tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post1675309930213142461..comments2024-03-22T05:17:53.112-04:00Comments on Big Bad Bald Bastard: Above the LawBig Bad Bald Bastardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01983025559556548658noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-55619880956195472212017-12-21T23:14:32.116-05:002017-12-21T23:14:32.116-05:00People sometimes ask me if I'm a "fallen ...<i>People sometimes ask me if I'm a "fallen away Catholic".<br />No, I reply, I jumped.</i><br /><br />I say that the church left me, with a combination of the sex scandals and a hard right theological turn.<br /><br /><i>But to your specific point, this is another example of why I evolved into one of the 'shrill' anti-religion atheists, out of the Harris/Dawkins/Hitchins school. Organized religion by definition is vested with a unique degree of power - based on the coercive indoctrination necessary to make otherwise intelligent human beings believe seven impossible things before breakfast - and being just other humans in funny outfits, many of them will be venal predators who will use the mythological structure itself to prey on their community</i><br /><br />The weird thing is that the entire power structure requires so much buy-in from the marks... the coercion is based on something that there's no evidence for, at least in most of this country and Western Europe.Big Bad Bald Bastardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01983025559556548658noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-36015169263357232792017-12-21T12:51:04.513-05:002017-12-21T12:51:04.513-05:00Yes! Nicely done.
Powerful men will always exploi...Yes! Nicely done.<br /><br />Powerful men will always exploit the power imbalance to take advantage of the people under their purview. The church - organizationally and institutionally - built that kind of power imbalance into every aspect of life within not just the organization itself, but the communities it 'served'. The difference - we'll see how far it goes and how long it holds - is that there is suddenly some accountability for these kinds of actions. It's spotty - in Hollywood, in Congress (to some extent), but not within Law Enforcement or Finance.<br /><br />But to your specific point, this is another example of why I evolved into one of the 'shrill' anti-religion atheists, out of the Harris/Dawkins/Hitchins school. Organized religion by definition is vested with a unique degree of power - based on the coercive indoctrination necessary to make otherwise intelligent human beings believe seven impossible things before breakfast - and being just other humans in funny outfits, many of them will be venal predators who will use the mythological structure itself to prey on their community.<br /><br />The answer is in accountability. Consequences. When people pay a price for their behavior, most will decide not to take the risk. I KNOW there's a bunch of money in the local bank, but I don't steal it because I don't want to pay the consequences. That's the rule of law - justice for victims, harsh penalties for victimizers. <br /><br />I'm just afraid that we're going to get distracted by events and let the moment pass....mikeyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13057701313718589322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8526498499129692237.post-24188906486677851572017-12-20T23:53:28.825-05:002017-12-20T23:53:28.825-05:00People sometimes ask me if I'm a "fallen ...People sometimes ask me if I'm a "fallen away Catholic".<br />No, I reply, I jumped.<br /><br />In other news, what's the difference between Roy Moore and an Islamic fundamentalist?<br />A cowboy hat.bowtiejackhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03269786110593961195noreply@blogger.com