this post was submitted on 18 Jul 2023
639 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

26734 readers
1440 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions

Please don't post about US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

Me personally? I've become much less tolerant of sexist humor. Back in the day, cracking a joke at women's expense was pretty common when I was a teen. As I've matured and become aware to the horrific extent of toxicity and bigotry pervading all tiers of our individualistic society, I've come to see how exclusionarly and objectifying that sort of 'humor' really is, and I regret it deeply.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] JossyBop@lemmy.world 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I always call those people anti-theists, as opposed to atheists. The ones who almost have their lack of religion as a religion in itself and criticise (and let's be honest, demean) anyone with a faith.

By all means, criticise the church, and the structures, which harm people. Criticise the willfully misinterpreted doctrine. The religions themselves, people's beliefs? Leave them alone.

[–] hanekam@lemmy.world 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Criticise the willfully misinterpreted doctrine

Do you think there is something inherently good or harmless in religion and that harmful practice is always the result of misinterpretation?

[–] JossyBop@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Most of the time yes. A really simple example is the Bible line "thou shall not lie with men as women", the original text says boys not men. The Jewish peoples saw the Greeks fucking kids and said "hey, uh no, let's make that a law, that you shouldn't do that". Boy became men, and that's been used to claim the Bible forbids homosexuality.

I don't think there's anything ultimately wrong with religion as such. People always try to find meaning and purpose in life. If religion gives them a way of doing that, then excellent; if religion plays no part, then also excellent. The goal is to be a good person, regardless of why you do it. Is a Christian who follows the tenent "love thy neighbour" worse than someone who loves their neighbour? A Jew who helps Muslims despite the tensions between their faiths, and they help because YHWH says to? Are they worse than an atheist who chooses to not help? Religion isn't the problem. People are, people are always the problem.

[–] HughJanus@lemmy.ml 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Those people's beliefs destroy society. It's the #1 citation for abortion legislation. Literal wars have been fought over "beliefs" about who is the best magic sky fairy. Ever heard of Sharia law? Believe it or not, based on these "beliefs".

So no. Fuck no. I will not leave them alone.

[–] JossyBop@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

And the 99% of people who don't loudly practice extreme beliefs which have been coopted for nefarious purposes?

In 2016, nearly 80% of Ireland identified as Catholic, and that was a low point for the country. Yet in 2015, we voted for same sex marriage; in 2018, we voted to legalise abortion; in 1995, we voted to legalise divorce; in 2018, we voted to stop treating blasphemy as an offence; in 1973, we voted to recognise other religions and stop putting Catholicism on a pedestal.

There's plenty to criticise mass religion, and especially institutions for, but don't conflate the powerful, and the extremists, who choose bigotry and hate over love and compassion, with the everyday person who just wants something to provide them with peace.

[–] CountZero@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

FYI, people's beliefs can be wrong. If someone's religion says the Earth is 6000 years old, then that religion is harmful and we should not tolerate that belief.

Obviously there is nuance here. It's not ok to be prejudiced against religious people, but we shouldn't let people get away with nonsense by calling it religion.

[–] JossyBop@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Oh absolutely, criticise the beliefs that don't make sense, and are tolerated. But pretty much everyone of most major faiths believe in science. There's the fundamentalists, who are extremely loud in their ignorance, but the majority of people aren't that.