"Been there", if they are looking for me how come they have not found me yet? As a realist I have also looked at many religions and found most of them are twisted by men for a more sinister selfish need. Yet, as I look at the universe I do feel there is something far greater than our understanding. I often feel like we are in the Matrix as it were. Are we talking outer world, underground or a fourth dimension?
Name: Been there
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Comments: They are looking for you. Nothing outer worldly or bizarre. Just an association of people trying to get better at being human. Currently there are about 8.5 million people involved in the search work. Not many compared to the approximate 8 billion on earth. However you may have met them and didn't recognise them. They aren't smarter than others or better than others. They are just as imperfect as everyone else. They do stand out as different though. Viewed by many as outsiders that don't conform to some common practices and beliefs.
I like your reference to the 'matrix'. I think the scenario of the film is very metaphoric of what is actually happening in all the earth's societies. It's not a new development though. People of all time periods have been manipulated and deceived by both religious and secular authorities. Breaking out of that pattern doesn't seem to be possible on a societal scale but can be done by individuals.
I am reminded of a song from 1970 by the group "The Moody Blues" called "Question". The opening line is"Why do we never get an answer when knocking on the door, about death and hate and war." A later verse says "The truth is hard to swallow".
Truth is hard to swallow because we have been raised in a world that has little of it. That makes it hard to recognise.
They will come knocking, unless you live in a country where our activities are banned and we are arrested for sharing our understanding. But even if you live in one of those countries, we will try to find another way to contact you. Threat of prison or even execution has not stopped our efforts as of yet, Even in the countries that have resorted to such things we have continued to grow in numbers and actions.
Been there, then register in the community and start a thread about your organization minus the mystery. This topic is about "Why Religion is Bad For Society", however to cover more of your own belief system you may need to do that in another topic. You will also find many topics here covering all angles of what I wrote about.
Religion are bad for society because its create another grouping or faction, vulnerable to be misled or brainwashed to follow certain agenda, saw a lot of teaching that keep emphasizing you to blindly believe and throw out your logic, and generally making another different reason for friction in society.
It did have some claim that religion can be use by society to act good but in the end its just an "Act", as people with common sense should already know and do without the need of religion, so it only mean for people that lack common sense.
For me I believe religion are mean to be personal discovery or enlightenment or personal communication with the spiritual being so they can form their own healthy opinion and believe or practice, which mitigate forcing people to must follow your believe teaching despite their different believe, basically not some mass produce stuff.
I don't know if a question like: Is religion bad for society can be answered in the abstract. But the topic of this thread is: "Why Religion is Bad for society" as in: Can I think of any ways that religion can or does harm the societies it exists in? The answer is yes: Religions can often fracture religiously plural and/or secular societies with their insistence that people nonetheless conform to their dogmas. They can propose social policies that are generally not beneficial or in line with the community's aspirations because dogma. They can oppose important bits of education because dogma. They can isolate members from needed social services or even medical services because dogma.
Do religions always do this? No. Are religions automatically a net negative to a society? No. But in modern secular societies which have largely found ways to deliver the sorts of benefits religions purportedly offers, religions probably offer more harm than good.