No, it's OK. I understand what you're saying, and that I asked you a very difficult and possibly unfair question.
I guess I understand your point on a theoretical level (I recognize that most religions, if not all, have caused some kind of harm as social institutions, and that for some people, that may be condemning). But I have a hard time understanding how it translates into practical, concrete details - is there any kind of theism that is acceptable to practice, in your view? etc.
I also wonder whether it isn't unfair to say that churches as social institutions can never make up for their flaws. For instance, the USA has never made any kind of reparations for slavery, nor segregation, etc. Obviously I blame the USA as an institution, to some degree, for the horrid racist history of the country. But I also believe that the USA as an institution isn't irreparable - that by working at it we can hopefully make things better within it. I feel approximately the same way about the UCC (my denomination), and I think that strides within it have actually, genuinely been made, even though there's still a long way to go.
Now, I totally dig that you can believe that there are inherent flaws in theism that fuck up someone's worldview entirely, so the whole thing is rotten at the core. This is, I assume, how anarchists feel about the USA's existence. I respect that even if I don't agree with it. But your arguments thus far have led me to believe that you are more concerned with specific wrongs that religions have committed rather than deep flaws in the belief system - am I right?
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Date: 2010-04-13 06:14 pm (UTC)I guess I understand your point on a theoretical level (I recognize that most religions, if not all, have caused some kind of harm as social institutions, and that for some people, that may be condemning). But I have a hard time understanding how it translates into practical, concrete details - is there any kind of theism that is acceptable to practice, in your view? etc.
I also wonder whether it isn't unfair to say that churches as social institutions can never make up for their flaws. For instance, the USA has never made any kind of reparations for slavery, nor segregation, etc. Obviously I blame the USA as an institution, to some degree, for the horrid racist history of the country. But I also believe that the USA as an institution isn't irreparable - that by working at it we can hopefully make things better within it. I feel approximately the same way about the UCC (my denomination), and I think that strides within it have actually, genuinely been made, even though there's still a long way to go.
Now, I totally dig that you can believe that there are inherent flaws in theism that fuck up someone's worldview entirely, so the whole thing is rotten at the core. This is, I assume, how anarchists feel about the USA's existence. I respect that even if I don't agree with it. But your arguments thus far have led me to believe that you are more concerned with specific wrongs that religions have committed rather than deep flaws in the belief system - am I right?