Comment on Are we deprogramming empathy in the US?

• prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  When given the idea that there is no retribution or reprocussion for their actions, many people become nihilistic and act terribly.

  This is what you call a sociopath. If you need fear of retribution in order to not do awful things, then you’re just a piece of shit.

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• Doomsider@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

  There is good scientific evidence that people do not think about the consequences of their actions before they commit to them.

  Criminals don’t think of the punishment they will receive by society but suddenly a far removed sky daddy will convince them not to rob a store? This is not how any of this works.

  Morality is developed by our social bounds, otherwise every agnostic or atheist would be wildly our of control.

  People are mentally weak because of religion, not despite it. It is the antithesis to critical thinking. The lack of critical thought is why our society is so easy to control.

  I have seen this play out countless times in my life where people realize how fucked up their religion was once they have left it.

  As their eyes open and they realize that they were being controlled by their religious leaders who abused them, they have to wrestle with the life that was stolen from them.

  I am even to the point now where I no longer believe certain people need religion anymore. They need community and a sense of belonging and religious leaders like to highjack that basic need for their own selfish interests.

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  • aesthelete@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

    I am even to the point now where I no longer believe certain people need religion anymore. They need community and a sense of belonging and religious leaders like to highjack that basic need for their own selfish interests.

    I think I agree with basically everything you’ve said here and especially this conclusion. The problem is that for many the only type of these things they can find is couched in religion. As a child-free atheist, I basically have no sense of belonging nor a community.

    In addition, some people’s only exposure to even the very concept of morality or ethics comes through religion.

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    • Doomsider@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      You have a community here which is probably more real and fulfilling than going to a church service. Here we are having a discussion you would never get in a typical church. We are both thinking together, discussing, without any authority to tell us otherwise.

      Our sense of right and wrong simply don’t come from religion. It initially comes from our familial bounds but is reinforced through our many interactions with our social groups.

      You can see this in gangsters that believe in God, but also will deal drugs and shoot each other. Their morality is determined by their social group, not their belief in religion.

      As I said. I used to believe like you that religion is needed by some people, but I have begun to doubt this premise.

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      • ArgumentativeMonotheist@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        You’re confusing people who say they are/consider themselves A and do/are A with those who aren’t. You understand religion as a superficial, decorative thing because that’s the way it has been in the West since at least the days of Nietzsche, and as such their moral relativism is not surprising at all (ethics are belief/self-determination, check is-ought problem on wiki). Doomsider, I have walked your path, I just started earlier and I’m probably older as well. Your vitriolic gut reaction has to do more with your perception of religion and religious people in a Roman Catholic plus offshoots setting (or just some hypocrites from whatever religious group) than it has to do with belief and monotheism itself, your disappointment is expected. But you haven’t gotten it, you don’t understand what it actually means to believe in something and live your life accordingly in a similar way you understand gravity and don’t jump out of windows. Take care, merry winter solstice! 👋

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