Comment Re:"a fraudulent religious organization" (Score 1) 498
Comparing faith to alcohol is completely fair. Some moderate use is tolerable. Excessive use results in fanatics and fundamentalists, two groups whose direct and indirect effects are obvious to all. A high functioning alcoholic is still an alcoholic. Someone who believes in immateriality can be anything from a minor annoyance to a sever danger to others. You are correct, lumping an entire spectrum of people into one out-lier is unfair. It is the shared features of the entire group that must be argued for or against. Belief in immateriality should never be given deference, no matter the belief, or size of the group. This is where religion differs from delusion. It's adherents demand respect in the least and subjugation in the worst, and this is mostly accepted in an attempt to validate ones own religion.
Your definition of religion seems to be entirely subjective. One such that only the traits that you find desirable are assigned. This is the same argument as above. You cannot take one out-lier and redefine the whole group by it. This seems the be an attempt to white wash.
You seem to have made the assumption that religious texts are not something that originated from the human mind. This is patently false. Even assuming that original texts are divinely inspired, all religious texts have apocrypha, things that have been removed or edited. The human mind has been the editor for God. One could say that such actions remove any such original authority, as the resulting texts are usually full of contradictions, rendering the original intent obscured and useless.
Claiming a belief of what is moral or immoral without backing evidence can be called the main crux of the previous argument. Remember, morality is weighing of actions in an attempt to produce the least harm. Something can only be considered more moral if it produces less harm than a competing action. Measuring harm has both objective and subjective components. The subjective components are so varied, from person to person and society to society, that they may be best left unresolved. In fact the current abortion debates almost completely focus on the subjective components, at least from the religious side. This is why the debate can never be resolved. Two sides mostly arguing different types of points, one subjective, and the other objective.
You may believe whatever you believe as all should, but you should not be afforded any deference for your belief. Your actions are what ultimately define you. People of faith deserve no special treatment, only what they do is of consequence. That they act in concerted groups just makes them easy targets. Yet, the abolishing of faith would not solve the problems of deferring view points, it would only solve the problem of intractable positions, at least partially.