When religions are practiced, as they are by a majority of those in developed nations, today, as a kind of nostalgic little ritual - a community event or an excuse to get together and not work - it doesn't really screw anything up too badly. But when they radically alter our ability to contend with reality, cope with difference, or implement the most basic ethical provisions, they must be stopped.
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The more we can make its [The Bible's] mythology relevant to our present, the more easily we'll bring those who believe in it out of the past.
Monday, May 01, 2006
Why I've had it with religious tolerance
Douglas Rushkoff writes: Why I've had it with religious tolerance
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5 comments:
that's a fantastic article - what a great thinker. i've often chided myself for not being able to conceal my contempt for organised religion, especially fundamentalist christianity. but i feel encouraged to take people on after reading that. i used to live in the bible belt of queensland and regularly came face to face with christian extremists. i noticed that on rywhm you mentioned toowoomba a couple of times; that's where i lived for a few years before coming to melbourne.
one of the scariest things i've ever seen was a public meeting in toowoomba to discuss the then new laws legalising brothels. i went with some friends and we were treated to actual fire and brimstone - and it wasn't just hookers who were going to hell, it was the clientele, the beattie government, and anyone who supported the sex industry's right to make its workers and customers safe. there were about 700 crazy christians there as an organised force, and the chronicle reported it uncritically as a mass outcry from "concerned citizens". i felt like i'd been to a neo-nazi rally and my local newspaper thought it was just grass-roots activism.
rushkoff is right about atheists needing to speak out, despite the fact that they'll be accused of religious vilification. and i love his idea about reappropriating the mythology. maybe they should have built the giant jesus on tabletop mountain after all?
Oh yes, I spent too many of my teenage years in Toowoomba. A mostly scary place. My family all left failry promptly ... I'm still not sure why the hell we were there. Fairly certain is was a parental mid-life crisis.
I've had several run-ins with the Toowoomba Christians ... my friends and I were black sheep in a small country town (read: normal teenagers) and occasionally berated for being evil by people on the street.
I'm not even an atheist (I think - I don't know what I am really) but I am certainly not religious. There's something to be said for being a bit vocal about religion. And is it vilification if you dislike the *idea* of religion as opposed to any specific religion? It's nothing personal, I think they're all fucked ... Christian, Muslim, Buddhist ... whatever.
I briefly dabbled with Buddhism years ago, after discovering the underlying philosophy and really connecting with it. The I went to an actual temple and suddnely realised Buddhism was just another religion ... full of rules and dogma just like all the others. Disappointing.
All that said, I was always for a Giant Jesus on Tabletop. It would be quite kitsch, if done properly.
well, it works for rio de janeiro. and yeah, i think you're right about the fact that organised religion is the bigger problem, rather than spirituality or individual belief.
though i still think that believing in a god can stop you thinking about things in a logical or rational way. it's the same with a lot of new-age schtick. sometimes the relentless positivity kick can be destructive. i know people who are so focused on the light at the end of the tunnel, that they never think about why they're in such a dark place to begin with. not that i think we should wallow in misery day after day [though i have been known to do this], just that sometimes you should say "you know what? that is shit." rather than always justifying people's actions on the whys and hows, or thinking that they'll come good, or saying 'god willed it so'.
sheesh! i was crankier than i thought! that's interesting what you say about buddhism. it certainly is one of the more sensical of the big ones - more humanistic? like catholicism with its strong social justice bent, or judaism with its respect for scholarship, they all seem to have something going for them. but nothing that isn't part of the enlightenment project, or social liberalism, or secular conceptions of human rights. that stuff is obviously vital but you can pursue it without invoking god.
If people can't be good without being told how to do it by some kind of "higher force", then we're pretty fucked anyway, aren't we?
Also, Tobytoby. I know who you are, now. MUAHAHAHAHA!!!
This is so unfair. I have no idea who you are at all.
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