"Why People Hate Religion"

[BigmanPigman]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/opinion/trump-religion.html
"Religious hypocrites are an easy and eternal mark."

"Evangelicals give cover to an amoral president because they believe God is using him to advance their causes. “There has never been anyone who has defended us and who has fought for us, who we have loved more than Donald J. Trump,” said Ralph Reed at a meeting of professed Christian activists earlier this summer."

"But what really thrills them is when Trump bullies and belittles their opponents, as counterintuitive as that may seem. Evangelicals “love the meanest parts” of Trump, the Christian writer Ben Howe argues in his new book, “The Immoral Majority.” Older white Christians rouse to Trump’s toxicity because he’s taking their side. It’s tribal, primal and vindictive."

"So, yes, people hate religion when the loudest proponents of religion are shown to be mercenaries for a leader who debases everything he touches. And yes, young people are leaving the pews in droves because too often the person facing them in those pews is a fraud."

"They hate religion because, at a moment to stand up and be counted on the right side of history, religion is used as moral cover for despicable behavior. This is not new to our age. Hitler got a pass from the Vatican until very late in the war."

[smirkymonkey]

1. Thus, the persecution complex.

They think they are being persecuted for being Christians. They aren't. They are being persecuted for being hateful, racist, sexist assholes.

[Major Nikon]

4. Seems to be quite popular

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

2. Trust me, people can hate religion without ever taking into account

the Evangelicals who support and cover Trump.

There's the Catholic Church and its long history of pedophelia.

There are the fundamentalists of all religions who do not believe in the dignity and autonomy of women.

Then there's the basic disagreements about what the Scriptures mean, which ones you should actually pay attention to, what prayers you should pray and on and on.

My essential problem with religion is that each and every one says, "We have the correct take on all this. And only we are right." Some religions are more openly adamant about that, but in the end, that's what they all say.

I don't buy it.

But that's just me.

[guillaumeb]

3. Do "people" hate religion, or hypocrisy? eom

[Cartoonist]

9. What's the difference?

Most religious people are hypocrites. There's even a person here on DU who appears to be religious but never acts like Jesus teaches. Go figure.

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. It's a great, spot on op-ed.

[Karadeniz]

6. There are books on the research into Mind after death, reincarnation, lots of metaphysics!

Perhaps people would be better off using these for developing moral truths rather than corrupt systems.

[Voltaire2]

7. Substitute bullshit for horseshit.

Brilliant!

[Mariana]

8. Have you done this?

Have you used those books and research to develop moral truths?

[struggle4progress]

10. "Hitler got a pass from the Vatican until very late in the war" is not true

The Vatican was hesitant and ineffectual, like many others, but had clearly condemned basic Nazi notions before the war began

MIT BRENNENDER SORGE

... Whoever exalts race, or the people, or the State, or a particular form of State, or the depositories of power, or any other fundamental value of the human community - however necessary and honorable be their function in worldly things - whoever raises these notions above their standard value and divinizes them to an idolatrous level, distorts and perverts an order of the world planned and created by God; he is far from the true faith in God and from the concept of life which that faith upholds ...

... Thousands of voices ring into your ears a Gospel which has not been revealed by the Father of Heaven. Thousands of pens are wielded in the service of a Christianity, which is not of Christ ...

Given at the Vatican on Passion Sunday, March 14, 1937 ...

The Nazis certainly recognized this as a rebuke

Mit brennender Sorge

... Hitler was infuriated. Twelve printing presses were seized, and hundreds of people sent either to prison or the concentration camps. Goebbels noted heightened verbal attacks on the clergy from Hitler in his diary and wrote that Hitler had approved the start of trumped up "immorality trials" against clergy and anti-Church propaganda campaign. Goebbels' orchestrated attack included a staged "morality trial" of 37 Franciscans. On the "Church Question", wrote Goebbels, "after the war it has to be generally solved... There is, namely, an insoluble opposition between the Christian and a heroic-German world view" ...

[Cartoonist]

11. Bull, and you know it

There were only three main parties in Germany at that time. The Socialist Democrats, the Communists, and the Nazis. Understandably, the church wanted nothing to do with atheists, so they threw in with Hitler.

Years later, long after Hitler had consolidated power, the quote you posted came out.

[struggle4progress]

12. By 1937, the NSDAP was the only party: all other political parties had been outlawed in 1933

Prior to 1930, the NSDAP was a fringe party. During the Weimar era, almost all governments were coalition governments, due to the fact that no party had a majority; and these coalitions in almost every case involved the Catholic Centre party. It's impossible to tell the story of the Weimar experiment, without noticing the essential role of the Catholic Centre party in government after government

In 1928, the Social Democrats (SPD) got the largest number of votes, followed (in decreasing order) by National People's Party (DNVP), the Centre, the Communists (KPD), the People's Party (DVP), the Democratic Party (DDP), the Economic Party of the Middle Classes (WP), and then a hodge-podge of smaller parties (including the NSDAP)

The voting distribution changed in 1930, with the Social Democrats (SPD) getting the largest number of votes, followed (in decreasing order) by the NSDAP, the KPD, and the Centre, followed by the other smaller parties

In July 1932, the NSDAP got the largest number of votes, followed (in decreasing order) by the SPD, the KPD, and the Centre, followed by the other smaller parties

The results for November 1932 were similar (but the NSDAP, SPD and Centre lost votes, while the KPD and some smaller parties gained votes)

The March 1933 totals should be regarded as unreliable, because many opponents of the NSDAP had been jailed or had fled the country; and there were no further elections

[Cartoonist]

13. Thank you for confirming my post

The problem with coalition governments is the cooperation required between factions. The Social Democrats and the Communists could have kept Hitler out of power, but they refused to join with each other. I give those knuckleheads major blame for WWII.

The church was happy to join Adolph against those Godless Commies. That they experienced regret later changes nothing.

[struggle4progress]

14. I bet you have special software for that "Thank you for confirming my post" reply!

I've seen it often enough

I still don't find any reason to believe that you know anything about Weimar or its demise

[Cartoonist]

15. Your reply was rather cliche too

I love studying WWII. I admit I'm more fascinated with the airplanes than with all that other sordid stuff. The most recent volumes I've read are:







These books came out in 2010. As time goes by, research continues to uncover details that reveal alliances and efforts to cover them up and whitewash them. The involvement of the Church was quite illuminating.

I suggest you refresh yourself with current research instead of dredging up church propaganda from 1937.

A thing I don't get is that you've been around. You've seen pictures of priests giving the salute posted in this forum. Do you pretend they don't exist? There's lots more where that came from.

[Act_of_Reparation]

16. Oh, bullshit.

The nebulous "Evangelicals" aren't what's wrong with religion. They're just most visible example of it. Take them away and we'd still have the Catholic church and mainline Protestantism to deal with.