The Pitch: Banning All Religion

[Inchante]

@Marshlander: I presume your response was general but also in reply to my comments. So, I will answer.

There is a huge difference between teaching religion and teaching about religion.

That is very true. However, there is also a huge difference between teaching about religion and teaching about a single aspect or dimension of religion--"educating about its contradictions, flaws, etc."--too. It seems to me a terrible irony when people declare religion to be bigoted, hypocritical, and an instrument of brainwashing and then turn around and advocate banning religion or teaching about it as if it is solely a negative aspect of culture and society,

Every -ism, that is every ideology, posses the inherent ability to be taken to dangerous extremes, that goes for Theism, Communism, Socialism, Capitalism, Darwinism, Rationalism, Nationalism, Liberalism etc. All of these can be terribly destructive forces when taken to extremes, and everyone of them has proven that fact.

Stories are fun and are a testament to the creative imagination. Sometimes they help explain difficult ideas and sometimes they can drop ideas into difficult contexts. However, decisions about people's lives should be based on evidence and facts more than on stories and hope.

Compassion, empathy, sympathy, things which stories often give us, should not be lightly dismissed. There is a reason why Pathos is listed as one of the three major tools of Oratory by Aristotle. Logos alone cannot give us a clear picture nor can it give us true justice. And facts, well, facts and evidence can be as misleading as ideology itself in the right circumstances.

No one book should ever be allowed to accrue so much power that its ideas become unimpeachable.

“Books! You lie there; the fact is, you books must know your places. You’ll do to give us the bare words and facts, but we come in to supply the thoughts”— Herman Melville.

Never stop asking questions.

"Fix reason firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason, than that of blindfolded fear."-Thomas Jefferson

Like Jefferson, I am a Deist. And like Jefferson, I believe that the State has no place to dictate to individuals what they should believe and who they should or should not worship, not even to the point of providing a lopsided "education" on the topic.

I hope this grants you a better understanding of why I am opposed to banning religion or even providing a course on the negative aspects of religion. It is not because I am religious, but because I find the thought of imposing systems of belief upon others appalling.

Of course, as a gay man, I am well aware of the attempts of SOME religious peoples to impose their beliefs on me, but there are better ways of addressing such situations. As Ghandi said, playing on the Talmudic doctrine, "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." I find that to be true. So, in accordance with Ghandi's observation, I utilize another Biblical quote: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." -Matthew 7:12. I find a great deal of wisdom, reason, and compassion in that statement. Even if it comes from a book that, more often than not, I disagree with.

Have a good weekend all. mile: