So can we trash religion on DU, NOW???

[Leith]

74. No

I usually keep quiet about religion on DU and in life. The truth is that I feel contempt bordering on hatred for it and it grinds down into my inner being to have to tolerate it.

However, many of the people who hold or held their religion near to their reason for existing consider it to be a source of comfort and guidance. My mother was such a person. I couldn't find it in me to counter her to her face because it terrified her that I was condemned to eternal damnation. She was old, very infirm, and had suffered from severe rheumatoid arthritis for 30 years before she died. A few months before she died, she called me, crying and begging me to go to church. I told her that I did not attend regularly, but I would try to step it up. Yes, it was a lie, but it got her off my back.

Similarly, many people who are religious or spiritual consider it to be a major foundation of who they are. I just can't allow myself to insult them for something that contributes to their happiness, well-being, and their way of getting through life. It's like telling them that they are stupid and illogical for loving their children.

That's not to say that I won't debate finer points of a belief system, but to trash people where they live is not what we should do - especially to political allies. Your fellow DUers are not at fault for the radical supreme court and they are not responsible for our loss of freedoms. In fact, they are our best and most stalwart allies. Don't chase them away.