• kent_eh@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    8
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    7 months ago

    I think religion is just a convenient scapegoat for mental illness here.

    It acts more as a place for mental illness to be hidden, camoflauged, or accepted as devotion or prophecy.

    When someone’s delusions overlap with what a church accepts as their ancient prophets’ experience, that illness doesn’t get proper treatment.

    • lennybird@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Yep it muddies the waters that distinguish what is rational from irrational. Like a dark damp festering basement, it gives mold a place to fester and grow.

      Welcome to a place where you don’t need logic; you just need this magical thing called “faith.” Such mainstream religions were just the most successful cults.

      • aesthelete@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        7 months ago

        Welcome to a place where you don’t need logic; you just need this magical thing called “faith.” Such mainstream religions were just the most successful cults.

        People generally aren’t all or even mostly rational or logical. It’s difficult even for people with deep science or technical backgrounds to think in a structured way for long periods of time.

        Even if you got most people off of organized religion they’d be on some other bullshit.

        Evidence for that is actually all around us too. Organized religion is seeing more and more people walk away from it, but people remain just as full of shit as they were in church.

        • lennybird@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          7 months ago

          To your last point I don’t know if I see that. Most of the religious nutjobs - organized or free of association - seem predominantly concentrated among right-wing circles. See the rising Christian nationalists for instance. Those who are walking away from religious faith tend to be more on the left side of the spectrum and ironically far more adherent to the teachings of Jesus in his best of image.

          • aesthelete@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            3
            arrow-down
            2
            ·
            edit-2
            7 months ago

            It’s not one side or another of the political spectrum that’s full of shit, it’s people in general.

            I have easily encountered just as many anti vax crackpots for instance coming from the left as from the right.

            • lennybird@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              edit-2
              7 months ago

              That is complete and total bullshit and any reputable statistics survey can prove it.

              Let’s not bOtH sIdeS this with absurd anecdotes.

                • lennybird@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  arrow-up
                  2
                  arrow-down
                  1
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  7 months ago

                  Yep, now you’re getting it. The vast majority are definitely on the right.

                  • Nearly all conspiracy theories are peddled by right-wing mouthpieces; e.g., Alex Jones and adopted by their right-wing audience.

                  • Right-wingers, statistically on average, are less educated and more susceptible to misinformation.

                  • In the case of anti-vaxx, especially post-Covid, the vast majority are right-wing.

                  These both sides enlightened centrist false equivalence fallacies are cute and easy for the brain to process, but they aren’t grounded in reality.

                  • aesthelete@lemmy.world
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    1
                    arrow-down
                    2
                    ·
                    7 months ago

                    Dude the right wing doesn’t have a monopoly on bullshit, but you can go on believing that (bullshit) if you like and continue to be a living counterexample to your own bad argument.