I forgot to mention that I have up neither my love of science (I have a Zoology degree)not my love of magic and mythology (I am totally a fantasy geek, only now I also enjoy ritual I believe in).
*angry angry noises* Religion might be one of humanity's biggest divider and cause of violence and strife, as well as being the source of most intolerance or at least the scapegoat of it, as well as having restricted scientific progress for centuries, doesn't mean you can go attack adherents. Besides, most of the time they were raised as such and never came around to questioning the severely flawed foundations of the belief system and teachings, and they most likely find comfort in a moral framework of good deeds and the solace in the face of death, although few actually act according to the former.
This is coming from someone who was raised in a deeply conservative religion who later became changed through online friends and scientific research into becoming a more enlightened, logical, sexually open person who rejects gender norms.
The Roman Catholic Church was responsible for the death of many brilliant minds of science, as well as many women and Jews, that is people who questioned their made-up dogma. Religion is the number one cause of homophobic legislation and discrimination. It has been a tool of governments to keep people in check and vice versa, although its usefulness fell out of usage in the first half of the twentieth century when socialist dictatorships eliminated it from power.
True, but that’s hardly specific to religion. There have been many groups across history that oppress people who disagree with their dogma - look at any autocratic country ever.
That doesn’t make religion bad, it makes the governments that manipulate it bad.
Also, when you hear religion I think you jump straight to ultra-conservative christians, who don’t represent Christianity, much less religion, as a whole.
The same could be said for science. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the physical description of the skulls of Blacks were purposefully skewed in order to make them look more like apes in an attempt to prove their inferiority through "scientific" means (i.e social Darwinism). In essence, trying to say that members of the church were the only ones who have abused known facts for their own agenda is a fallacy.
Volaworand, The sakhalinsk empire, Melicorium, and Pagrosse