......being a young pragmatist, I do see the "culture" as a threat, for the culture includes religious zeal and fury and daily condoning of self-sacrifice beyond any normal degree. It is no wonder that the Muslim rebels in south Thailand not only rejected the peace offering of their northern Buddhist neighbours, but renewed bloodshed thereafter. It is a culture, and I condemn it - just not all of it.
There is some good in the culture, including the Essene-Jain notion of asceticism, which I look forward to embracing one day, but it is covered in the blood of innocents, marred by the constant warfare, frenzy fueled by the hatred some of which does stem from the religion itself. You see, any man who says that only he is correct will automatically have a bias against those who disagree. But those who dare cross a god - fatwahs weren't invented with Iran...
Of course, also being pragmatic, I see how it is entrenched in Christianity too, especially in American southern states. They hate science - yet of course use it daily - and discourage freethinking. There are many, too many, who wish for this nation to be run under the principles of their morality - which often comes down to neglecting the poor and bombing abortion clinics.
No, in the American society, if the Christians gained real control, abortion, "sexual deviance", even religious freedom will be outlawed.
The liberal Christians are often smeared and even damned to hell on few occasions, and they're too afraid to openly defend themselves, fearing that they may be wrong - and that's hell to pay, literally.
I don't know how to end this, but I must warn that a free tolerance is what allowed hatred to fester in the first place.
in a while she got used to that peculiarity of religion...
