Loving religious dogma More than your own Child

[Sandpiper]

Alan Keyes decision to disown his own child because of her sexuality is an excellent example of fundamentalist religion at its worst.

Fundamentalist religion drives people apart rather than bringing them together. It does so by insisting that you love the dogmas and creeds of the religion more than yourself, your friends, your neighbors, or even your own flesh and blood.

The greatest tragedy is that the adherents of this sort of religion can't see how noxious and destructive such beliefs are.

A system of beliefs that calls for you to turn your back on your family for violating its taboos is not a system of beliefs worth having or keeping.

[Not_Giving_Up]

1. They don't see it that way

They think that if the child loved them enough, the child would follow the "proper" teachings.

[deadparrot]

2. Well, DUH.

Jesus would surely make you disown your child over something they can't control. "Run the little heathens out," he'd say. Right?

It's all about the WWJD.

[Old Mouse]

3. You need to understand what religion is about

to believe is to accept the word of God is more important than anything else, including the life of your own child, on heaven or earth. Don't you know the story of Abraham?

That is what monotheistic religious faith means: Life on earth is secondary to the word of God.

Existence is unfair and harsh for the vast majority of human beings. There is no justice, the bad do well and the wicked prosper. Monotheistic religion makes simples sense of this unfair arrangement and promises a final justice that gives people the emotional strength to persevere.

Our global economy, our society, our world history is based on the exploitation of the economically disenfranchised, and only their love of God, not family, nation or king, has the motivation that has kept them going for the last few thousand years. As harsh as its dogma may seem, without orthodox religion our civilization probably would have collapsed a thousand years ago.

Faith adjusts to the level of the believer. It the individual, not the religion that is the problem. Keyes, for example, is a fucking loony.