I read lots of random comments on YouTube videos to get a feel of what the mood is on topics. I must admit that many times what I read concerns me.
For example yesterday I read a comment that said that what is going on in the US is a spiritual battle. It is against good and evil, and of course Christians are the good ones and evil is everyone who isn’t Christian.
Now I am not going to get into Christian beliefs here. That doesn’t help anyone. What is obvious is that this kind of thinking I have never found helpful.
When I was part of a Christian church, and when I was Catholic before that I thought that a christian attitude would be helpful. That was what I was programmed to think. Now if religion makes someone better then that is a wonderful thing. In my experience it seems to make people worse.
I think it gives people an “out”. If they sin they can confess and be forgiven. If they pray then they have a no cost solution to guilt and responsibility. I don’t think that Christianity has moved us forward. I think it has destroyed more than it has created.
How can I say that? What about all of the beautiful churches and nations that were brought up to modern standards due to missionaries? I think that would eventually have happened just like Japan was slow to modernize, but eventually it had to. I once was in Mexico and a friend showed me a church and then was surprised that I wasn’t taking photos or caring about the architecture. I said that there is nothing beautiful about the slave labor that built it, and nothing lasting can come from harmful practices.
We are at a record low of people who believe in religion. I think that is in part to the failing of religion itself. This is not a discussion of religion. Rather it is a discussion that the forces that reduced the importance of religion are still at work. Even though those comments talk about the evil that is done, I see more evil done in religions name than without it.
Am I saying that we are better off without religion? I don’t think that is possible. There are always people who need to believe in something. If they can’t understand the world, science or examine their own thoughts, they will believe what gives them emotional comfort. I wonder though, just like a baby pacifier if there comes a point as an adult we just need to yank the comfort of religion from them.
How would we do that? Stop churches from having a financial exemption. Hold them to the law. Audit their finances. Require supervision of every adult with active tracking and sexual abuse background checks. Make each community vet the people who want to be spiritual and have constant monitoring of what they do.
Is this an attack on Christianity? No more than what is currently being done to non-religious people. TikTok is measuring all of this and more. We give up our privacy for garbage and then wonder why our society is like it is. You don’t get something for free.
People will never accept what you want them to believe. This is not 1984 and we will not allow anyone to try to turn it into that.