• pancakes@sh.itjust.works
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    4 months ago

    I’m not religious, but I can see the immense value that religion had historically as an imperfect guide to ethics and practical knowledge.

    Sure, we can scoff at the hypocrisy and flaws now with our years of schooling, but the common person didn’t have the same access to academia back them. Short, memorable stories that show people getting punished for misdeeds and others rewarded for positive deeds is much easier to impart onto peasants than the nuances of collectivism.

    Someone could point to the horrible acts done in the name of religion, but just imagine if those people didn’t have the fear of god in them. Tribalism would have separated humans into different nonreligious groups to genocide in a world without religion.

    • Passerby6497@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      Someone could point to the horrible acts done in the name of religion, but just imagine if those people didn’t have the fear of god in them

      Lol no. Imagine if these people didn’t think they were still righteous in the eyes of god, maybe they might not have felt the need to torture in the name of their god.

    • guy@piefed.social
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      4 months ago

      Short, memorable stories that show people getting punished for misdeeds and others rewarded for positive deeds

      You don’t need religion for that when there’s folklore

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
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      4 months ago

      I can see the value I can also see the harm I can also see the hypocrisy in asserting there is no God or that the universe came from nothing, in the end it’s all the same and humans are just humans being humans.