Not really.zip accident wrote:However, there are converts. That is strange, if religion is dying.
"Dying" does not mean "dead". At least not yet.
And the death-throes - the caught fish flopping about on the ground - are, in their ultimate existential desperation, the most violent, the most active and most potentially dangerous. When you're dead either way, you might as well choose to go out fighting.
"Rage, rage against the dying of the light".
And, in Christianity, there has been a bit of a rise in the evangelical churches, as the others slowly wither away. But their very name is the explanation. The evangelists are actively recruiting. Seeking converts. Spreading the word. They've been stepping up their efforts to hoover up the last of the desperate.
(I met one of these evangelical converts - no prohibition on boozing, apparently, as she was out drinking - and she had this band around her wrist with "P.U.S.H." written on it. Apparently, that stands for "Pray Until Something Happens".
I let it go, as there was no use in belabouring the point. But talk about a mantra for the desperate. I mean, "hop on one leg until something happens" or "sing all of Kylie's top ten singles until something happens". If you're doing something "until something happens", then the fact that something happened doesn't necessarily have anything whatsoever to do with the fact you were repeating that action over and over.
Indeed, it somewhat implies the opposite. If God ain't answering your prayers on the first, second or third attempt, then he's clearly not particularly interested nor minded to your request. The "something happened" just because, well, the universe is "chaotic neutral" and, as the saying goes, shit happens.
This aspect of prayers and blessings has always logically bothered me. Here's an evangelical wristband that's basically advocating shawshanking the Big Guy himself. Keep nagging perpetually until he grants your wish, just to shut you up. Even something as common as "God bless you" is suspect, because isn't that essentially barking orders at the Supreme Being? "God, bless this person. I demand it. Chop, chop, we haven't got all day".
Whilst talking of God in deferential terms, this behaviour speaks otherwise. I mean, shit, what did your last god die of?)
They're coming from desperation. And the reason why they're coming is for some tiny scrap or semblance of hope.zip accident wrote:Where are the converts coming from, and more importantly why are they coming.
Basically, the same old same old.
The reasons why it's historically been an effective scam have not changed. The bait still works.
What's changed is that they don't get to operate their scam with impunity anymore. The alternative answers - science, secularism, freedom of expression, etc. - are proving far more accurate and compelling. As I've covered, it's becoming harder to sell this scam to victims when it's clearly delivering nothing but a rather illogical false hope that fails to deliver, against a backdrop of scientific modernity that is constantly pragmatically delivering all the time, at an ever-increasing rate.
As I've covered before, "love the sinner, hate the sin". I don't blame these people in the slightest. I also live in this same universe and know what a horrid cunt it can be. If Buddha will excuse the copyright infringement, then "life is suffering" for us all. I do get it.
But, to put it bluntly, that Nigerian prince who's emailed you to tell you that he's going to give you millions of dollars doesn't exist. It's a phishing scam. One that preys on feeding you a little "false hope" in your financial desperation, until you bite and then it reels you in to empty your bank account.
The terrible irony of it all being that, actually, the scamster on the other side of this con is also financially desperate too, but just possessed of a little bit less in the way of empathy and self-respect. It's all, horribly enough, just victims victimising each other.
My simple underlying point here is, well, just to name a scam as a scam. Warn you of this bullshit, in the hopes you might be one victim less. And point out that most of the shit we suffer, we're guilty of perpetrating. We do it to ourselves, we do, and that's what really hurts.
Why be moral in a godless universe? That's the reason right there. When you cheat, you're only ultimately cheating yourself. Stealing away your own satisfaction and self-respect. Stealing away the possibility that, actually, we could potentially sort out a better way of doing things to benefit us all. "A better world", as it's known.
And, truth is, I feel that's a far better and more solid basis for morality. I'm not going to cheat on any of these rules - well, unless things get extremely desperate - because they are self-imposed. Nothing compels me but myself. I would fully disagree with religion's often-made claim that this is somehow weaker than their "ceiling cat is watching you masturbate" way of doing things.
I've been both sides of the fence on this and I'm telling you, from direct experience, as well as this logical reasoning, that the vastly better set of answers to your woes is just not on the religious side.
Oh, yes. They're victims in some fashion.zip accident wrote:The converts are, at least some of them, child converts from nominally christian families. They are perhaps victims of racism, lashing out at a society that has alienated them.
Doubly so, I'd say. As their desperation is met with a scam. Exploitation of their vulnerabilities - which we all possess, of course - with cheap (and obviously false) non-answers. To fill collection plates. To feed the egos of the priest class to feel morally superior. To feel a little less desperate in good company, even if, realistically, your situation is not an inch better than it ever was - because, hey, a problem shared is a problem that at least feels halved, even if it isn't really. Misery does indeed love company.
Welcome to the Human Condition.
