The older I get the weirder it gets to me that grown adults have an imaginary friend who tells them to be bigoted.
I honestly see it the other way around: bigots find sanctuary in places where critical thought is absent from the conversation. Its easier to push any agenda you want if the dogma is to take your leadership’s word on faith alone. Being “religious” and invoking the name of god is being used here like a cheat code to get access to hearts and minds.
If I had an imaginary friend I would want it to be like Scorpio in Farscape. Someone who could give me insights I didn’t think of, someone to bounce ideas off of, and maybe turn on painkillers in situations where I need one.
Sorry that’s not really possible. There is an alternative: mild schizophrenia for the company and dissociative disorder for the pain are the best we can do around here.
Agreed completely, particularly on the first paragraph.
I seriously doubt anybody has ever been a compassionate friend to all people, then one day was innocently reading their Bible like a Good Person, and turned into a raging bigot once they read something about a man not laying with a man as they would a woman, abomination, etc.
The religion is just an enforcement mechanism. When Junior starts thinking that just because gay sex seems icky to him personally, maybe it doesn’t make those people evil and unwelcome? Nope, gotta remind him that his icky feelings have the ultra-triple-dog-infinity-plus-infinity stamp of approval! SEARCH YOUR FEELINGS, JUNIOR! YOU KNOW IT TO BE TRUE!
I honestly see it the other way around: bigots find sanctuary in places where critical thought is absent from the conversation. Its easier to push any agenda you want if the dogma is to take your leadership’s word on faith alone. Being “religious” and invoking the name of god is being used here like a cheat code to get access to hearts and minds.
Sorry that’s not really possible. There is an alternative: mild schizophrenia for the company and dissociative disorder for the pain are the best we can do around here.
Agreed completely, particularly on the first paragraph.
I seriously doubt anybody has ever been a compassionate friend to all people, then one day was innocently reading their Bible like a Good Person, and turned into a raging bigot once they read something about a man not laying with a man as they would a woman, abomination, etc.
The religion is just an enforcement mechanism. When Junior starts thinking that just because gay sex seems icky to him personally, maybe it doesn’t make those people evil and unwelcome? Nope, gotta remind him that his icky feelings have the ultra-triple-dog-infinity-plus-infinity stamp of approval! SEARCH YOUR FEELINGS, JUNIOR! YOU KNOW IT TO BE TRUE!