AIBU to prefer when religion was the opiate of the masses

[Annabella92]

Rather than porn, drugs and videogames

@2025HereICome and yet that is blatantly not true. We have Nestle and the scandal of milk formula yet people still buy their chocolate and other products. There are so many similar companies/people/groups with malign intent if evaluated morally we have just not had the hyper focus on them as we have others. We keep hearing that there are more ‘white’ grooming gangs than others, so why have we tolerated that? I didn’t know about it and I read the news from a variety of sources. There’s a horror brewing under our noses without any obstructions of language, culture, understanding, religious beliefs or identities yet we have allowed that to happen.

It’s the deflection on to the CC as the big bad enemy as though that criticising them resolves us all of our responsibility to play our role in society that gets me. It’s actually the opposite that will work - if we did all play our role, religion would naturally die out and we could all move on.

Yes, but none of that makes Christianity any less patriarchal and misogynistic in its leanings.

@SleepyHippy3

you’ve missed the point but nevermind

People just adopt other pseudo religions to fill their place. Humans are inherently religious, they might think they have displaced "God", but something else sits in that throne. It's never empty.

That's the daftest thing I've heard in a long time.

How very arrogant you are. How dare you presume this?

It sounds lovely, but sadly not typical.

So I'm wondering what your community has that others haven't. I live in a village in a semi rural location, a long way from cities and I find it pretty cliquey if you don't have kids and you're therefore not involved in school stuff. I really noticed this in Covid - no one gave a fuck about lonely isolated people etc.

Is a simple determination to be nice? Is there lots of moving in/out or is the population quite stable?

I also find that often people sneer at communities like this - they move to cities because they don't want people knowing their business etc.

No, he's not the son of god, he's a very naughty boy.

@Staringatthemoon oh, I am completely with you on the Nestle scandals... I cannot understand how they are allowed to operate and I actively boycott them. I believe that, like the CC, they are just too big to fail/be shut down.

I don't agree with your view that society deflects to the CC to absolve us of our responsibilities because this is not my experience. And I believe religion, particularly Christianity is naturally dying out anyway thankfully. That can be clearly seen in the decline of couples choosing religious weddings, choosing not to baptise their children or have them partake in religion in school. I hope this trend continues and increases and my DCs DC will live in a society where religion is the exception and not the norm.

What?! No we don't. What a ridiculous statement

@RedPony1 quite! I, like you, have managed to live my life and raise my DC without any religious influence. Not sure what kind of pseudo religion @Annabella92 reckons we've adopted???

They are not inherently religious. You as a baby did not know about god and religion. You did not have that religion, that spirituality. That knowledge was given to you by who ever raised you and your immediate environment. And you just grew up believing it was true.

Yes we do. It's usually money or sex. There is an ultimate principle in all our lives and cultures we orient ourselves towards.

I didn't actually, I was an atheist until late into my 3rd decade.

But yes they are. All these people who claim to be atheists are positively religious in their zealous devotion to political causes for example. The impulses are the same.

Being religious does not prevent people gravitating towards money or sex. They just hide it better.

@Annabella92 Ah come off it, you're just being silly now 😅😅😅 so you reckon all of us non religious people are instead worshipping at the alter of money, sex or politics? What a ridiculous statement. I certainly don't worship any of these things.

@WestwardHo1 The population is stable, 200 homes. No school, no church, no pub so no cliques. The village hall is all we have. Or travel to the next village.

Covid brought us closer together because there was no-one else to rely on. The buses stopped so those with cars took the oldies and those without cars, to the supermarket. Organised stuff for the dcs to do before we all went mad. Helped care for dcs of essential workers. Furloughed people made food parcels for those who were sick, to be delivered by bored teens.

It just worked, not sure why.

What planet are you from?
Do not assert we atheists are zealotic about politics, or anything else for that matter.
You have the arrogance of a religious zealot who clearly believes they are correct and has to let everyone else know they are 'wrong'
You have a fucking cheek

@2025HereICome

’And I believe religion, particularly Christianity is naturally dying out anyway thankfully. That can be clearly seen in the decline of couples choosing religious weddings, choosing not to baptise their children or have them partake in religion in school. I hope this trend continues and increases and my DCs DC will live in a society where religion is the exception and not the norm.’

but it’s growing in other areas. My old parish church in London is standing room only. Church /religious communities are growing in the inner cities as resources are limited and people often get their resources through organised religions. Then there are the evangelical churches. So, whilst generations grow up here, become educated, access the middle class resources and leave religion behind they leave a vacuum that gets filled by the next generation ( usually immigrants) whose children follow the same path and if they have decent education, can access the health and knowledge resources that allow them to leave religion behind. And the cycle just keeps going but it’s the inclusion of religious services ( church/mosque/temple plus parish/wider community/ and social clubs, etc) that provide the framework for the migrants so that their children can access the invaluable resources ( school/universities/medical care/intellectual alternatives, etc.)

Well…in the days when this country was still run by the church as law, people still had their own versions of videogames, porn and drugs…it’s just not justice was taken because religious law favours the man.

@Staringatthemoon understand what you're saying and I don't see the inner cities trends when it comes to religion. I'm more suburban in location and there's tumbleweed that blows through churches here. However, if you say that this vacuum is being filled by immigrants is this not people just bringing their religious beliefs with them as opposed to an actual increase in religious practice globally? And if their next generation is also increasingly leaving religion behind as you say, does this not indicate to you that eventually there will be no further generations practicing religion?

Keen to understand what resources religious groups provide for people to access school/university and medical care that aren't provided by the state? I can't pinpoint any in my local area?

In Ireland, the statistics show that religious practice is steadily declining nationwide.

Why all the hate for video games?

Porn
Empty, transient sexual encounters
Money
Bullying people
Handbags
Sport
Gambling
Food
Buying animals
Instagram aka Narcissist Central

They're addictive and are taking the place of regular social interaction.

Depends what you mean. If they really are religious they'll at least be trying, who was it that joked "imagine how bad I'd be if I wasn't"