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This video popped up as a YT suggestion. There's a Linux youtuber I often listen to who says he has a PhD in biology, but when he strays into other topics he gets very religious. I can't understand how he can dismiss everything he was trained in, evidence based thinking, to blindly believe something without any evidence to support it. I could never do that.

Oh Hell yeah, I've seen George Carlin on religion (including that very monologue) and I very much like his down-to-earth views.

For example... something like "God loves you! But he has these 10 rules he wants you to follow and if you disobey them, he'll send you to burn and scream and cry for all eternity! But he loves you, and he needs your money!"

That about sums it up

(Fucking silly people and their sky daddies)

He does sum it up..
It's puzzled me since I was around eight years old how seemingly intelligent people fall for this stuff.
I love George.
If you want a more in depth scholarly version of this idea, Christopher Hitchens wrote a great book years ago called:
"God is Not Great - How Religion Poisons Everything"

Me too, his humour just smacked you in the face. While he's immortalized by his humour, his perspective will be missed. Not only the things he says, but how he says them and audio doesn't do it justice because the maniacal looks on his face are a big part of it for me. Back when I was a kid it was George Carlin record albums so that element wasn't there. Though, I still have his (probably?) most famous line memorized and I can say it really fast... "Shit Piss Fuck Cunt Cocksuckermotherfucker and tits" (and I can say that here! )

However, yes, religion is poison and its archetypes have been involved in the collapses of civilizations throughout mankind's history. Same fucking types of people, different movie (timeline). It's uncanny how human behaviour types (broadly generalizing) seem to fit a mold.

Fear and intimidation - religion is kind of like the Goa'uld, except for being something religious people inflict upon themselves. I also thought it was bs from an early age. My parents weren't religious but some members of my family were, and as a kid when I was staying with some of these family members I occasionally ended up in a church classroom with the other kids, where they'd keep the kids occupied. They'd take us one by one into a room to try to indoctrinate us with those religious fairy tales, and I remember not buying any of it lol!

I started out in a Catholic school, so the fear and intimidation was impressed upon me. They made us to go confession and stuff etc. too. I knew, even at like 7, 8 years old that nothing was really going to happen if I mocked, swore, sinned etc. but it was at age 11 where I stopped pretending I believed any of that nonsense.

I had to get "confirmed" as a Catholic, it was important to my grandparents. I resigned myself to doing it, but I told my mother that after this, I wasn't going to set foot in a church again. The only "pressure" was really that they were proud of me. For example, my great grandfather was almost in tears, he was so happy, when he heard that I served mass and stuff. It was easy to want to conform.

One night, I went for a walk with my paternal grandmother (who was fairly pious back then). I was almost thinking that for their sake I should continue the ruse, she made me want to. That is, until she started trying to work me over, to get Dad to remove dirty magazines from his store. She was telling me that if I put that pressure on him, he would. I was thinking "waitaminnit", I like dirty magazines, this is just wrong. I understood that this is what religious people did and I wanted none of it.

Grogan wrote: Mon Sep 02, 2024 11:23 pm
One night, I went for a walk with my paternal grandmother (who was fairly pious back then). I was almost thinking that for their sake I should continue the ruse, she made me want to. That is, until she started trying to work me over, to get Dad to remove dirty magazines from his store. She was telling me that if I put that pressure on him, he would. I was thinking "waitaminnit", I like dirty magazines, this is just wrong. I understood that this is what religious people did and I wanted none of it.

That's what they all do. Put pressure on people to think the way they think and believe the things they think they believe in.
My parents were not religious at all, but around the age of eight or nine my mom thought my brother and I would benefit from Sunday school. Up until that time I never even thought about church or religion. We went a few times and it seemed like fun for a while. We made things and played games and stuff. I was a United church if I remember so not the damnation and Hellfire of the Catholicism. But there was always a part of the session where we were fed the make believe stuff. It didn't' take long for the both of us to realise that in the eyes of the Sunday school teachers it was all real, and we were being coerced into swallowing the whole story. It simply didn't make any sense and I thought at first there must be something wrong with me for not understanding it. We soon left the flock but it took a long time to rid myself of even that little bit of brainwashing. It wasn't that I had any doubts about my non belief, more like - why does everyone else believe it?
I don't have any problem relating to the real Catholics, Muslims, Hindus etc. I mean the ones' born into those religions and are hard wired from birth to really believe only what they are supposed to. It's the converts, and born again holier than thou types who look down on atheists. I've had many conversations with people like that, and I'm convinced that maybe 99% of them are just pretending to believe. They like to believe that they believe.
.. end of rant

I don't have a problem with anybody, if they keep their stupid shit to themselves. One of the few religions that don't want me dead or converted is Judaism... so that's one of the religions I hate the least

The United Church of Canada though, that's a very nice Christian group. One of the few churches where they didn't make me feel like the antichrist. I don't even really need to rebuke their shit with spiteful thoughts because it's at least nice. They are inclusive, friendly and welcoming and they actually "celebrate their faith", misplaced though it is. I like those people.

Apologies if I've told this story, but it's a funny United Church related one. I had a customer named Pat, she was an older lady, very nice. However, she had Windows Millennium on her computer which was very messed up with malware and general breakage, so you can imagine the vile incantations coming out of me. I was jesusfuckingchristing and cocksuckermotherfuckering etc. cursing demonically. It's just... how I cope

I could always fix Win9x (even ME) so the outcome was good. As I was finishing up it came up in conversation that she was a.... Reverend!

At the United Church in town. I embarrassingly apologized for my behaviour, oh I've been an animal, I'm so sorry, but she said, all tee hee and woo hoo, "That's alright dear, you should hear me when I get going! God has a sense of humour you know, don't worry"

Now that's my kind of preacher... I had no idea she was religious until she told me (and it wasn't because I was swearing that she did). I'd been to her house many times after that over the years. For free even, sometimes if I'd just been recently, or it only took a few secs. When she questioned that, I told her it was her reward for being a wonderful person and she was humble and said she hoped she could live up to that. Sadly, she's probably gone by now. I'm sure she imparted a lot of good on people.

yep, the true Christians, I mean people who actually live a Christian based life are seldom Orthodox, and rarely see the need to remind you that they are Christians.
Like your Pat..