I do not know a god exist, or multiply etc. But honestly that question comes down to me more like "Does randomess exist".
Yes its absoutly a religios thing that homosexuality is bad. You call it yourself 'sinful relationship'. Its not a sin just because church doesn't like it. Also plenty of religions are responsible for making it a sin outside of religion.
And yes if the church condonse all sexual practices, it does include homosexuality and makes it a church doctrine.
Sorry mate, but that's just cultural indoctrination that made them feel that way, and the culture is intimately tied to the book.
The church creates a believe system which indoctrinates all of us and took our cultures away.
The germanic tribes were believers in nature, church removed all of this.
Church also doesn't see woman as equal.
Just because they might sometimes also say postive things or things we might align, doesn't mean i need their oppinion. And especially not on hn
The point is that times change, and institutions change, and holding grudges for long ago sins and policies is ineffective.
1990 there were nearly 60 Million people in the church in germany (nearly everyone) now we are down to under 40 Million which crossed the line of 50%
This is real tangable progress.
The only downside is, that we do not sit together and formulate something which might give people hold who are not ready to be self stable mentally and might need something like this. And we also do not try to align together on rituals which help us to live better together.
I'm also still affected by the indoctrination of the church. As you can see, i argue against church not just because I like to argue, but because i really really hate religion and especially the christian church in germany, due to my own values and experience. This is not old i'm only 36.
This weekend I upgraded the PC of a church lady who has about a 10-year old mini-PC, so now it has the latest Windows 11. This was not easy, it was a shambles of Windows 10 combined literally with amounts of older Windows 11. From which auto-updates would take it no further. OTOH on the bright side autoupdates could do no further damage.
I attribute all success to a miracle, considering there is only 32GB of soldered-in drive space and 4GB memory :\
I don't think it would have come to pass if it weren't for the Pope's smiling face appearing with delight each time I rebooted, when her PC's everyday desktop background picture came into view. This is where he is joining in with the tribal rhythms while visiting Africa, honoring their traditional culture while they honor his visit in their colorful regalia.
When you're dealing with anything that challenging, or more so, you need all the blessings and prayers you can get :)