A few days ago, another debate took place between Jordan Peterson and Sam Harris, this time in London. Great emphasis was placed on the utility of religion in maintaining a personal need for morality. Akin to “cultural Christians”, Jordan Peterson argues humanity would be lost without the guidance found in so-called holy scriptures, the Bible in particular.

As Sam Harris noted, people who take this stance place themselves above the general population in terms of being able to develop moral principles through knowledge and experience, without the illusion of divine supervision. In other words, they think religion is a must in order to keep stupid people in line, and have no issue expressing that in public (to those same stupid people, presumably).

According to Peterson, religion is meant to be uplifting, reaching into the depths of one’s mind to unearth timeless truths. To some who reflect on it sincerely, it may very well be.

But in practice, what you see in religious communities is not a bunch of placid individuals, stupefied by daily revelations of how they can treat their peers more fairly or lovingly. In practice, you see an abundance of absurdities, as people try to find their place in someone else’s fantasy as if it were real, dragging others along with them.

On the one hand, cultural Christians claim most people are too stupid to develop their own morality, and on the other hand, they claim once presented with Bible stories, those same people will know said stories contain fictional characters and metaphors.

In practice, and I wish I could write that in rainbow colours, THEY TAKE THEM LITERALLY. Which is why some still strive to prove that the Earth is 6000 years old.

 

You see sectarianism and othering due to differences with no basis in reality. People killing each other over nothing.

Despair, credulity and fraud.

Predators.

Hypocrisy as a survival mechanism, generated by the need to maintain one’s status in fake hierarchies of worthiness.

Hatred and pompousness.

Closeted lives.

Pointless stoicism based on the fact that god loves suffering.

Fear of a nonexistent divine judgement over natural human impulses, self-hatred and neurosis.

People being ostracised and cut off from their families.

Witch hunts.

Wasted lives in monasteries and nunneries, praying to a figment, thinking it actually achieves something. Just think of the damaged lives of those poor nuns, sacrificing the normalcy they are entitled to as human beings, and for what? Why encourage beliefs which drive people to such extremes?

Is this all collateral damage? Are all these lives a worthy sacrifice on the altar of a presumed benefit others might get as moderates?

One might class that as a form of utilitarianism, which the godless are always suspected of.