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xfundy

(5,105 posts)
8. "You apparently consider religious belief to be inherently harmful"
Tue Sep 3, 2013, 11:34 PM
Sep 2013

No, I don't. It doesn't affect me if another person believes in one or one thousand gods. It does affect me, though, when they want to put their religious beliefs into law, especially when they want to force others to accept it, get punished by it, and/or have to pretend to believe in it in order to live their lives without harassment or threats of beatings and/or death for being "infidels."

In my own experience, yes, the religion I was taught was horrible and definitely harmful to my own life and hundreds of thousands of others. I was raised to be Southern Baptist, raised to be a racist moron, and disappointed my church and family when I questioned it and rejected it--not the religion, for I was taught to believe it out of fear-- but the racism/homophobia/xenophobia and moronity, which my family still carries on to this day without me. They actually hate me for taking a stance of reason and sanity, ie, that everybody has to be somewhere on this planet, rather than praying the "other" was smited into oblivion.

As for belief, as stated, I believed out of fear, then read the entire bible. The violence, jealousy and hate of a supposed "god" who was "above" men displayed emotions and petty childish hatreds befitting an 8-yr-old.

Rather than hating religion, I simply cannot believe any of it. Any. Of. It. Any religion. To claim I could believe in it would be a lie, a lie that I believe many believers, including rabbis, preachers, priests, imams, etc., continue to tell 'cuz there's money in it.

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