At 12:17 PM 25/05/04 +0100, William T Goodall wrote:
On 24 May 2004, at 11:14 pm, Deborah Harrell wrote:
snip
Breaking up families, not allowing dissenters to see their family members, no access to outside influences - how loving, how Christ-like...
Debbi Sounds Like A Cult To Me Maru >:P
All religions are cults. They may seem like harmless gobbledygook and balderdash featuring stunning idiocies like conversations with imaginary gods or fondling poisonous snakes, but behind the prattling nonsense and grotesque rituals lies real evil.
The distinction between cults and religions is real and useful. Cults are outright parasites, religions are the same mental parasites that have co-evolved with their hosts long enough to become more useful than harmful.
Takes about 300 years.
And at least one function of religions is to fill up the "religious meme receptor" in human mental space to make infection with a dangerous parasite less likely. (This may be less true in today's memetic ecosystem than it was in the past.)
Keith Henson
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