Understanding Religious Fanatics...

[Carla_Danger]

"We're like a shattered peasant society. I mean, the last study I saw of it was done in around 1980, and the USA was at the level of Bangladesh, it was very close to Iran. Eighty percent of American's literally believe in religious miracles. Half the population thinks the world was created a couple of thousand years ago and that fossils were put here to mislead people or something---half the population. You just don't find things like that in other industrial societies!"

"Political scientist have tried to figure out why this aberration exists. It's one of the many respects in which the US is unusual, so you want to see if it's related to some of the others---and there are others... For instance, the US has an unusually weak labor movement, it has an unusually narrow political system. Think: there is no other industrialized Western country that doesn't have a labor-based political party, and we haven't had one since the Populist Party in the 1890s. So, we have a very depoliticized population, and that could be one cause of this phenomenon: if social and political life don't offer you opportunities to form communities and associate yourself with things that are meaningful to you, people look to for other ways to do it, and religion's an obvious one."

The above was written by Noam Chomsky, and he says we are off the charts for the amount of religious fanatics we have in this country, and I think it's getting worse. Although we have more atheist coming forward, helping others come forward, the fanatics are getting more fanatical. This is the first time that we don't have hope that our children will be better off financially, and there is more despair that things will not get better, for those living in the 2nd America. What Chomsky says makes a whole lot of sense, IMO. Despair drives people to religion.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

"We're like a shattered peasant society. I mean, the last study I saw of it was done in around 1980, and the USA was at the level of Bangladesh, it was very close to Iran. Eighty percent of American's literally believe in religious miracles. Half the population thinks the world was created a couple of thousand years ago and that fossils were put here to mislead people or something---half the population. You just don't find things like that in other industrial societies!"

"Political scientist have tried to figure out why this aberration exists. It's one of the many respects in which the US is unusual, so you want to see if it's related to some of the others---and there are others... For instance, the US has an unusually weak labor movement, it has an unusually narrow political system. Think: there is no other industrialized Western country that doesn't have a labor-based political party, and we haven't had one since the Populist Party in the 1890s. So, we have a very depoliticized population, and that could be one cause of this phenomenon: if social and political life don't offer you opportunities to form communities and associate yourself with things that are meaningful to you, people look to for other ways to do it, and religion's an obvious one."

The above was written by Noam Chomsky, and he says we are off the charts for the amount of religious fanatics we have in this country, and I think it's getting worse. Although we have more atheist coming forward, helping others come forward, the fanatics are getting more fanatical. This is the first time that we don't have hope that our children will be better off financially, and there is more despair that things will not get better, for those living in the 2nd America. What Chomsky says makes a whole lot of sense, IMO. Despair drives people to religion.

Good article here about your last line,


Why Is Mississippi More Religious Than New Hampshire?
Religion thrives on misery—and chokes on prosperity.
Published on October 30, 2013 by Nigel Barber, Ph.D.
Why Is Mississippi More Religious Than New Hampshire Psychology Today

 

[Carla_Danger]

"We're like a shattered peasant society. I mean, the last study I saw of it was done in around 1980, and the USA was at the level of Bangladesh, it was very close to Iran. Eighty percent of American's literally believe in religious miracles. Half the population thinks the world was created a couple of thousand years ago and that fossils were put here to mislead people or something---half the population. You just don't find things like that in other industrial societies!"

"Political scientist have tried to figure out why this aberration exists. It's one of the many respects in which the US is unusual, so you want to see if it's related to some of the others---and there are others... For instance, the US has an unusually weak labor movement, it has an unusually narrow political system. Think: there is no other industrialized Western country that doesn't have a labor-based political party, and we haven't had one since the Populist Party in the 1890s. So, we have a very depoliticized population, and that could be one cause of this phenomenon: if social and political life don't offer you opportunities to form communities and associate yourself with things that are meaningful to you, people look to for other ways to do it, and religion's an obvious one."

The above was written by Noam Chomsky, and he says we are off the charts for the amount of religious fanatics we have in this country, and I think it's getting worse. Although we have more atheist coming forward, helping others come forward, the fanatics are getting more fanatical. This is the first time that we don't have hope that our children will be better off financially, and there is more despair that things will not get better, for those living in the 2nd America. What Chomsky says makes a whole lot of sense, IMO. Despair drives people to religion.

Good article here about your last line,


Why Is Mississippi More Religious Than New Hampshire?
Religion thrives on misery—and chokes on prosperity.
Published on October 30, 2013 by Nigel Barber, Ph.D.
Why Is Mississippi More Religious Than New Hampshire Psychology Today

Despair....hoping for a better tomorrow (afterlife).

 

[Delta4Embassy]

"We're like a shattered peasant society. I mean, the last study I saw of it was done in around 1980, and the USA was at the level of Bangladesh, it was very close to Iran. Eighty percent of American's literally believe in religious miracles. Half the population thinks the world was created a couple of thousand years ago and that fossils were put here to mislead people or something---half the population. You just don't find things like that in other industrial societies!"

"Political scientist have tried to figure out why this aberration exists. It's one of the many respects in which the US is unusual, so you want to see if it's related to some of the others---and there are others... For instance, the US has an unusually weak labor movement, it has an unusually narrow political system. Think: there is no other industrialized Western country that doesn't have a labor-based political party, and we haven't had one since the Populist Party in the 1890s. So, we have a very depoliticized population, and that could be one cause of this phenomenon: if social and political life don't offer you opportunities to form communities and associate yourself with things that are meaningful to you, people look to for other ways to do it, and religion's an obvious one."

The above was written by Noam Chomsky, and he says we are off the charts for the amount of religious fanatics we have in this country, and I think it's getting worse. Although we have more atheist coming forward, helping others come forward, the fanatics are getting more fanatical. This is the first time that we don't have hope that our children will be better off financially, and there is more despair that things will not get better, for those living in the 2nd America. What Chomsky says makes a whole lot of sense, IMO. Despair drives people to religion.

Good article here about your last line,


Why Is Mississippi More Religious Than New Hampshire?
Religion thrives on misery—and chokes on prosperity.
Published on October 30, 2013 by Nigel Barber, Ph.D.
Why Is Mississippi More Religious Than New Hampshire Psychology Today

Despair....hoping for a better tomorrow (afterlife).

From my 'fav quotes' file,

"A preoccupation with the next world clearly shows an inability to cope credibly with this one." Richard K. Morgan (Broken Angels)

 

[The Germans are coming]

In Europe it is boredom that drives people to religion.

Despair drives people in Europe on the streets to throw molotov cocktails and chop off the heads of monarchs. And other stuff like that.

 

[TheOldSchool]

 

[Carla_Danger]

 

[Carla_Danger]

In Europe it is boredom that drives people to religion.

Despair drives people in Europe on the streets to throw molotov cocktails and chop off the heads of monarchs. And other stuff like that.

There's not near the amount of religious fanatics in Europe.

 

[Carla_Danger]

I found an International blog that had some interesting comments about religion in the USA.

Australian here, rather than European, but…Religion in the US looks crazy-scary-bonkers, but I try to remind myself that the ones we see from this far are the more extreme, and that there are plenty of rather more moderate people over there too. It’s just such a pity that the crazies have captured the Republicans so effectively on social policy…We have our own US-style Christian nutters here but they are — thank Eris! — not so numerous that our politicians feel the need to pander to them unduly.

(right on target)

And here's another interesting outlook.

I am Swedish, and atheist, but I speak only for myself.I think we are more used to religion being present, and perhaps have an easier time accepting it as a formality and tradition. In Sweden over 80% of the population are members of the church of Sweden, but the level of religiousness is extremely low. . Politicians almost never speak of faith here and christian leaders do not have much power.I think we often view some of your fights as somewhat petty, for the reason that our religion has very little power, so we can more easily allow it to have token influence. Even if I think we fundamentally agree with you.Your religion just looks scary and fanatical, and has the kind of influence on society that it never should have! This is ironical because one of the big drivers when Swedes emigrated to the US was that you had freedom of religion while we had a state-church that was intimately entwined with the government apparatus. Until the 70s we had a dedicated cabinet minister of the church and the church didn’t become totally separate until the year 2000! Well, those are some of the points, I have never tried to put words to this before.

Europeans How does religion in the US look to you

 

[The Germans are coming]

In Europe it is boredom that drives people to religion.

Despair drives people in Europe on the streets to throw molotov cocktails and chop off the heads of monarchs. And other stuff like that.

There's not near the amount of religious fanatics in Europe.

Have you ever been to Spain or Poland?

 

[Carla_Danger]

In Europe it is boredom that drives people to religion.

Despair drives people in Europe on the streets to throw molotov cocktails and chop off the heads of monarchs. And other stuff like that.

There's not near the amount of religious fanatics in Europe.

Have you ever been to Spain or Poland?

No, but I am aware of their Holy week in Spain.

 

[guno]

 

[Carla_Danger]

Astounding!!!

Well, The whole Mississippi situation fascinates me.

45% of their GDP is Federal welfare.

Here’s the poorest state in the Union. Their healthcare is a joke. Their education system is a joke, and they have the highest amount of religious fanatics, compared to the rest of the country.

 

[The Germans are coming]

In Europe it is boredom that drives people to religion.

Despair drives people in Europe on the streets to throw molotov cocktails and chop off the heads of monarchs. And other stuff like that.

There's not near the amount of religious fanatics in Europe.

Have you ever been to Spain or Poland?

No, but I am aware of their Holy week in Spain.

The Spanish religious right wing is probably the most fanatical political movememnt in Europe.

And one that might even pale some of the Cletus organisations in the US.

Thugs who used to kidnap children from left wing parents because they believed that they werent fit to raise children.

People who physicaly attack protestants and viciously promote a far right catholic doctrin that has been outdated for 200 years.

And more such bollocks.

 

[Agit8r]

I think that generally religious fanatics are people who hold certain bigoted notions and--in order to justify them--glom onto whatever system seems to justify that bigotry in their own minds. As with the character of Samuel in Hebrew mythology:

 

[Blackrook]

This is a hate thread.

 

[Carla_Danger]

This is a hate thread.

You are entitled to your opinion. But that's all it is, your opinion.

 

[Blackrook]

No, there is no denying the fact that this is a hate thread. Why would anyone bother to deny it?

 

[guno]

 

[Blackrook]

So you agree with Jeremiah that all wisdom can be learned from cartoon characters?