What about religion?

I don't know how many of you have been waiting for Suzanne and me to have That Religion Discussion, considering she's a pretty hardcore Presbyterian and I... am not.

We haven't had it, but in IM tonight we pretty much established that it's not likely to be necessary anytime soon.

What got me thinking about this now was an amazing article in Wired online dealing with atheism. It's the longest single article I've ever seen in Wired's website, even longer than the one that talked about their decision to publish the "secret" AT&T documents that confirmed that the NSA and phone companies conspired to spy on zillions of Americans' phone calls. It made me think about where I stand about the three separate and extremely distinct ideas of "belief," "faith," and "organized religion."

Go read it.

Put me firmly in the camp of "religion is bad when it does evil, coerces people to do evil, shames and hurts people, excludes people, or imposes or attempts to impose its will on third parties."

Since that pretty much covers every organized faith except maybe Buddhism, you now have an understanding of my interest in religion. In the name of various gods, people have been killed, tortured, cast out, their votes perverted, their opinions skewed, their lives altered in ways they cannot control. Resources have been wasted, valuable ideas suppressed, minds numbed.

The following space is for you to write down all the good stuff organized religions have accomplished:

Note that this is quite distinct from "faith" and "belief," both of which can be extremely positive and are usually nonsectarian. I have "faith" in the basic good nature of people and of the healing power of time. I have "belief" in my own abilities and in natural physical laws.

"Organized religion" got nuthin' to do with it.

Suzanne now knows these things.

And she's just fine with it.

The text box above has no "save" button. You fundamentalists "know" that "only Jesus saves," right?

Yeah.