Aella's post on religion
Posted in the context of discussing whether rationalism is a religion. That discussion doesn't interest me very much. But I thought this was an excellent point well written, and want to have it available for future reference:
The thing most people today think of as 'religion' is a faint shadow of an ancient, powerful monster. Religion has raised and destroyed entire civilizations; martyrs have chosen to be burned alive than simply say 'nah u got me i don't believe that.' Is there any belief you hold that you would refuse to say the words 'fine i don't believe it' to stop bad guys from literally burning you to death? Can you imagine what that's like?
It has chiseled sacred norms that touch every single part of life, from clothing to marriage to war to death itself. It's a force that has, historically, burrowed deep to the core of human minds and completely transformed them into weapons for its own bidding.
In much of the western world, that beast has died, and cultures walk around wearing gilded remnants of its flesh. "Look, I go to church," they say, but their soul is possessed by nothing, it's filled with osmosis of the secular norms around them. They support gay marriage, or have ever had a divorce, or treat their sacred texts not as sacred but as inspirational poetry or as a self-help alternative.
And like, sure. Get meaning where you can. Traditions are comforting. But the unitarian universalists or the casual catholics or the cultural jews are entirely unpossessed by the beast.