Considering the "sins and misconduct" of organized religion, in general, as opposed to any of the particular examples this thread will no doubt fill up with, I'd say its nothing compared to the examples available from unorganized religion.
In fact, a lot of the examples in this thread I'd personally classify as unorganized or less organized varieties of religion. A lot of the better examples of religion, or religion at its best, seldom get considered. Those examples of religion at its best usually have have some clear organized/organizing principles involved.
Using the language of "sin", something clearly borrowed from religion itself. Kind of begs the question of whether that kind of critique of religion would be possible if it hadnt been for religion in the first place. Religion being such a good descriptive source when its to conceptualizing right and wrong.
There's a question of the choice of representations of religion, ie is it fair to constantly represent religion at its absolute worst as religion per se. Is it really the default that's being represented? If its not then why is it so popular a thing to represent it as the default?
There's also a question of the choice of stories about religion, are they representative of religion per se or are they are representation of the betrayal of religion?
Anyway, I'm just noting this and posting this as none of these things got a mention, as they didnt the last time, as I'm absolutely certain they will not the next time. I guess its a missed opportunity as any actual discussion goes. But I'm sure same old, same old is really working for a lot of people here. Also, for the small and shrinking number of new posters, it could be fresh. Carry on. I think I hear echoes in one, two, three...
Do you ever stop and step back to realize how whiny your posts have been for years, any time anyone from another country criticizes religious practices in their country?
You are complaining repeatedly (post after post) like rapid gunfire about how everyone is treating religion (presumably yours) unfairly, ad nauseum. (Honestly there's no reason why you should be in here making post after post in a row that are just passive-aggressive in nature anyway. Why not actually argue the points head on?)
But take this bit for example:
In fact, a lot of the examples in this thread I'd personally classify as unorganized or less organized varieties of religion. A lot of the better examples of religion, or religion at its best, seldom get considered. Those examples of religion at its best usually have have some clear organized/organizing principles involved.
This is just a "#NotAllReligions' cursory argument without any substance offered in support of it. THe assumption of course is that "a lot of better examples of religion" refers to your particular blend of faith, and the criticized religions are of course not indicative of your grand faith. But you've had, what, 10+ years to make your case. Mostly now you get ignored, and it's mainly because of this kind of posting style.
I don't see USA folks are hating religion per se, but what we are jaded by are the folks most loudly screaming "religion" and insisting that they have the only "real faith" are usually the most abusive organizations and also some of the most tainted. some of us spent years, decades even, involves as active believers in said religious denominations. I don't know anyone who complains about the average person who has a quiet faith and is out there living it -- helping people, sacrificing for the good of others, providing actual encouragement and support. That's my mom in a nutshell, for example.
But hey, guess what? In the USA, everything is a policy and doctrine war, publicly -- if you don't hold the "Correct Beliefs" about god, then anything good you do is discarded or dismissed by the most vocal religious proponents. I have literally been watching this get worse and worse since I was old enough to recognize it -- and we're talking late 70's here. Even though I was involved in various denominations for many years after, I remember just being mortified hearing it endlessly. I daresay Biden or Obama have stronger personal faiths than Donald Trump, but the vocal religious conservatives still try to compare them and still support Trump because he agrees with them politically. Morally, though, the man is a terrible mess. ANd so are all these other religious leaders who keep setting themselves up for a huge moral tumble while pretending they are better morally than everyone else and disregarding not just other faiths but other denominations of the same faith they claim to profess. Here they are arguing about "doctrinal purity" in effect, while missing the fact that their denomination of religious faith is bleeding itself dry due to defections and not actually helping people in a way that would make their lives better.
That's the reality here. It gets old. We're tired. We're jaded by the corruption.
If you want to discuss religion, honestly, why don't you start showcasing good things about your particular blend of faith instead of whining about the criticism that people are leveling against faith that just happens to be whatever you personally buy into? If you don't think you should be lumped in with that, then share examples of the good that will distinguish you rather than complaining you're being tainted by connection and essentially blaming the people who are put off by the hypocrisies.
