Why the religious mindset can be so dangerous

[ataraxia]

How do you‘s people wonder why there is often antagonism to their mindset. What’s the harm, they ask, of having faith and hope.

Well, because the mindset leaves them open to all sorts of crazy ideas and wily politicians who can manipulate that gullibility to exploit them, and by extension, the rest of us.

One of the manifestations of this pathology is now the QAnon cult, which is finding fertile ground in the evangelical community.

How QAnon uses religion to lure unsuspecting Christians | CNN

Some Christian conservatives are falling for QAnon, which uses emotionally fraught topics such as suffering children to draw converts to their unhinged conspiracies.

www.cnn.com

After all, as Thomas Jefferson said,

“Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.”
-Thomas Jefferson

 

[Neoliberal Fanfiction]

How do you‘s people wonder why there is often antagonism to their mindset. What’s the harm, they ask, of having faith and hope.

Well, because the mindset leaves them open to all sorts of crazy ideas and wily politicians who can manipulate that gullibility to exploit them, and by extension, the rest of us.

One of the manifestations of this pathology is now the QAnon cult, which is finding fertile ground in the evangelical community.

How QAnon uses religion to lure unsuspecting Christians | CNN

Some Christian conservatives are falling for QAnon, which uses emotionally fraught topics such as suffering children to draw converts to their unhinged conspiracies.

www.cnn.com

After all, as Thomas Jefferson said,

“Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.”

Most liberals just have a goofy and ill-informed misunderstanding of religion. They'll say stuff which *sounds* intelligent like, "Religion is just an institution used to control the masses." but when comments like this are dissected, they're exposed as not really being functions of religion, but human nature itself.

I think, in many ways, the modern liberals acts like a miniature self-adulating simulation of the god whose existence or realness he dogmatically denies but whose role of unmoved mover and moral arbitrator he wants to assume. Liberals are constantly tinkering with the social and moral universes, while granting no possibility of the unforeseen or unplanned consequences which arise in a society that is without God and follows through with their agenda. Most progressive liberal types, with their contempt for the past and their chauvinism for modernity, which assumes that everyone in the past couldn't figure it out because they were not nearly as educated/enlightened/hip/cool as he or she is cannot acknowledge that anything inherited, whether a social custom or institution, has ever justified it's use or function and has no inherit value.

 

[bluesmoke]

If conservatives who profess God and Christianity followed the teachings of Christ, liberals would have little to be critical of. But then, conservatives wouldn't be conservative. Oh well.

 

[Dragonfly]

Most liberals just have a goofy and ill-informed misunderstanding of religion.

Letting your true colors show aren't you?

Forget the fact that "most liberals" are actually religious, and have been their entire lives.

I mean, ignoring facts is so easy to do.

 

[Neoliberal Fanfiction]

Letting your true colors show aren't you?

Forget the fact that "most liberals" are actually religious, and have been their entire lives.

I mean, ignoring facts is so easy to do.

Ah, ignoring the bulk of my post while replying with a condescending substance-less post. Brilliant argument.

Consider this: merely identifying as being "religious" does not actually make you truly religious. Nor does it make any of your political beliefs justifiable according to your religious doctrine. Most of modern liberalism is actually at massive odds with Christian theology.

 

[ataraxia]

M

Ah, ignoring the bulk of my post while replying with a condescending substance-less post. Brilliant argument.

Consider this: merely identifying as being "religious" does not actually make you truly religious. Nor does it make any of your political beliefs justifiable according to your religious doctrine. Most of modern liberalism is actually at massive odds with Christian theology.

Yeah sure, like misogyny and witch burning. Oh the horror!

 

[code1211]

How do you‘s people wonder why there is often antagonism to their mindset. What’s the harm, they ask, of having faith and hope.

Well, because the mindset leaves them open to all sorts of crazy ideas and wily politicians who can manipulate that gullibility to exploit them, and by extension, the rest of us.

One of the manifestations of this pathology is now the QAnon cult, which is finding fertile ground in the evangelical community.

How QAnon uses religion to lure unsuspecting Christians | CNN

Some Christian conservatives are falling for QAnon, which uses emotionally fraught topics such as suffering children to draw converts to their unhinged conspiracies.

www.cnn.com

After all, as Thomas Jefferson said,

“Man once surrendering his reason, has no remaining guard against absurdities the most monstrous, and like a ship without rudder, is the sport of every wind. With such persons, gullibility, which they call faith, takes the helm from the hand of reason, and the mind becomes a wreck.”
-Thomas Jefferson

What you post seems to explain the system of budgeting used by the US Government.

As far as I know, the Federal Process used for monetary outlays has nothing at all to do with the Constitution, faith, rationality or sanity. It fits all of the fears you hold against religion or QAnon.

In addition, it is actually documentable. Seems better to fear real world threats than imagined fantasies.

 

[Neoliberal Fanfiction]

M


Yeah sure, like misogyny and witch burning. Oh the horror!

Can any of you actually reply with anything substantive or is it always this snarky passive aggressive stuff? What's worse is that you're probably not even self aware of how unremarkable you are.

 

[ataraxia]

Ah, ignoring the bulk of my post while replying with a condescending substance-less post. Brilliant argument.

Consider this: merely identifying as being "religious" does not actually make you truly religious. Nor does it make any of your political beliefs justifiable according to your religious doctrine. Most of modern liberalism is actually at massive odds with Christian theology.

What you post seems to explain the system of budgeting used by the US Government.

As far as I know, the Federal Process used for monetary outlays has nothing at all to do with the Constitution, faith, rationality or sanity. It fits all of the fears you hold against religion or QAnon.

In addition, it is actually documentable. Seems better to fear real world threats than imagined fantasies.

When you have mindset that leaves large portions of the population vulnerable to exploration by wily demagogues and hucksters, we all suffer.

it’s much more than just about budgetary issues.

 

[code1211]

Most liberals just have a goofy and ill-informed misunderstanding of religion. They'll say stuff which *sounds* intelligent like, "Religion is just an institution used to control the masses." but when comments like this are dissected, they're exposed as not really being functions of religion, but human nature itself.

I think, in many ways, the modern liberals acts like a miniature self-adulating simulation of the god whose existence or realness he dogmatically denies but whose role of unmoved mover and moral arbitrator he wants to assume. Liberals are constantly tinkering with the social and moral universes, while granting no possibility of the unforeseen or unplanned consequences which arise in a society that is without God and follows through with their agenda. Most progressive liberal types, with their contempt for the past and their chauvinism for modernity, which assumes that everyone in the past couldn't figure it out because they were not nearly as educated/enlightened/hip/cool as he or she is cannot acknowledge that anything inherited, whether a social custom or institution, has ever justified it's use or function and has no inherit value.

You seem be a devotee of the Faulkner style of writing. Using a period every now and then helps with clarity.

That aside, I'm always amused that Liberals seem devoted to dual realities:

That nobody will ever be capable of balancing a Federal budget, but that they are perfectly capable of controlling and directing the climate of the planet.

What's wrong with this picture?

 

[ataraxia]

Can any of you actually reply with anything substantive or is it always this snarky passive aggressive stuff? What's worse is that you're probably not even self aware of how unremarkable you are.

Oh yeah, but I’m sure if we started talking about judgment day or Obama’s secret birth certificate, you would be all ears about the “substantive” conversation.

 

[code1211]

If conservatives who profess God and Christianity followed the teachings of Christ, liberals would have little to be critical of. But then, conservatives wouldn't be conservative. Oh well.

You know so little and talk so much.

 

[Neoliberal Fanfiction]

You seem be a devotee of the Faulkner style of writing. Using a period every now and then helps with clarity.

Admittedly, once I get into rant mode it's difficult to stop for clarity, ahah.

 

[Neoliberal Fanfiction]

Oh yeah, but I’m sure if we started talking about judgment day or Obama’s secret birth certificate, you would be all ears about the “substantive” conversation.

Sounds like you're creating a strawman because you lack the wit to actually reply to the substance of my argument.

 

[watsup]

Can any of you actually reply with anything substantive or is it always this snarky passive aggressive stuff? What's worse is that you're probably not even self aware of how unremarkable you are.

Psychological projection.

 

[watsup]

Sounds like you're creating a strawman because you lack the wit to actually reply to the substance of my argument.

Trump says that QAnon is just a bunch of people who hate pedophilia. Is that true?

 

[code1211]

When you have mindset that leaves large portions of the population vulnerable to exploration by wily demagogues and hucksters, we all suffer.

it’s much more than just about budgetary issues.

It certainly is, but nothing involving money is removed from it.

Since the year 2001, Federal Spending has more than doubled (238%) annually while household spending has increased by about 11%.

We have elected the people in our country who have proven themselves to be the absolute WORST money managers in the nation.

Obviously, they are crooks and we are idiots.

Real Median Household Income in the United States

View the inflation-adjusted value of the 50th percentile of the U.S. income distribution, as estimated by the Census Bureau.

fred.stlouisfed.org

Federal Receipt and Outlay Summary

Receipts, outlays, and surplus or deficit in dollars and as a percent of GDP from 1940 to 2027.

www.taxpolicycenter.org

 

[code1211]

Trump says that QAnon is just a bunch of people who hate pedophilia. Is that true?

Link?

 

[Neoliberal Fanfiction]

Psychological projection.

There is a less than subtle irony in this post but explaining that to you seems like an exercise in futility.

Trump says that QAnon is just a bunch of people who hate pedophilia. Is that true?

What? I haven't even mentioned QAnon in this thread.

 

[watsup]

Most liberals just have a goofy and ill-informed misunderstanding of religion. They'll say stuff which *sounds* intelligent like, "Religion is just an institution used to control the masses." but when comments like this are dissected, they're exposed as not really being functions of religion, but human nature itself.

I think, in many ways, the modern liberals acts like a miniature self-adulating simulation of the god whose existence or realness he dogmatically denies but whose role of unmoved mover and moral arbitrator he wants to assume. Liberals are constantly tinkering with the social and moral universes, while granting no possibility of the unforeseen or unplanned consequences which arise in a society that is without God and follows through with their agenda. Most progressive liberal types, with their contempt for the past and their chauvinism for modernity, which assumes that everyone in the past couldn't figure it out because they were not nearly as educated/enlightened/hip/cool as he or she is cannot acknowledge that anything inherited, whether a social custom or institution, has ever justified it's use or function and has no inherit value.

The last sentence is an absolute falsehood. Liberal atheists, for the most part, acknowledge the contributions of the past in establishing the ethical rules of society WITHOUT the need for a "God" to define them, such as the clearly humanist-based document of the US Constitution. But liberal atheists also point out how the insertion of religious "morality" into law-making can be negative, such as past strictures against certain people having full rights just because of who they love (gays) or the insistence of right-wing extremists of NO ABORTION AT ALL!
Humanism has the answers.

 

[watsup]

There is a less than subtle irony in this post but explaining that to you seems like an exercise in futility.


What? I haven't even mentioned QAnon in this thread.

QAnon was a primary mention in the OP as having great appeal to the religious, who are hypocrites at their very core for supporting a serial adulterer scumbag who will lie about absolutely EVERYTHING, no matter how big or small.

 

[watsup]

Link?

Trump believes QAnon claim it's fighting pedophiles, refuses to disavow extremist conspiracy theory

President Donald Trump said he believes “very strongly” in one of the central beliefs of QAnon that it's fighting a “deep state” of pedophiles.

www.usatoday.com

 

[watsup]

You seem be a devotee of the Faulkner style of writing. Using a period every now and then helps with clarity.

That aside, I'm always amused that Liberals seem devoted to dual realities:

That nobody will ever be capable of balancing a Federal budget, but that they are perfectly capable of controlling and directing the climate of the planet.

What's wrong with this picture?

Manmade global warming is an existential threat and as such demands serious action on a worldwide basis to try to stem it.

 

[Neoliberal Fanfiction]

The last sentence is an absolute falsehood. Liberal atheists, for the most part, acknowledge the contributions of the past in establishing the ethical rules of society WITHOUT the need for a "God" to define them, such as the clearly humanist-based document of the US Constitution.

The US constitution was "clearly humanist-based"? You're going to have to provide some proof for that statement, because as far as I know that's totally ahistorical. None of the founding fathers ever self-identified as "humanists" and generally rejected the idea of the totally autonomous individual who is only governed by their own self-made perception of morality.

John Adams himself said the following: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."

But liberal atheists also point out how the insertion of religious "morality" into law-making can be negative, such as past strictures against certain people having full rights just because of who they love (gays) or the insistence of right-wing extremists of NO ABORTION AT ALL!

That's kind of the point of my post, but I guess it went over your head. You handpick certain elements of Christian morality and coopt them because they fit your contemporary view of what a progressive liberal country should look like according to *you*. You omit the things you don't like because according to *you*, they don't make sense. In doing so, you prove my point exactly. Your myopic understanding of the past and tradition and your narcissistic view of what "works" in the modern world is what blinds you. You cannot understand why certain traditions had any justified function past a shallow criticism of them just being arbitrary bigotries of unenlightened men.

This is what I mean when I say that people like you think that people in the past were just ignorant and stupid. Had they been as enlightened and smart and free as you, then perhaps they would've come to the same conclusions as you have. They just weren't intellectually rigorous enough (like you).

 

[Neoliberal Fanfiction]

QAnon was a primary mention in the OP as having great appeal to the religious, who are hypocrites at their very core for supporting a serial adulterer scumbag who will lie about absolutely EVERYTHING, no matter how big or small.

Don't care.