is Confucianism factually correct? Or shamanic animism, for that matter? Not all religions involve a cosmology (i.e. claims about what the real world is factually like)!
There are multiple levels of claim to evaluate. For the religions I’ve paid any attention to, the surface factual claims which differ from standard atheist science are false, and the typically unstated underlying claims that their metaphors are “best” for some set of “proper” life goals is false or meaningless.
Can you give an example of a claim of Confucianism or shamanic animism that’s true and useful?
Note that I do care about the functions of religion, in the same way I care about the functions of political systems or the function of music. A lot of people claim to believe nonsensical things, and deconstructing claims and associations helps me understand them and myself better.
There are multiple levels of claim to evaluate. For the religions I’ve paid any attention to, the surface factual claims which differ from standard atheist science are false, and the typically unstated underlying claims that their metaphors are “best” for some set of “proper” life goals is false or meaningless.
Can you give an example of a claim of Confucianism or shamanic animism that’s true and useful?
Note that I do care about the functions of religion, in the same way I care about the functions of political systems or the function of music. A lot of people claim to believe nonsensical things, and deconstructing claims and associations helps me understand them and myself better.