Unfortunately they believe that their god will punish everyone (them included) even for other people’s misconduct in the community. Ancient Judaism has this principle and the old testament is full of examples of this, but this caused no big harm outside the Jewish community because it only applies to “the elected people” and not to everyone in the world. The problem started with Christianity, more in detail with St. Paul’s doctrine of ecumenism, which extended to everyone this dangerous belief. With consequences we are still paying 2000 years after.
And also at odds with anyone who wants to respect the religion but not partake of the religion or its tenets. You can’t not want to be subject to the laws or tenets of the religion because the religion is predicated on swaying non-believers to believe by pretty much any means necessary. So if you aren’t a believer you should be. That’s the logic. You aren’t following the tenets of the religion and they believe you should be. They believe it’s the only way to gain their God’s acceptance and love.
There are plenty of prohibitions I’m happy enough to live with.
Had scripture contained a verse in which the Archangel Gabriel alighted upon a banister and declared “Hark! Thy vehicles hath moveth’d too fastly through school zones! Narry shall thou exceed 20mph lest the heavens frown and the Lord look down upon his high chair and be displeased. Let the men of the highway patrol assess thee prohibitionary fines to deter speeding and incarceration of those that do both speed and strike a child!”, compelling legions of traffic cops and their fellow travelers to enforce the rule within 200ft of any school zone, I would not begrude it.
But so much of modern religious theory is so incredibly dated. Its perfectly okay to eat shellfish now. You don’t need to butcher a cow exactly right or get all sorts of nasty diseases. We abolished chattel slavery, so you don’t need special rubrics for how to sell off your children or assign out your spouses.
The religiousity of the rules bothers me far less than the anti-democratic nature of decision making.
“My religion doesn’t let me do xyz” - fair nuff, respekt
“My religion doesn’t let you do xyz” - fuck off
Unfortunately they believe that their god will punish everyone (them included) even for other people’s misconduct in the community. Ancient Judaism has this principle and the old testament is full of examples of this, but this caused no big harm outside the Jewish community because it only applies to “the elected people” and not to everyone in the world. The problem started with Christianity, more in detail with St. Paul’s doctrine of ecumenism, which extended to everyone this dangerous belief. With consequences we are still paying 2000 years after.
That’s a great point. Christian moral evangelism is partly to avoid bearing collective punishment, which is itself unjust.
And also at odds with anyone who wants to respect the religion but not partake of the religion or its tenets. You can’t not want to be subject to the laws or tenets of the religion because the religion is predicated on swaying non-believers to believe by pretty much any means necessary. So if you aren’t a believer you should be. That’s the logic. You aren’t following the tenets of the religion and they believe you should be. They believe it’s the only way to gain their God’s acceptance and love.
There are plenty of prohibitions I’m happy enough to live with.
Had scripture contained a verse in which the Archangel Gabriel alighted upon a banister and declared “Hark! Thy vehicles hath moveth’d too fastly through school zones! Narry shall thou exceed 20mph lest the heavens frown and the Lord look down upon his high chair and be displeased. Let the men of the highway patrol assess thee prohibitionary fines to deter speeding and incarceration of those that do both speed and strike a child!”, compelling legions of traffic cops and their fellow travelers to enforce the rule within 200ft of any school zone, I would not begrude it.
But so much of modern religious theory is so incredibly dated. Its perfectly okay to eat shellfish now. You don’t need to butcher a cow exactly right or get all sorts of nasty diseases. We abolished chattel slavery, so you don’t need special rubrics for how to sell off your children or assign out your spouses.
The religiousity of the rules bothers me far less than the anti-democratic nature of decision making.