Why abandon Catholicism to reduce its hold on society

Visit https://www.disproven.net for exposure of religious harms

Visit https://www.shrineknock.com for a critical look at Ireland's National Shrine to Mary

Visit https://www.sceptic.site for refutation of various paranormal/religious claims and free downloadable books

SAMPLE LESSON OF THE WEEK

Re: Irish Times saying that New Age rubbish is awful and Christianity has better intellectual depth

The fact of the matter is that Christian thinkers always have found that the Bible wasn't terribly helpful in matters of ethics and intellectual depth. The Summa of St Thomas where most Catholic ethical thinking is laid out is not in the Bible. Cardinal Newman confessed that the Bible was merely meant to give the faith some historical basis but not great as a teaching tool for doctrine and spirituality. For that you needed what he said was the wisdom of the Church. In reality what you have is the discoveries made by clever thinkers who identify as Christians that may or may not fit the real teaching of Jesus. They shoehorn wisdom that does not belong to the faith into the faith.  They steal the credit and so does their faith. 

The clever Christian thinkers who pass off non-Christian wisdom as part of the Christian faith are promoted well.  Augustine, Aquinas and others.  Just because their names are so big, the illusion that the whole Christian system looks smart and coherent like a seamless garment is put out.

One example of how this is fraudulent gaslighting is how the Bible makes terrible errors including offering horrendous evidence for the resurrection of Christ.  For example, the texts avoid saying if Jesus was still very human or something more akin to a materialising spirit.
 
Science does not claim to have all the answers.  Neither does religion but it compensates by saying it has all the answers to the big questions.  In other words, it sees God as the answer to why anything at all exists as if the scientific truths of biology don't matter in comparison.  That is worse than claiming to know it all.

Scientists are said to be content with not knowing things. But scientists think that doubt is better than being certain about things that are in fact wrong.  Christianity is inherently and in practice against this principle for it puts forward ideas that cannot be tested and it cannot make predictions about what to expect if theories are true.  Even if a theory is not science science expects those who propose the theory to get fulfilled predictions out of it.  Theories are about predictions for they have to be testable.

“If people can have their needs met without religion, they often will.” I would add that religion is a blockade to many who wish to openly live without it or without one or more of its biggest restrictions. If people fall away from religion and God easier and in bigger numbers the more their social and economic needs are looked after that is scary. It is because unmet social and economic needs can lead to aggression and war.

Secularism rejects faith in God and religion as political forces.  Religion usually affirms them and that is why they are so dangerous.  A country with secular voices is easier to run than one that is made up of religious voices.  Catholicism only got to be so powerful because of its past and current marriage with politics.  To become Catholic is to avail of that toxic relationship and insult all who suffered from it.

Religious beliefs are presented by religionists and their collaborators as something that help people and so should not be challenged.  That is a ruse for avoiding the truth if the truth is that the beliefs lack credibility or are nonsense.  People think all sorts of things help them that don't.  The cod liver oil capsules get the credit when a person simply feels better.  Maybe the person just is feeling better or walking more?  No the capsules get the praise.  Religious acts and beliefs that seem to help a person cope with life may not be beneficial at all.

The content of the religious belief may do nothing but what you believe about it may help. For example, the items in the apostles creed may mean nothing to you.  But if you pray it you may feel some benefit.  Perhaps it is taking you back to a forgotten memory when the recital made you feel calm.  B

 People often mistake things that are not religious or to do with God for God or his work.  Maybe if you are in a group your mood and your health improve.  That could be any group.  You may be fooled into only noticing the benefit if it is a faith group.

Helping a person to see through their faith respects them as a person who can make the right decisions and learn. It treats them as an adult. Now they are free from error and that is good for error leads to error in different ways.  An error stops you seeing right so you will be prone to making further mistakes over it.  An error attacks how you think and leads to more bad thinking.  Errors encourage others to err and they will influence you into further error.  And a person who is not sure enough about what is correct loses confidence and that makes them more prone to mistakes.  You never know if you are erring where exactly all the errors are.  Errors make it easier for liars to trick you.  Errors may make you feel safe.  We all have errors like that.  They are deadly for we are attached to them.  We need to see that errors threaten safety and the whole point of something being an error is that you don't what what harm it has done to you, is doing or will do.  It leads to irresponsibility towards yourself and by extension others for nobody is an island.

As James Lindsay puts it, “A stopped clock, they say is right twice a day, but a correctly functioning clock set to the wrong time is never right.” Being wrong for the right reasons is hugely superior to being right for the wrong reasons. Also if that happens it is easier to get out of the errors.

Lindsay recommends like Peter Boghossian that if you know somebody is in error with their faith you can ask them how they know what they claim to know for that makes them open to revising those beliefs. I would add that it is important to get them to see first that belief should be based on evidence and to ask them what evidence they have for their belief and why they think the evidence supports it. You could ask them to think of evidence that might uproot their faith.

We conclude that like the New Age, Christianity is sloppy with helping people think carefully.

Read more