Why? This is what I observe.
(1) I have read a number of books by the Dalai Lama, and have concluded that he does not believe anything about his religion other than the personal, psychological benefit it
can provide.
(2) There are Christian churches in the U.S. allowing Muslims to use their Christian churches for Islamic worship. That is admirable, I believe, but you can't tell me those people really believe their religious texts. All gods are jealous gods.
(3) When contemporary Americans justify their religious beliefs, they always tout how religion makes them a better person, but they never say it is because they actually believe the words of the Bible. They never say it is because they believe in the holy trinity , heaven and hell, angels, holy sacrament, the resurrection, the story of Job, ...
(4) Everywhere religions are becoming more and more tolerant of other religions, even though it is arguably impossible to do so while staying true to scripture.
For these reasons, religion in modern countries share two trends. First, they distance themselves from much of their holy scriptures, instead believing all religions to be different paths to a similar sacredness. Second, this secularization occurs while reserving a belief in a sacred something that gives people a psychological benefit.
For these reasons, I don't think anyone really understands the role of religion in modern societies (the philosopher Daniel Dennett has made the best attempt thus far), but whatever its role, it promotes a social harmony like it has never done before, such that Humanists must resign themselves to [largely] attacking its historical role and its role in developing countries.
Saturday, December 24, 2011
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- Economic Harmonies by Bastiat
- If Paul Krugman is wrong...
- Why Mercantilism bothered Adam Smith
- If I was a military historian...
- In case my appraisal matters...
- Nations run like businesses
- No one is really religious anymore
- My collection of quotes is better than yours
- Take that, Department of Applied Economics
- Economic Models and Inequality
- Quote on Rent-Seeking and Corporate Tax Rates
- Should Student Loans Be Forgiven?
- Debt-Bondage, Ancient Rome, and the Incentives of ...
- Catherine the Great Convenes Her Empire
- Context-Dependent Preferences in Birds
- I was wrong about posting copyrighted videos
- If only we were still hunters and gatherers...
- Religion First, Then The Plow
- A World Without Conspicuous Consumption
- Two Quotes
- Copyrights Be Damned
- Utopia Documented
- Middle Ground Between Science and Religion
- Inside the mind of a saint
- Jonathan Haidt
- Conversation with my daughter
- Lit agents are ridiculous
- Origin of word "placebo" and placebo quotes
- Straight-A Students Need Not Apply
- The lies of children
- The "tinkering" metaphor
- The Art of Self-Deception
- College Subsidies
- Ayn Rand's Opposite
- Quotes about cities
- Maybe I do understand the EU
- Reasons why most people would call me insane
- I wonder how long...?
- How to be a political pundit
- Vitamins should be banned
- The most devoted medical researcher ever
- A Story of Creativity: how the stethoscope was inv...
- To train an economist...
- The Political Purpose of Debasing Profits
- The Final Destination of OWS
- A Forty Year Plan
- The Truth About Communal Living
- Is Utopia a vegan paradise?
- Thomas More's Utopia
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