Religion
In reply to the discussion: The Problem with Religious Moderates [View all]Lacipyt
(58 posts)The mistake in your question about the "following methods" you offer is that you assume they are the only two options available.
I stand firmly with Richard Baxter, a 17th century British clergyman, in his declaration, "In necessary things, unity; in doubtful things, liberty; in all things, charity."
You are right in that some people use religion to argue that one "needs" to do this because they believe "God" has ordered it, but such fanatacism is itself a problem, and whether the individual is offering an appeal to God, the state, or "progress," an absence of liberty is rarely something to celebrate.
But your "cosmic dictator decree" only affects others in situations with those who feel themselves a) appointed to make such declarations and b) feel it their responsibility to enforce such declarations. Reading itself is an act of interpretation, that some will take a fanatical approach to the letter of the law and not its spirit is hardly the sole property of religious zealots.
I would qualify your last statement that evolutionary theory is not used to support those ideas on the large scale that it once was, but on an individual basis, I think the practice is alive and well.