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Originally Posted by !@#$%!
i'm not saying that religion "causes" these problems-- it just provides the perfect rationalization and it mobilizes and controls the believing idiots.
stalinism was a religion of its own-- they prophesized, they offered paradise, they had their unquestionable dogmas and their inquisitions. how was that not religious-- it was in the religious mold.
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religion is a sort of supernatural belief so stalinism is not religion, it's similar, but in the exact same way all political or economic ideas can be, and we need political and economic ideas to accomplish anything.the fact that political ideas free from religion can be in the religious mold shows that the problem is much deeper than the actual beliefs, religion is fucked up because it's in the human mold. that's why i think blaming religion is short sighted, it's like blaming smith & wesson for an armed robbery and ignoring the fact that the robber did it for personal gain
like a gun religion is more of a tool than a cause.you really don't need religion to mobilise the idiots unfortunately, . it's an incredibly useful tool for manipulating, but so are all ideas. if you convince everyone in the usa that they'll be wealthier and safer if they nuke mexico you can bet they'll be into it, no god needed. the cruelty of rajneesh is based on wanting to tell people what to do and not pay his taxes, and whether catholic/atheist, communist/capitalist, rockstar/rapper the problem of greedy and manipulative people suckering others is unfortunately more inherent than any belief could be.
which leaves the question as to why rajneesh's brand of religion strikes me as a more dangerous thing than most, and that's simply because of the individual aspect. the koran is written by a guy who might not exist and isn't going to tell you what to do either way so the people attracted to it could easily have greatly differing versions of following it. osama bin laden is a specific, mortal person who everyone knows kills people, so people who directly become attracted to his own brand of islam are more likely to be violent. someone attracted to hindu beliefs may be into it because they perceive it as something that will make them a better person. but being attracted to a specific hindu individual who is known to be violent and misrepresent their own religion for personal gain is different because you aren't just following an idea in the clouds but a regular person who's very clearly fucked up. that's why i wouldn't be worried to find out someone is a hindu, but would be scared of someone who's into rajneesh specifically