If you want to talk about religion, atheism, or agnosticism in a public, semi-anonymous internet community such as Reddit/Lemmy, you’ll want to have thick skin. Sadly my skin is not as thick as I’d like.
Oh, and as an ex-Christian, I still use Christianity as a frame of reference a lot— especially when criticizing American “Christians” for their lack of empathy when a good chunk of their own book states they should be otherwise. But then because I brought up Christianity but didn’t explicitly say it was wrong and/or evil, I get shit on pretty quickly. Then people literally try to tell me I’m lying about being an ex-Christian, including on Lemmy. People are… sad.
Mine is a naturalistic religious path rooted in science and its sound epistemology. I hold no supernatural beliefs whatsoever. I know exactly what you mean. I don’t blame them, though. Religion as a whole has for the past couple of millennia been steadily subsumed by the superstitious and fundamentalists, and this is largely an accident of state powers and other authorities wielding it as a tool. I personally have a biological need for spirituality (for my own mental health), and I think one of the major drivers of poor mental health in developed countries is the destruction of natural religion.
Religion does not require supernatural beliefs or authority of any kind, but many of those in state and church power—and the ignorant people they produce—have reduced religious dialogue to “Literal Sky Daddy VS No Literal Sky Daddy.”
I personally think (or at least hold out hope) that humans can do a lot better than this.
This is a very cool take and personal system. Thanks for sharing ♥