Religious Fundementalism Is Worse than Drugs

[BayCityProgressive]

Okay so first of all I am having a crummy week so I just need to vent. I consider myself agnostic...I don't do the organized religion thing, and for the most part I think it is harmful. I am at work right now and five people I work with (all Dems), are all talking about how they can't believe anyone would actually believe in evolution. They really think the Earth was created 10,000 yrs ago and adam and eve lived in a magical pixie land with the dinosaurs! I cannot believe the idiocy of the general public. Rather than being sad I am at the point now where I am just ANGRY with the fundementalism and ignorance in this country! I am feeling my blood boil and I think I am steadily becoming more atheistic or even anti-religious in my views because of this and other incidents I have had lately. Please DUers help calm me down!

[pepperbear]

1. Wish I could help, but I'm still amazed that the co-workers who believe this are all dems! n/t

[BayCityProgressive]

2. yup

pretty disgusting. Trust me...I have met MANY conservative Dems. People in this country are just insane.

[EstimatedProphet]

3. Religious fundamentalism IS A DRUG

It's an addiction, and an hallucinogen both.

[redqueen]

6. Excellent point.

It seems people are attempting to avoid things they'd rather not deal with by immersing themselves in religion so deeply and irrationally.

[EstimatedProphet]

9. That's been my experience with it

[redqueen]

4. Jeez... where are you?

That's surprising that so many around you are so invested in the mythology of Christianity. I'm not saying Christianity itself is a mythology... I'm referring to the creation myth, Adam and Eve, etc.

When I start to feel like you are now, I remind myself that not all religious people are so literal. I remind myself that *most* religious people are far more sensible about the way that they interpret whatever holy book they hold most sacred.

Hope you start to feel better soon. :)

[BayCityProgressive]

8. I am in Michigan

and I would love it if you were right...but no most religous people are NOT sensible. Did you see the study that just came out showing the US is at the bottom of evolution believers in the world???

[redqueen]

11. Yes... I have heard that statistic.

However, just cause we have a higher number of nutters among our religious citizens doesn't necessarily mean they make up the majority of religious people, right?

[panader0]

5. Oh No! the world is only 4000 years old and there were no dinosaurs

Plus, they told me I was still married to my first wife. (You marry the #@$%&, I told them) Laugh it off.

[CrispyQ]

18. You must be wrong,

because I recently read that the dinosaurs were on the ark with Noah.

:rofl:

[Warpy]

21. Naw, they were too dang big

The flood done kilt em all. That's why there aint any of em around any more.

[asthmaticeog]

7. If I may play devil's advocate...

I'm not really with you on the whole "worse than drugs" thing. Yeah, the hegemonic enforcement of ignorance that comes from certain factions of Christianity is socially destructive, no question, but I don't recall ever having to endure a manic 3:30 A.M. rant from a Christian desperate to find someone with an eight-ball of Jesus. I'm just sayin'.

[BayCityProgressive]

10. Just go to a

"spirit fill" church on a Sunday! Way scarier than any drug addicts!

[asthmaticeog]

12. They don't have to steal your DVD player to afford a fix. nt

[Warpy]

23. No, they just bomb womens' clinics

and think belief in Jebus is an automatic ticket to heaven no matter what they do here on earth.

Think about that one very carefully. It's at the heart of fundy belief.

I guess if you're not a woman, you think they're just peachy.

[twilight_sailing]

17. On the other hand

junkies don't come knocking on my door trying to convert me to drug addiction. ;)

[asthmaticeog]

19. You can shoo the missionaries away.

If you've got an addict (or addicts) in your life, that ain't quite as easy.

[Warpy]

22. I've heard plenty of 3 AM rants from Jesus freaks

looking for converts among the insomniacs.

It is a drug. It numbs people out with the promise of something better when they die. It gives them hope for revenge against every asshole in life, or every person who they think has a better life than they do.

Marx was right. Screwball cult religion is the opiate of the masses. He just underestimated the danger.

[Zhade]

35. Hell, at least drugs promise something they actually deliver.

NT!

[EST]

13. Just think of how surprised they'll be when they die and nothing

happens-no that's not right.

People will not accept enlightenment just because we want them to; they have to discover it themselves.
Illegitimi non carborundum est--don't let the bastards grind you down. Accepting the opiate of the masses with that kind of flavor requires going through life with eyes shut. Not a very valuable way to live.

Be thankful that they cleave to the dem banner, it could be worse.

Why should it matter to you if they are pacified with such a total blindness that they cannot understand evolution, you don't gotta drink beer with them, just work with 'm.

[pocoloco]

14. It's caused by a twig bending thingy.

My Dad wouldn't let us around the crazies until we were old enough
to halfway think things out for ourselves!

[kineneb]

15. interesting take from UM church pastor

(disclaimer- I am a Buddhist, and consider Jesus to be at least a Bodhisattva, but he sure didn't die for my sins. So fundies would consider me a heretic, at best. My connection to religion is through being an organist for a United Methodist church.)

The pastor at the church had a sermon on "Creationism limits God": to wit- trying to quantify what was done by god limits his(her/its) powers. And by implication, that the knowledge brought to us by science should help us be more in awe of god, rather than less. I thought it was a very good sermon.

Point out to your co-workers they must believe in a very small, weak god. They might try out Woden, instead. (Valhalla sounds like a much more interesting place to go after death, and I bet the beer is better there.)

[TreasonousBastard]

24. A point I've been making for years...

that there is that God of the Gaps dilemma.

A lot of people who believe in a well-defined, largely anthropmorphic, God are terrified that scientific progress will reduce that God's significance. It shows them that God has limits, and they can't accept a limited God even though they are making the first error by limiting God themselves.

The way around that is to simply not to attempt to define God. Leave God to be a mysterious cosmic force or intelligence and accept the possibility of greater beings than us without necessarily having to know everything about them. The fundamentals of Christian salvation can still be there with this attitude, but faith is nothing without reason, doubt, and testing.

[nemo137]

29. Dammit, I've been saying that for years.

If you believe in an infinite god, then why the hell does he have to do things in 24 hour chunks? It's insulting and a little blasphemous.

[porphyrian]

16. Come live in the Bible Belt!

Yeah.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

20. I'm sorry you're living among...

religious crazies and, yes, I do believe anyone who rejects scientific fact and believes the earth is only 10,000 years old is crazy. They might as well be trying to convince me that the earth is flat or the sun revolves around the earth. :eyes:

I wish you could experience Glide Memorial church out here in San Francisco -- it's the real deal -- completely accepting, deeply spiritual, sane about science and the bible, and doing the real work Christ spoke about.

All you can do is look on those kinds of people with a great deal of pity -- their ignorance is a tragedy. And fight like hell to keep them from power.

[MistressOverdone]

25. I can't go there with you

A delusion or belief in a myth is not as harmful as something that literally destroys every part of your body, every system, including your teeth, your veins, your nasal passages. It also destroys every relationship you have, your bankbook, your career, and your self-respect. And once it passes a certain point (I'm including late alcoholism and late substance abuse) it eventually leads to death.

Now, is it worse than a doobie here and there? Well, I'd say they are pretty even. Both bring on euphoria OR parnoia, and delusion.

There were always be gullible people who believe anything. How long did it take the general population to believe the earth is round? Plus, I truly think half the people who say they believe it really don't. It is just their tradition and culture.

[Zhade]

26. As a patient, let me correct your incorrect assertion about marijuana.

It does not cause delusion.

[LiberalVoice]

32. WTF kind of weed to you smoke?

:) I dont feel delusional, paranoid(well sometimes), or euphoric when I smoke.

[bananas]

33. You need to try the good shit

wtf, you think people worship ganja because it make them cough?
Get a clue, dude.

[salvorhardin]

34. You are confusing delusion with hallucination

And you need to smoke a whole lot of cannabis in order to get to that point (usually -- it varies from person to person of course).

Delusions are pathological, fixed, false beliefs while hallucinations are sensory perceptions absent external stimuli. Delusions are the result of disease processes while hallucinations are not. In fact, hallucinations occur normally in most people. If you've ever thought you saw, heard, smelled something only to find you were mistaken, that was probably a hallucination.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

27. The analogy is wrong

A more apt analogy might be: "Religious fundamentalism is a lot like drug addiction".

I think of it more like an eating disorder. It's bad for them, but they can't stop doing it without an intervention.

[DeSwiss]

28. Well....

"I am at work right now and five people I work with (all Dems), are all talking about how they can't believe anyone would actually believe in evolution."

So where do they stand on stonings? The cutting off of hands and the plucking out of eyes? That's in their bible too. Along with a bunch of other horrible crap that I'm sure they ignore too.

If they've ever taken drugs for an illness, then they believe in evolution. It has been the study of the evolution of diseases, bacteria, and viruses that have enabled us to create drugs that combat them. Tell them that the next time they get sick, go see their preacher for the "laying-on of the hands" INSTEAD of going to a doctor. Then, we'll see.....

[sakabatou]

30. Huh...

I kinda find fundamentalism funny and dangerous at the same time.

[Evoman]

31. Hey, its nice to see you in this forum.

You don't usually post here, do you?

[sakabatou]

36. I don't

Religion isn't my thing.

[Evoman]

37. That only makes your opinions all the more interesting.

Welcome, anyhow.