A discussion has been ongoing for a while in the fora where the following question was raised:
The True Enemy
Institutional religion, or religion itself?
This is an interesting question, especially for a group calling themselves Antichristians. One would assume that the “Enemy” is the Christian religion but by judging from the replies of the members inside, this is not actually the case.
In the end, is there an enemy? I used to think so in the past but presently my thoughts on this are more fuzzy. Lets explore some common themes that Antichristians might consider as “the enemy”
Religion
Is religion, by itself, to be combated and eliminated? Most of us would answer an emphatic “No” to this question. A religion, by itself, is no more harmful than a delusion. Sure, you might believe you are talking to invisible pink unicorns that make you happy, or you might believe that your great Sky Daddy is always watching you take crap. These delusions by themselves however do not constitute a threat to anyone else other than the afflicted.
Sure, a problem might occur if these delusions lead a person to perform some kind of wrongdoing, like flying an airplane onto a skyscraper or ambush and murder a homosexual in a dark alley. These acts however will not be prevented by taking religion away. Like violent video games and actual violence, the link is usually a deeper issue, like a dementia on the part of the afflicted by the particular religion meme. Lacking religion, it is still quite probable that he might have done the same or similar crime, under another guise, like the aforementioned violent games.
The cure, then is not to take religion away, but rather to introduce checks in which the people that display this dangerous potential, might be caught.
Religion, by itself, is harmless. The real problem arises when it transforms into the more dangerous…
Organized Religion
Getting into details on all the problems that a religion creates when it gains organization and power will just derail this post so I’ll assume you are aware of them (If not, just research Scientology).
Should it be treated as an enemy though? Many would confirm and this is actually what I labeled as “the enemy” in the past myself and I still retain much of the same passion against it. However I cannot in all honesty label it as an enemy of mine. Sure, I despise the ridiculously corrupt ruling class of “holy men” who are granted authority and respect without doing anything to deserve it. Sure, I despise the political muscle that they wield to force whole nations to give them extra benefits than anyone else.
I do not fight them like an enemy however, for that is a lost cause. There is nothing that most of us can do to actively “fight” organized religion and acts like isolated offensives of church burnings and the like only serve to strengthen the resolve of their flock and grant them more power as their persecution complex is vindicated. For example, as much as I like and enjoy what Anonymous are doing, the more I see how hopeless it would be if the opposing religion was bigger and stronger.
An enemy like that, is an enemy you are bound to lose to and thus better not to declare as an enemy at all. Rather, you should strike at the weak point of this structure and the only place where you cannot be accused of being a bigot or a hate monger. This is the actual thing that I’ve realised is the true enemy of not only Antichristians but of Humanity as a whole.
Anti-Knowledge
Or ignorance if you like. Unfortunately that term has different meaning for different people. A Christian might accuse you for example of being ignorant of the “True meaning” of their religion.
Anti-Knowledge is a much more fitting term for what all religions are based on. The mentality that lack of knowledge (blind faith) in your drug of choice belief is a virtue. This is a very strong memetic trait of the same magnitude as children brainwashing that provides the religions that teach it with a large competitive advantage. Unfortunately, this ideology, not only serves to fill the ranks of the organized religions, but allows people to fall for any belief that “sounds right” to them.
The proverb “If you don’t believe in something, you’ll fall for anything.” (At times changed to “If you don’t believe in God, you’ll believe anything.”) only really applies to people who have had their mental immune system, AKA critical thinking, compromised. Unfortunately the percentage of people who are thus conditioned is large. And thus you observe people not leaving religion altogether but rather jumping from one to the other when they are not comfortable with the last. Just witness the quick rise of Islam in many countries, not only as a result of immigration but also because as a religion it has a larger competitive advantage than Christianity in the memetic war.
Not only that but the lower the education, the easier it is for this meme to replicate. It is very easy to discard what you never had and save yourself of the effort to educate yourself by grasping at the easy choice of believing what your authority figure tells you.
This is our true enemy. I have found that most of the time, the effort to convince someone that their beliefs are wrong is just too large. This is especially true if these beliefs have been their basis for all their life, like most major religions are to the less fortunate.On the other hand though, teaching people to embrace critical thinking and love of knowledge is usually a much easier task. As long as you take care to avoid their delusions, you can show them how greater knowledge will benefit them and why critical thinking can save them from scammers and other who would take advantage. Hopefully, when these two ideas have been implanted in them, they will eventually notice the gaping holes in their previous ideologies and slowly open their eyes.
A look at how people usually discard their delusions will quickly show you that, most often than not, it’s not arguments and rhetoric that change their mind but rather a long, difficult process of soul searching and questioning that they do themselves. Usually this begins once they are free of the groupthink in their previous communities (like, say, by going to college) and once they start thinking more.
It is thus no surprise that organized religions, along with totalitarian regimes, are perpetuators of ignorance. To them, Knowledge is anathema.
As antichristians, nay, as humans, it is imperative that we fight the true enemy, and not it’s symptoms.
The Antichristian Phenomenon
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