Would you want to move to or live in a country, State, or society that is basically the same as your current one except that religion is actually banned?
I'm not talking about forcing anyone to give up their religion, everyone would willingly elect to participate, but anyone who changes their mind would be required to leave.
And is this necessarily a bad thought experiment to contemplate?
11
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
34 comments (26 - 34)
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.The main religions espoused in the US come with the baggage of racism, patriarchy and willful ignorance that is celebrated. Those things are not benign, they do great harm. While I don't truly have a problem with people having a personal religion, I have a large problem with religions baggage. Particularly when that baggage votes and hires and excludes. So a country where everyone has given up the notion that they are entitled to tell others what to do, or judge them based on some book written thousands of years ago, yes the idea is attractive.
CommonHuman
Level 7
Apr 16, 2020
1
THAT my friend is a reoccurring day dream fro me. I mostly see it as a small community though and not a nation.
JacobMeyers
Level 6
Apr 15, 2020
1
Definitely small to start with - maybe more people would want to join in later? But difficult to maintain cohesion as you get too many people, kids are born and grown up etc. etc. But hey, if the Amish and other religious communities and manage it for generations and with thousands, why not the other way around?
" bad thought experiment to contemplate?" In no way is it a bad thought. In fact I would hope that we would just give up complaining about religion and thoughts of forcing or getting devious and get to a logical, friendly and reasonable way of softening it by turning it all into "spirituality" [which in my book just means " the unknown"]. Then, eventually in a very long time, eliminate the need for it.
Mcflewster
Level 8
Apr 15, 2020
1
But how to do that? Definitely more realistic thought experiment since it is one all 20+ % of us in the US (at least) can act on. So far we haven't been very successful.
Why think about such a thing? If anyone doesn’t want to take part in religion there’s nothing that says he has to.
I think the main harm done by religion is in the minds of those who hate religion, and that harm is self-inflicted, brought about by fear and uncertainty.
Live and let live.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
Apr 15, 2020
1
Not sure where you live but in the country I live religion is a very serious and oppressive influence on society. If they lived and let live it wouldn't be a problem.
Reminds me of a story I wanted to write about different Countries having different types of interest groups, e.g. hedonistic, bookish etc.
The problem being...nothing’s ever that simple and people would even misrepresent themselves if they saw a gain in it...
girlwithsmiles
Level 8
Apr 15, 2020
0
I think we could ferret those out quickly enough. Especially with Social Media available.
@misstuffy like an episode of Black Mirror for sure.
I certainly hadn't proposed any ways to implement such a society. I would rather hope that with rational adults joining it voluntarily, there would simply be no need for religion, any more than we have a need for ancestor worship, trepanation, or human sacrifice.
For sure there will be scammers - but normally laws work fine for that.
@prometheus I think trepanning is still used for certain ailments 
but yes, I guess , it would be ok for some, ask Russians or Chinese people I guess? (Sorry I couldn’t resist).
@girlwithsmiles well they have found skulls of people with several holes in so I guess trepanation was so successful they used it many times. Right...
@prometheus I agree most would join because they want to be there, but there are always those who want to infiltrate for their own agendas that have nothing to do with why an organization, business or community exists, but rather how they can exploit them for their own benefit.
@prometheus yes, still do, it’s just called craniotomy now and then they tend to patch the gap up afterwards
@girlwithsmiles if God didn't want us to drill holes in our scalps he would have put more pain nerves up there...
No. Absolutely not.
Banning things should be reserved for those instances in which the direct physical health of the individual is willingly and knowingly endangered or when the individuals ability to make their own personal choices regarding their body is being encumbered.
Once we start banning thoughts and ideas, we're well on our way to creating a thought police state where people are incarcerated for something which somebody THINKS they might believe.
webbew1
Level 7
Apr 18, 2020
0
No, but poorly stated.
Atheist3
Level 7
Apr 16, 2020
0
How could I improve it? Seems like you got the gist of it though.
@prometheus. You could be more specific. The paremeters of your statement are too loose. You offer an either/or scenario (false dichotomy) & then proceed to offer an explanation of how it all works.
Would society be better with or without religion? Or a combination of the two? Or various degrees?
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
Share this post
Related Groups More
Memes R Us
3036 members
Categories
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.