The issue is "The Family"...not "religion".

[SheilaT]

30. Sometimes there is a very fuzzy line between religion in general

and some toxic expression of it, such as an organization like the Family.

My problem with religion in general is that at some level religion does say: If you do not believe this you are wrong. Or: If you do not believe this you are damned forever. Or: If you do not believe this I am perfectly justified in killing you, raping your women, and enslaving your children.

Another issue that I think has never really been addressed is that while reading the Bible in and of itself is not at all a bad thing, there is simply no sustained narrative there, and anyone who constantly falls back on it for advice of any kind, never ever deals with complex thinking. The inclination to quote some verse or another as if that perfectly covers every aspect of some problem or issue is (in my very humble opinion) at the heart of such things as climate denial. If everything that matters can be stated in 25 words or less, then you have absolutely no way of understanding or evaluating anything of even minimal complexity.

And so I come to religion in general. With all sincere due respect to believers -- of whom there are many here on DU -- there is still the short-attention span holy book and the inclination to simplify all issues and problems. One solution fixes all problems: believe and the deity will make it all well.

Few things make me crazier than reading something -- and it shows up here all too often -- asking us either to pray for someone or to thank god that someone survived some catastrophe. Good medical help is what an ill or wounded person needs. And for everyone who survives some catastrophe there are others who don't. So the god is a sadistic brute who revels in creating misery and destruction, whimsically sparing a few. Not what I want to align myself with.