congrats, you successfully pissed me off, the thing you were apparently trying to do. do you ever get tired of doing conservative’s work for them?
Measuring the charity work that religious institutions do is their first line of defense. I’m speaking from an American perspective of course—but Republicans are constantly trying to defund public welfare programs in order to drive people into the churches’ arms. Because then you can kick trans people out of your shelter (Salvation Army), refuse to cover birth control (the Catholic college my friends attended), require people to pray before they eat (soup kitchen I volunteered at), prevent gay people from adopting kids and setting up a pipeline to take children from Korea to raise them in a Christian home (Christian adoption agencies). I could go on! The good work that churches do is fundamentally evangelical even if it isn’t capital-E Evangelical. It ought to be systemically replaced by publicly administrated, tax funded programs that feed, house, clothe, and support all people regardless of their religion.
If at that point you still want to engage with religion for the religion’s own sake, by all means go ahead. That’s none of my business. However, the good work that religious institutions do is a problem, not something to be desired.
Disclaimer: I am speaking to US politics because that is my area of expertise. The harm that religions do is obviously not limited to the U.S. but I leave that for others to address.
