this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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How is overriding sense of morality is a problem? Doesn't your sociocultural background already do that, leading to conflicts?
Based on my experience, people seem to override their religion more than the opposite. I doubt if those mega rich pastors, pedophile priests, extremists, and hate groups actually care about what their religions say. It seems that they just do whatever the fuck they want and do all sort of mental gymnastics to justify their actions and make themselves feel better about it. I'd much prefer if religion actually overrides these people's morality
That's exactly my point?
If you take an in depth look of those events, there were always inherent political and economical motives. Explicitly saying that you want to assert authority, consolidate power, and acquire more land and wealth by slaughtering bunch of innocent people sounds awful, doesn't it?
Saying that most wars are caused by religion seems like a stretch, considering conflicts have existed long before human even existed and fights are going to happen anyway. I'm not sure if that's any worse than invading Iraq for "freedom" or Stalin and Mao killing their people because they were "counter-revolutionaries"
Having to justify actions to themselves and find ways to feel better can be made easier with a tool like religion that they can lean on. It's not the only way to get there but at that point, they've already recognized that what they're doing is immoral and they want the money, kid-rape, political / social change, etc. more than they want to stay within the bounds of morality. Murder is wrong but if they've been told that, according to the all-knowing being in charge who knows best, allowing a certain type of person to live is worse, they have a ready substitute for the "don't murder" rule to help them pull the trigger.
Doesn't have to be the big-ticket items like rape and murder though, it could just be someone who makes others' lives harder unnecessarily. Maybe it's a shitty boss whose verbal abuse is just acceptable enough to avoid discipline from above or somebody who tosses their fast food trash out the window on the highway. Scummy behavior for sure but they can balance the scales for themselves by feeling bad and talking about it on Sunday morning. It can replace the urge to be less of a shitbag because at least they're still playing the role of a good worshiper.