I agree that following a particular religion can lead to stupid behaviour. So can football, musical theatre, mountains, gourmet food, science fiction, and the misuse of secular authority by anyone. The Inquisition, in its most popularly memorable and extreme form, was created as a tool of just such secular authority, and normal people put up with it because that authority told them they had to. That is generally the reason why people put up with bad things.
I can't speak for Christian Science, any more than I can for the Moonies or the followers of whoever Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is this year. People have denied themselves and their children medical care because they simply don't trust doctors, because they can't afford to pay for it, because they prefer the herbal remedies their grannies used to supply, and for a host of other reasons. The fact that particular religions encourage stupidity (and it would be idle to deny that some, often for their own very secular reasons, do) still does not justify the remark.
For one thing, religion has also led to scientific discovery. We can both name people, from William of Ockham through to Mendel, who might not have become known as scientists if they had not been taught to read and to think by the religious orders to which they belonged. So religion can also make people be smart, if it is allowed to do so.
I do not believe that religious people (by which I mean people who are actually religious) have any interest in accumulating temporal power. I believe that people who have a consuming interest in accumulating temporal power find religion a useful and convenient means to do so. If religion were not there, they would find another. There is no shortage.
I understand what you're saying, but I don't see any reason for allowing that flip, nasty generalisation any room to lurk whatsoever. People can be stupid all on their own, and should take responsibility for it; saying that religion made them do it is letting them off far too easily. Not to mention the people in whose interest it is that they should be stupid.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-10-29 04:24 pm (UTC)I can't speak for Christian Science, any more than I can for the Moonies or the followers of whoever Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh is this year. People have denied themselves and their children medical care because they simply don't trust doctors, because they can't afford to pay for it, because they prefer the herbal remedies their grannies used to supply, and for a host of other reasons. The fact that particular religions encourage stupidity (and it would be idle to deny that some, often for their own very secular reasons, do) still does not justify the remark.
For one thing, religion has also led to scientific discovery. We can both name people, from William of Ockham through to Mendel, who might not have become known as scientists if they had not been taught to read and to think by the religious orders to which they belonged. So religion can also make people be smart, if it is allowed to do so.
I do not believe that religious people (by which I mean people who are actually religious) have any interest in accumulating temporal power. I believe that people who have a consuming interest in accumulating temporal power find religion a useful and convenient means to do so. If religion were not there, they would find another. There is no shortage.
I understand what you're saying, but I don't see any reason for allowing that flip, nasty generalisation any room to lurk whatsoever. People can be stupid all on their own, and should take responsibility for it; saying that religion made them do it is letting them off far too easily. Not to mention the people in whose interest it is that they should be stupid.