By Carl S ~
Suppose you were a member of one of those evangelical/fundamental/Pentecostal/whatever sect-i-cal, congregations. You loved a god and felt abandoned by him. You were told, “Don’t feel that way; blame yourself.” You dived into a relationship with high elation. It went downhill. An overdose of good feelings, like anything else, can be toxic. Your illusionary “highs” crashed. But what is this trust lovers of a god have except trust in those who speak for him? They give the god's pushers freedom to exploit them. Usually these exploiters are well-fed dealers who enjoy deceiving, who sleep well at night with a clear conscience. It works. In these United States, we are having a national religio-opioid crisis.
Faith is believing what they wish for is true. Faiths are imbibings of a group's wishful feelings. They're like drunks who prefer the company of drunks, and you can't reason with them. If a member no longer feels the spirits and says so, the others freeze him out. Religions create a barrier of indifference to the thoughts and feelings of non-participants in their fantasies. It's a double standard: believers are sensitive, and offended when their feelings are gently touched by questions. The “virtue” of idolizing feelings, aka “faith,” is threatened by asking for reasonable explanations..
How psychologically enthralling and addictive, to throw away the inhibitions of reason and sanity, when emotions are amplified in a service, sometimes to orgasmic intensity! Be wary whenever those emotions transfer to “the world outside,” when those feelings justify denying the rights of others. Many lives are being made miserable and destroyed so that believers can keep their comfort and joy.
Faith is praised as if it still exists in the times of martyrs and miracles. Now it's mostly feel good junk food spirituality, like wishing for the prosperity gospel-god's abundant material rewards. Faith really is feeling-hope: you hope what you wish for is true. There's something wacko when people worship feelings as irrefutable truth; when they prefer to trust their feelings, not that persistent whispering telling them facts, amid the repetitive hypnosis of dogmas. Do they fear to hear reality whispering?
People [...] have been indoctrinated to trust religious authority figures without questioning them. Those who blindly still do are floating in a cesspool of lies.Feelings the religious don't want to think about: The feelings of parents who entrusted their children to members of the clergy, only to have them molested. Think of how those children felt when they were called liars, while the congregation defended the cleric. How did those “men of God” come to be trusted? Why, millions of people, for thousands of years, have been indoctrinated to trust religious authority figures without questioning them. Those who blindly still do, are floating in a cesspool of lies.
Think of how those women felt, who, after entrusting their experiences of clerical sexual abuse to the pope, were called “liars” by him. They had to feel betrayed, while knowing millions drool admiration for him. They, and thousands of children, have been fucked by the father, the Holy Father, and Our Father. And yet we can't envision them trusting an honest, caring, Richard Dawkins, who simply points out their God and his pope did nothing to stop their abuse. Maybe they prefer to trust in a wishful imagining of that god as a father-protector instead.
You loved an invisible deity, as much as others throughout history loved theirs. You can't trust the spokesmen of this God; they're in the same exploitation business. Disillusioned, you confided in your fellow believers. They walked away from your feelings. But remember: Christianity created and feeds a frigid insensitivity to the moral feelings of non- Christians. You say, “I’m finished trusting an imaginary being with my love. There are real beings who need and will appreciate it.” Now that you've done it, maybe it hurts, this being just another human whose emotions have been toyed with. Now you're free to “investigate the solid reality of the world around us.” Trust us: You will feel better.
Faith is believing what they wish for is true. Faiths are imbibings of a group's wishful feelings. They're like drunks who prefer the company of drunks, and you can't reason with them. If a member no longer feels the spirits and says so, the others freeze him out. Religions create a barrier of indifference to the thoughts and feelings of non-participants in their fantasies. It's a double standard: believers are sensitive, and offended when their feelings are gently touched by questions. The “virtue” of idolizing feelings, aka “faith,” is threatened by asking for reasonable explanations..
How psychologically enthralling and addictive, to throw away the inhibitions of reason and sanity, when emotions are amplified in a service, sometimes to orgasmic intensity! Be wary whenever those emotions transfer to “the world outside,” when those feelings justify denying the rights of others. Many lives are being made miserable and destroyed so that believers can keep their comfort and joy.
Faith is praised as if it still exists in the times of martyrs and miracles. Now it's mostly feel good junk food spirituality, like wishing for the prosperity gospel-god's abundant material rewards. Faith really is feeling-hope: you hope what you wish for is true. There's something wacko when people worship feelings as irrefutable truth; when they prefer to trust their feelings, not that persistent whispering telling them facts, amid the repetitive hypnosis of dogmas. Do they fear to hear reality whispering?
People [...] have been indoctrinated to trust religious authority figures without questioning them. Those who blindly still do are floating in a cesspool of lies.Feelings the religious don't want to think about: The feelings of parents who entrusted their children to members of the clergy, only to have them molested. Think of how those children felt when they were called liars, while the congregation defended the cleric. How did those “men of God” come to be trusted? Why, millions of people, for thousands of years, have been indoctrinated to trust religious authority figures without questioning them. Those who blindly still do, are floating in a cesspool of lies.
Think of how those women felt, who, after entrusting their experiences of clerical sexual abuse to the pope, were called “liars” by him. They had to feel betrayed, while knowing millions drool admiration for him. They, and thousands of children, have been fucked by the father, the Holy Father, and Our Father. And yet we can't envision them trusting an honest, caring, Richard Dawkins, who simply points out their God and his pope did nothing to stop their abuse. Maybe they prefer to trust in a wishful imagining of that god as a father-protector instead.
You loved an invisible deity, as much as others throughout history loved theirs. You can't trust the spokesmen of this God; they're in the same exploitation business. Disillusioned, you confided in your fellow believers. They walked away from your feelings. But remember: Christianity created and feeds a frigid insensitivity to the moral feelings of non- Christians. You say, “I’m finished trusting an imaginary being with my love. There are real beings who need and will appreciate it.” Now that you've done it, maybe it hurts, this being just another human whose emotions have been toyed with. Now you're free to “investigate the solid reality of the world around us.” Trust us: You will feel better.
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