this post was submitted on 16 Sep 2023
217 points (94.7% liked)

World News

38563 readers
2563 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 26 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (4 children)

If you believe in eternal torture or happiness after death, basically anything is justifiable here on Earth to bring someone to your side or prevent them from "falling" to something that would land them in the bad place. In fact it's not just justifiable but a moral imperative if you believe you can save someone an infinite amount of suffering even if you cause temporary suffering now.

[–] query@lemmy.world 28 points 1 year ago

If someone believes in a god that implements eternal torture, they believe in a god everyone should despise, and should at least be honest about that part. Don't call it love, call it fear and terror.

[–] WHYAREWEALLCAPS@lemmy.world 21 points 1 year ago (3 children)

The idea of a life after death where an idyllic eternal life can be simply purchased with belief demeans and devalues this life. You will never convince me that someone believing such things would be more moral and ethical than someone who believes that this life is all we get. I would argue that such belief is a cornerstone to a lack of ethics and morals because it implies nothing in this life really matters.

[–] Aurenkin@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The whole known world is reduced to being a glorified sorting hat.

If the only reason you don’t harm others is so that you’ll get a place in paradise, you are not a moral or ethical person, you are a an egotistical hypocrite and a fake “good person”. Non-religious people who don’t harm others simply because they respect them and just don’t want to harm them, are the truly moral ones.

[–] avidamoeba@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago

It doesn't imply that nothing in this life really matters. It implies that belief and living a life following the moral code outlined in the respective book and interpreted by the respective religious authorities is really important. That's the whole ruse and why religion like this works tremendously in achieving its goals.

[–] fubo@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The violence isn't caused by the hell belief; it's institutionalized by the hell belief. Abusive, violent, hellfire religion is an institutionalization of the habits of abusive, violent parents. Get rid of the actual physical child abuse, and the violent doctrine has nothing to sustain itself.

Hell is just a metaphor for how terrible it is when your parent screams at you and beats you. To a small child, while that's happening, it is eternal. You are wholly condemned, wholly guilty and judged, and no part of you is safe from pain and punishment. The doctrine of hell is religion telling you that's normal.

Without hell religion, kids who are beaten by their parents might grow up to beat their own kids. Or they might get over it. Or they might not have kids at all.

But under what circumstances do you get generations of kids getting beaten, growing up, having kids, and beating those kids too?

That's where hell religion comes in. It tells you that the beating isn't just your parents being terrible people; it's an explicit command from God, who created the whole universe. It's not just your parents, it's how the whole world is supposed to be. And you're supposed to grow up and do it too.

Hell religion tells you that it's wrong to recover from the abuse that was done to you. Stay traumatized; stay violent; put on the character armor of God and raise the rod to your own child so that they stay on the same shite-and-narrow path that you were put on.