I think the problem is our warped sense of Christianity. For some reason American christianity has been used to manipulate the masses. Republicans figured out how to use religion as a wedge issue. Now we have Republicans who doubt science and facts and they don't trust science. They don't believe in evolution or global warming. So they use religion to brainwash manipulate and con them. This is why I dislike religions. It's a lie and it makes people dumb. Starts at a very young age too.
Teaching kids to ask imaginary beings to solve their problems creates irresponsible adults who fail to find solutions.
Our modern world, from the technology that you use, to the institutions that protect your freedoms, to the arts that you enjoy, ect ect ect.
were all built by people who as a group were, by modern standards, very religious.
It is modern secularists that are struggling to even maintain what they have inherited from their greater ancestors.
Imagine how much smarter we would be if we weren't brainwashed with a lie that doesn't make sense from a very young age.
Every society from the Greeks to the Islam to China were all great at one time because they stopped being too religious or they were great at one time and religion stifled that intelligence.
Muslims invented math. Algebra. Algorithems. Those things all came from the middle east. Then Islam took over and today they are as backward as can be. You don't see how Christianity has held us back because it's not as obvious.
Just the fact that religion denies evolution is all you need to know to prove how religion is making you dumb. I'm sorry, religion and being a Republican. There are many good liberal religious folks. Still they too believe a fairy tale.
And even if today Christianity doesn't hold us back, which it does, it absolutely did for 2000 years. Men who dared suggest the earth wasn't the center of the universe were murdered by the church.
Are you aware of the rule the Church played in the development of Universities?
So what? Muslims have universities too over in the middle east. That doesn't mean Islam is good for anyone.
And yes, after the Catholic Church stopped murdering people because they were scientific, the church became very pro science. Unless that science contradicts their fairytale.
Nope. Even way back, in the middle of the fucking Dark Ages, they built the schools that grew into the modern university system.
Not knowing that, leaves a huge factor out of your analysis. You should read up on it.
You should read up on the Enlightenment period. Do you know who fought the Enlightenment period? You guessed it. Religions
European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the course of the “long 18th century” (1685-1815) as part of a movement referred to by its participants as the Age of Reason, or simply the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers in Britain, in France and throughout Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. The Enlightenment produced numerous books, essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions. The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline.
Now, after the Enlightenment came the Great Awakening. Not good. The churches didn't like people using reason and science.
The Great Awakening was a religious revival that impacted the English colonies in America during the 1730s and 1740s. The movement came at a time when the idea of secular rationalism was being emphasized, and passion for religion had grown stale. Christian leaders often traveled from town to town, preaching about the gospel, emphasizing salvation from sins and promoting enthusiasm for Christianity. The result was a renewed dedication toward religion. Many historians believe the Great Awakening had a lasting impact on various Christian denominations and American culture at large.
I would say today, in America, we are going through another Awakening. We are idiots. Or at least half of our citizens are. Nothing new
Most historians consider
Jonathan Edwards, a Northampton Anglican minister, one of the chief fathers of the Great Awakening.
Edwards’ message centered around the ideas that humans were sinners, God was an angry judge and individuals needed to ask for forgiveness. He also preached justification by faith alone.
In 1741, Edwards gave an infamous and emotional sermon, entitled “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
Not everyone embraced the ideas of the Great Awakening. One of the leading voices of opposition was Charles Chauncy, a minister in Boston. Chauncy was especially critical of Whitefield’s preaching and instead supported a more traditional, formal style of religion.
By about 1742, debate over the Great Awakening had split the New England clergy and many colonists into two groups.
What a waste of time.
The Great Awakening came to an end sometime during the 1740s.
In the 1790s, another religious revival, which became known as the Second Great Awakening, began in New England. This movement is typically regarded as less emotionally charged than the First Great Awakening. It led to the founding of several colleges, seminaries and mission societies.
So they finally started getting the idea that they could no longer deny science and logic.
Newer denominations, such as Methodists and Baptists, grew quickly. While the movement unified the colonies and boosted church growth, experts say it also caused division among those who supported it and those who rejected it.
Many historians claim that the Great Awakening influenced the
Revolutionary War by encouraging the notions of nationalism and individual rights.
The revival also led to the establishment of several renowned educational institutions, including Princeton, Rutgers, Brown and Dartmouth universities.
The Great Awakening unquestionably had a significant impact on
Christianity. It reinvigorated religion in America at a time when it was steadily declining and introduced ideas that would penetrate into American culture for many years to come.
https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/great-awakening