Billions currently live and have lived their religious lives without falling down this purported slippery slope which takes away from this point.
This does nothing to take away from my point. If you’d want to argue against my point, you’d need to show a solid barrier between typical moderate religious beliefs and fundamentalism/zealotry.
I attest no such barrier exists outside of simple circumstances in which one hasn’t lead the believer to the other… yet.
What secular equivalent is there to Christmas, Easter, Eid, Ramadan, Holi, Diwali etc? Why has no secular tradition been able to produce days of collective joy or reflection in a similar vein?
There are countless holidays and special events that aren’t religious and see families and communities coming together.
Some examples in the US because that’s where I have best context: 4th of July, The Superbowl, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, literally any other sporting event, New Years, etc.
Not to mention you also don’t need a religious context to celebrate holidays that originate from religions such as Christmas, St. Valentine’s day, Easter, etc.
Except happiness. Which according to the Pew Research Center is more common among the religious, for whatever reason.
This makes sense when you see it in the context in which Pew gathered that data, being in a country (the USA) that prioritizes special treatment towards the religious, most especially Christians.
There’s also aspects such as false hope given to the religious, the gaslighting in religion to accept one’s shitty circumstances, etc.
This does nothing to take away from my point. If you’d want to argue against my point, you’d need to show a solid barrier between typical moderate religious beliefs and fundamentalism/zealotry.
I attest no such barrier exists outside of simple circumstances in which one hasn’t lead the believer to the other… yet.
There are countless holidays and special events that aren’t religious and see families and communities coming together.
Some examples in the US because that’s where I have best context: 4th of July, The Superbowl, Memorial Day, Thanksgiving, Halloween, literally any other sporting event, New Years, etc.
Not to mention you also don’t need a religious context to celebrate holidays that originate from religions such as Christmas, St. Valentine’s day, Easter, etc.
This makes sense when you see it in the context in which Pew gathered that data, being in a country (the USA) that prioritizes special treatment towards the religious, most especially Christians.
There’s also aspects such as false hope given to the religious, the gaslighting in religion to accept one’s shitty circumstances, etc.