Many religions do anthropomorphize evil—the devil may not actually exist, but we may all be better off if we talk about him as if he did.
I suspect that there are quite a few things like this, where religion is kinda right, as long as you don’t take it too literally. Maybe the best solution isn’t to reject religion wholesale, but to reform it so that it’s tacitly acknowledged that it isn’t really true, a bit like Santa Claus, or professional wrestling. Arguably that may already be the attitude of many Anglicans and Unitarian Universalists.
That reminds me of when I shared an office with a scorrsh catholic atheist and a scottish protestant atheist, who still managed to wrangle all the time.
Many religions do anthropomorphize evil—the devil may not actually exist, but we may all be better off if we talk about him as if he did.
I suspect that there are quite a few things like this, where religion is kinda right, as long as you don’t take it too literally. Maybe the best solution isn’t to reject religion wholesale, but to reform it so that it’s tacitly acknowledged that it isn’t really true, a bit like Santa Claus, or professional wrestling. Arguably that may already be the attitude of many Anglicans and Unitarian Universalists.
The extreme is Bokonism.
That reminds me of when I shared an office with a scorrsh catholic atheist and a scottish protestant atheist, who still managed to wrangle all the time.