Religion

[Cuyir]

@Bridge: I was raised as a catholic. I had an insatiable curiosity which made me question everything (thank you mom for taking me to see Jurassic Park when it released). I can say I deluded myself, from time to time to believe in it. I can say I was unhappy with it as a whole; I hated the people in the church, I disliked the hypocrisy of it all and I had some ire towards myself for being part of it. I was also always told that normal human condition and feelings were sins and that i'd burn in hell; that i'd burn in hell for not believing; that i'd burn in hell for questioning the ''will of God''. So trust me when I say that I agree with you and that you have a point.

I also agree on culture being a part of the indoctrination system. Of course, as i've stated, I was raised as a catholic, but the whole culture I was a part of had deeply rooted christian background. It didn't take an indepth look to see how much christianity was part of the culture, like you've said in the cases of the Arab and European worlds. Even if you weren't a churchgoer, you still had a pretty high chance of having a belief in christianity or having trains of thoughts that were influenced by it (ie ''I can't do bad cause I can burn'' and ''i'll donate so i can go to heaven). I mean, look at American currency ''In God We Trust''.

But I still say that the church groups CAN be good for moral support but it's a moot point when you can just have a normal group without it having to be a religious one, like neighbors coming together and whatnot. It's an almost hypocritical and paradoxical way to see it, but if they're doing no harm to themselves and others, that support is all well and good. I think every one of us has personal delusions that help us from day to day, be it minor or major.

I learned from my experience as a self hating catholic (the stereotype is pretty solid if you ask me). I took the good things I learned as a catholic and paired them up with other things I learned from a plethora of other places. Those things I learned as a catholic I COULD have learned elsewhere but it still helped me. This is why I think this way about these belief systems. I stopped being religious but I learned from it. Religion is so big that it functions as a sort of ''lesson dispenser'', lessons that a lot of people wouldn't necessarily ignore when found outside of religion but being formally organized in religious beliefs makes it a better system to deliver said lessons. Is it perfect? Fuck no. Does it work as a sociocultural tool? Yeah. Do we need it? Not really. But it helps, even if it also harms.