Especially in the Middle East and a large proportion of Africa?
Can you define what you mean by religious toxicity?
the “religious toxicity” is an extension of tribalism. the culture hasnt really evolved much & it’s super easy for religion to sink its teeth in
Making yourself the chosen people and others the enemy will always be popular.
Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but this totally feels like a leading question, looking to pick an argument.
Not saying that’s what it is, but you haven’t given any reasoning, context or data to suggest why you think the situation should be any different. Over what time period were you expecting things to change? Why were you expecting things to be different by now?
What’s right and wrong had changed a lot since most religious text were written, for example:
If a man practices homosexuality, having sex with another man as with a woman, both men have committed a detestable act. They must both be put to death, for they are guilty of a capital offense.
From leviticus 20:13 (aka the Bible)
Doesn’t really sound like it belongs in the most holy book of the biggest religion on earth*. But I guess that precisely what’s in those holy texts doesn’t really matter but what matters is more the overall picture and the fact that religion unites people. My personal guess is that the religions practiced today will last as long as our civilization, even if their holy texts get really outdated
* Disclaimer: this is my opinion and I’m a non-religious teenager from Sweden. I’m aware that most people probably don’t find it as weird as I do even if they don’t want to kill homosexuals
It’s just shocking to me how many people still strongly believe religions like Christianity and Islam when it has been more than a thousand years now.
A divine warrant for action.
Everything else follows.
It’s human nature. Anything with a power structure is bound to breed toxicity when you put humans in it. That’s why you have extremists in all religions, not just the ones in the middle east and Africa.
It would be easy to jump to religion as the cause of a lot of human suffering, and it is, but this ignores humans I aye ability to organize into disparate groups that inevitably hate.
It would take work to throw off these animalistic vestiges. Work we aren’t quite fully capable of yet.
religion is one of the tools of hate, but a new tool will emerge among those that need one.
I think you have the most accurate answer. The “othering” behavior can be seen in essentially any group of people.
Plus, if you read any of the texts of these religions, I have never come across instructions to shun others. I think people have a surface level of belief and then sophomorically apply it to be “more righteous.” They’re really missing the forest for the trees if they elevate themselves above others.
Not the Middle East, but I remember Hinduism having a caste system that does actually rank people, but from information I got, people were generally on the same page about it.
Southpark did it with warring factions of atheism.
Especially in the Middle East and a large proportion of Africa?
Are you aware of Mike Johnson and the people who enable him?
The desperate desire to cling to anything that presents answers the individual feels comfortable with - a pretty lie is easier to swallow than the hard truth - coupled with the borderline-crippling fear of the unknown. Many religions - especially ones in the west - preach tolerance but rarely practice it. Mix that with power-hungry individuals and you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
Religion presents the last perfect opportunity for conservatives to weaponize the government against shit they don’t like. Women, children, education, science, it’s all up when your invisible friends ‘wrote the constitution of this christian nation’ /vomits in mouth/
