@fresco,
fresco wrote:
This thread is ostensibly about the 'wrongness' of religion. I have argued that an answer to that question can only be found by weighing the historical evidence of the social perniciousness of religion, against its role as a multifarious psychological crux. On that basis, the verbiage associated with the claims made any parochial belief system are irrelevant.
You do like your words, don't you? It must be a nightmare to play scrabble with you, tbh.
Having said that, I'm not sure what you mean with your last sentence: it doesn't seem to work. Oh well.
I don't think words like 'right' or 'wrong' can be accurately applied to religion, and I also am of the opinion that a majority of the people I know seems to have no problem with slapping those qualifiers, usually the latter, on religions willy-nilly.
I for one don't believe you can squarely place 'the social perniciousness' related to religion, usually in a causal relationship, squarely at the feet of said religion. Ultimately, people are responsible for their own actions, and if they desire to make something happen, they will try to find an excuse to make the circumstances favorable to obtaining their goals. Such would be the case from kings all the way down to peasants (the peasant rebellions in present day Germany in the 1520's come to mind). In that regard, religions are not all that different from guns imho: guns don't kill people, people kill people. If there were no guns, they would use bows or swords to accomplish the same thing. (this by no means infers that I am in favor of the fifth amendment: guns certainly facilitate in the killing business, and I don't see why people should be free in purchasing them).
Same for religion: it's nice if you can justify your actions by quoting scripture, as it gives you an excuse for your actions among other believers. However, if that particular religion had not been established, would that mean the actions referred to would not have occurred? I for one believe that they would have, but that they would have happened for another reason
(eg, rather then wage war with the vile thingamajigs because they refuse to follow the true faith, you wage war with the vile thingamajigs because of the repulsive warts they all have on their nose.)