Item — HN Reader

The problem with the whole issue is that all of us need to talk much more about religion in general.

Many people feel the need to believe in something which extends beyond physical reality and that's the reason we have freedom of religion.

Time again history has shown though that religions often tend to go overboard in terms of violence so most modern societies have taken a pragmatic approach to offer freedom of religion under certain checks (i.e. not infringing on the freedoms of others from a secular perspective).

That said Einstein believed in god so don't belittle someone because of their religion and most importantly don't let fear take over your humanity (most people never got asked if they wanted to be "a muslim", "a christian" or "a jew").

What we need is more dialogue, not wars - those usually just create even more suffering and pain.

Talk to people - especially to the ones you don't feel comfortable talking to - we are all together on this pale blue dot.

So, this is probably going to get touchy, but I think the more fundamental issue is that religion, both from epistemological and functional perspectives as a movement, is incompatible with democracy.

In the sense that one cannot simultaneously hold the following two sets of beliefs:

Religion: knowledge by authority, submission to authority, authority by appeal to ex-human grantor, otherwise ignorance until submission before authority

Democracy: knowledge by inalienable and intrinsic human nature, authority as composed of the will of individuals, pluralism as a path to better decisions for the whole society

I personally believe religion is a powerful force for good in the world. But, if we're being really honest, a lot of times that's because of the stuff we're leaving out or bending rather than the strict interpretation.