• arsCynic@piefed.social
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    9 hours ago

    💭 To consider antireligion instead of atheism
    “The harm of religion is historically evident whereas the presence or absence of gods is not. Ultimately, the continued existence of religion is predicated on the indoctrination of children and suppression of rational thought. Therefore I am against religion but not necessarily against the idea of gods. For all we know gods are computer scientists and we are in their video game.” ―https://www.arscyni.cc/file/antireligion.html

    […] Not only is religion vague, it is dishonest. Homosexuality for instance. While conversing with a Muslim former colleague A, I noticed that even though the religious say they supposedly want tolerance and acceptance for all, do they actually believe it?

    Q: “Do you have a problem with homosexuality?”

    A: “Look. They can do whatever they want, but it’s abnormal you see?”

    Q: “In the strict definition of the word abnormal I agree, i.e., heterosexuality is a lot more prevalent than homosexuality, making the latter rare—“abnormal”. But I don’t consider it wrong. Do you? Do you consider it a sin even though it harms no one?”

    Long silence…

    A: “Yes, I consider it a sin.”

    Q: “Okay then.”

    Christopher Hitchens was right, religion does poison everything. Even though colleague A said people are free to do whatever they please, following it up with “homosexuality is a sin” arguably exposes his feigned tolerance. […]

    • SpongyAneurysm@feddit.org
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      2 hours ago

      Not gonna defend religion or anything, but this

      Even though colleague A said people are free to do whatever they please, following it up with “homosexuality is a sin” arguably exposes his feigned tolerance. […]

      is a non-sequitur argument. Or at least it has an unspoken premise, of what it means for something to be a sin.

      People are usually free to commit sins, and other religious people tolerate their sinning. As long as they’re the socially accepted kind of sins in that religious community, like drinking alcohol, hitting your children, coveting your neighbours wife, you name it. Hypocrisy is an integral element of any religious community I know.

      But the hypocrisy here is not, that homesexuality is called a sin. It is, that it is usually regarded as a graver sin than all the others that are happily tolerated.

      • arsCynic@piefed.social
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        12 minutes ago

        is a non-sequitur argument.

        I think I have to disagree, but I understand where you’re coming from, hence the “arguably”. Believing something is a sin indeed doesn’t equal taking someone’s freedom to do so. However, his revulsion was uttered with such conviction and certain facial expressions that it signaled if he had free rein, he would not tolerate homosexuality at all, i.e., would prohibit it.

      • arsCynic@piefed.social
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        4 hours ago

        freedom of religion is a requirement for freedom from religion.

        “freedom of religion brainwashing is a requirement for freedom from religion brainwashing.”

        A spurious but innocuous sounding argument.

      • ThirdConsul@lemmy.zip
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        4 hours ago

        No, it is not. Freedom to pick a bullet caliber to shoot your neighbour is not a requirement to NOT shoot your neighbours

    • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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      9 hours ago

      I am against religion and the idea of gods, as well as every other superstition.

      I wish everyone would quit making shit up and focus on reality.

      • SpongyAneurysm@feddit.org
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        2 hours ago

        Isn’t that what tolerance is about? The live and let live thing? So you kinda have to be okay with other people doing what they like.

        Doesn’t mean you have to do the same though.

  • Ms. ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip
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    13 hours ago

    I feel like this is reason to continue the events not call them off. Change the tone to somber or angry but stopping things plays into their hand of inciting fear. We go to pride to show people we aren’t afraid, we’re willing to be visible, and that if they threaten us they have to deal with an entire community. I’ve never considered it to just be a fun party and I’ve always assumed something dangerous might happen. I’d be out there twice as hard today

  • Blubber28@lemmy.world
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    12 hours ago

    A religious person whose religion explicitly forbids homosexuality commits violence against queer people. I too wonder at what the motivation could possibly be 🙄.

    Yes, not all religious people are this way. But don’t forget with things like this, it is almost always a relgious and/or far right person. The sentiment with rape of “not all men but always a man” applies here too.

    • thethrilloftime69@feddit.online
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      4 hours ago

      Religious extremism doesn’t sprout up in a vacuum. It is created by a lack of resources and opportunity. Resources and opportunities that have been taken from people by foreign/Western governments that refuse to let the middle east be stable. The West has collectively overthrown dozens of democratically elected governments in the region going back at least a century. If your grandparents can’t ever remember a stable life and you lack the resources the learn about your circumstances, you will use the only stable pillar in your life as the basis for your revenge.

      • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        This shit happened in the EU…they have support there, stop making excuses for violent extremist. The middle east has been at war with itself way before the Soviets invaded…yea you forgot about those guys invading Afghanistan didn’t you…

        • thethrilloftime69@feddit.online
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          4 hours ago

          The middle east has been at war with itself

          Before World War 1 the middle east was under the rule of the Ottoman empire. So they weren’t at “war with itself”. Part of the terms of the end of if ww1 was most of the region was carved up by the victorious allies. One of the things they did was install Western friendly governments. The British also forced Israel on Palestine. Then the US overthrew a democratically elected government in Iran leading to the inevitable blowback of the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

          Maybe you should read some history before you make ridiculous claims.

            • thethrilloftime69@feddit.online
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              2 hours ago

              So the middle east was just as violent as Europe? Ok Cool. The middle east isn’t inherently more violent than other places. To say that is incredibly racist.

              People are people. They need resources to build proper lives. Lacking that, they believe they have to fight. Western governments figured out last century that in order to win the global economic war, they need oil. So they need governments friendly to them in order to secure access to those resources. Acting like this is just an ancient conflict that has no answer is ignorant.

            • Modern_medicine_isnt@lemmy.world
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              3 hours ago

              I wouldn’t say it is western powers per se. But it is the oligarchy. Be they western or not. They cause the wars, often using religion as an excuse. But first they deprived the people of the resources and opportunities which drove people to religion. That made it easier for the oligarchy to control them by giving them an organized set of things to be upset about. So religion is really just a tool.

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      If religion caused violence attempted murder I’m not sure why it’s not way more common. Evil shit heads are always looking for an excuse.

      Edit: it was super unclear what I meant so I had to change my wording so that my point could possibly be understood /s

          • OryxAndCake@slrpnk.net
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            8 hours ago

            Your original comment I replied to was only talking about violence, not murder.

            Way to move the goal posts there buddy.

              • OryxAndCake@slrpnk.net
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                8 hours ago

                If religion caused violence I’m not sure why it’s not way more common. Evil shit heads are always looking for an excuse.

                Can you show me where in your original comment it is that I was supposed to instinctively understand that you weren’t actually talking about religion causing violence in general?

    • Wataba@sh.itjust.works
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      12 hours ago

      There was that attack by an Arab atheist a while back, in Germany no less. Just saying for the sake of it.

      • SnoopSqueak@lemmy.today
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        4 hours ago

        I was curious about his motivation, so I did some reading to find out.

        In a video he made some time before the attack, he was very upset about someone stealing a USB stick from his mailbox. He’s former muslim, anti-islam, pro-Israel, and generally right wing, though he called himself a leftist. He admires Alex Jones and Elon Musk. He tried to get close to the AfD while atheist organizations distanced themselves from him due to his extreme views. He tried to explain his motive for the vehicle attack during the trial, but was rambling, incoherent, disconnected.

        He was sentenced to life in prison, which seems reasonable to me.

    • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      Want the honest response?

      Because they’re minorities. There isn’t any other reason. They think they’re protecting them. When in reality, they’re just being tolerant of the intolerant.

  • Zephorah@discuss.online
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    12 hours ago

    There’s a scene in the TV series of The Handmaid’s Tale. The enslaved women are given the choice/opportunity to tear a man apart with their bare hands. A man they never met before, though he is named a rapist. And they do just that.

    I read this shit and I think of that scene. It’s not an excuse for the behavior. But the way our governments are moving, caving, deteriorating for a handful of assholes, is leaving a lot of enraged, angry, empty people with no outlet.

    And then those same governments point to trans. And the rage takes what is handed to them and runs with it, vents on it, leaving the assholes and governments intact.

    • MouldyCat@feddit.uk
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      10 hours ago

      Dude, enough with the mental gymnastics! You’re twisting reality into a pretzel just to keep your bogeyman intact. But no, the German government has not manipulated anyone into murdering queer people. Religion has manipulated its followers into hating people for who they were born as. Western governments have plenty of faults, but there are many other causes of disharmony and division in the world, and religion is a big one.

    • ricdeh@lemmy.world
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      9 hours ago

      What utter bs. These people were killed by a crazy islamist, not the government. You have totally lost the plot if you think that queer people are “enslaved” in Germany.