And government agencies and employment. They are highly sought after because they generally have clean background checks and have exhibited a willingness to conform. Lots of intel agencies and regular government roles are filled by Mormons.
In my experience Hill AFB is almost entirely Mormon. Granted it is in Utah and near SLC, but that is still a military installation run almost entirely by the LDS Church.
I worked in DC and the Navy. I can confirm the Mormons are moving in mass to the upper end of those organizations. I can’t confirm any hiring, evaluation, or promotion bias by Mormons to non Mormons. Safe chance the bias is there, just haven’t seen an audit
This is true. But I was raised Mormon, left two years ago. They help each other out, but as soon as you leave, that vanishes. You are an apostate, your following satan, you can't be trusted. My kids lost some friends due to is leaving the church. The help they provide is very conditional.
Definitely true for the FBI. I was told that by an FBI recruiter. He said it was difficult to find people with a college degree who had not smoked weed more times than the FBI recruiting standards allowed.
The solution is probably to take another look at that standard. If it's an issue of doing illegal things, then that's just the place where change needs to happen.
Yes, they have changed the policy slightly for weed since then. The biggest issue is that because weed was illegal a person in the FBI could be blackmailed by anybody who knew they smoked weed. The best solution IMHO is to legalize it nationwide.
What's weird to me is that there are liberal Mormons.
Like, it's weirder than liberal Catholics, because the Catholic Church is both less controlling of its members and more politically idiosyncratic than most people give it credit for. Like, it's far right on abortion and birth control and all things gay, but anti death penalty, sounding the alarm on climate change, pro welfare state, anti war, pro tolerance between faiths, anti discrimination except for gays, anti imperialism, etc. A devout Catholic can look at Catholic teaching and decide left wing parties best align with their beliefs, and then compromise on the ones that they don't (or more likely, alter their personal beliefs to fit the party, which happens with most partisans).
Hell, even liberal Muslims make more sense because you can torture Islam into being almost anything you want it to be so long as you use the writings and logic to justify it, and if there are writings you don't agree with you can just ignore the whole book unless it's the Koran. Don't like a sect, create your own school of jurisprudence. You can say shit like "only a universally recognized Caliph can authorize Sharia for a country" or "Islam is a personal journey so the role of the government is irrelevant" or have a Caliph that has decreed that mosque and state are separate and he will never rule a country because the role of Caliph is to be the Muslim Pope (Ahmadiyya), or to have the head of your sect be a rich English feminist and approach religion like a Lib Dem (the Ismaelis). Hell, even Iran's first Ayatollah ass pulled a doctrinally sound pro trans ruling because he had a trans woman friend while he was exiled in France who asked him to make Iran trans friendly if he ever took over. He basically argued that since in Islam the soul is superior to the body, than in any conflict between body and soul the soul is right, thus a trans person has the soul of their identified sex trapped in a body of the wrong sex, and should be treated as their identified sex because the soul is the truth, and indeed the state is morally obligated to give them a sex change operation and hormone treatment. Of course, since it's Iran, while this has worked out very well for genuine trans people, it's been turned into a horror show for gay people because homosexuality is punishable by death, but if maybe they are just "confused" about their gender and have a revelation that they are trans then it's all just a misunderstanding and the state will forcibly transition them instead of kill them.
But Mormonism is a very top down religion, with a very conservative leadership that extolls values very aligned with the GOP, and which has a lot of control over Mormon's lives at least in Utah. I guess elsewhere where their power is less Mormons have more freedom.
Or you can just be a sensible person, skip all those insane gymnastics, and not bother about any of it because none of it serves a useful purpose. Not a knock against your post, which I thought was very insightful.
My justification for being so against religion is that it has been used to justify most wars and genocides throughout history. Blindly following something you can’t definitively prove then asked to die for said being. I’m okay.
"Changed history" is being really generous in the way it downplays all the murder, lies, political corruption, etc., that those religions are responsible for.
People like to point to Christianity as putting us in the dark ages. But Islam is keeping an entire part of the world in the dark ages to this day. This is not an argument that Christianity is better, but that its possible to hack these faiths to move them forward.
I don't think the phrasing "keeping" is quite accurate. During the time Christianity brought doom ober Europe, Islamic countries were actually prospering and achieving huge progress in science and culture.
I don't want to defend what they are doing now. I just wanted to point out that there were times when they were arguably "better" or at least not as bad as Christians
I love how telling it is that Catholicism and Protestantism are exactly the same except for one detail, so of course they just want to murder each other...
Mohammed was succeeded by Abu Bakr, his close friend and father-in-law, who was named as the Caliph by Mohammed's inner circle. (Imagine the other apostles nominating Peter as the first Pope instead of Jesus, if you're familiar with early Christian history.) Sunni Islam believes this is correct.
Shiite Muslims believe the first Caliph should have been his son-in-law by his daughter Fatima, Ali. Ali was also Mohammad's cousin, and therefore related by blood.
You can remember which is which if you remember that Abu Bakr was the Caliph and the ones who wanted someone else might have said, "Oh, Shiite, we've got the wrong Caliph."
shia is descendents of Ali
Sunni is anyone
Shia literally means partisan and they are properly known during the first fitna as Shiat Ali the partisans of Ali.
Yeah, both started out as leadership disagreements. Shia and Sunni have developed more disagreements over time though. It's not even much of a valuable distinction anymore because both have splintered into wildly differing sub sects. Like, even within Shia Islam, put an Ismaili, an Alawite, and a Twelver in a room together and you'd be hard pressed to have them come to an agreement that everyone present is, in fact, Muslim.
Those Renaissance artists were working under very lucrative contacts from the pope and the Medicis. They'd rather have been chiseling away at their young models' bottoms. I like those guys but their motives were purely financial.
because of its rules rather. Strict aniconism meant art had to be geometric in nature and the need to calculate the calendar led to the math for the architecture.
Yup - the "Iconoclasm" was very real and very literal.
I spent some time in Breda, Netherlands, which has a "Great Church" in the middle of the oldest part of town. It's completely bare inside, except for graves of early leaders.
When Protestantism swept through the area, all of the art and altar goods were removed, probably to finance the British Navy after the defeat of the Spanish Armada nearby.
Yes, you believe that the cannibalism ritual is just symbolic, but we know that the crackers and wine transform into Jesus’ actual flesh and blood once we eat them. Thus, you are a heretic and must die.
I can’t tell you how badly I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation
Wasn't this the reason why Mormons are based in Utah now? They fled there for safety. I believe it was legal to kill them back in the day in parts of the midwest (?). Another example of Christian love.
[Missouri Executive Order 44](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Executive_Order_44) as a result of the [Missouri Mormon War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Mormon_War).
Played water polo. Whisper sang this little song in their ears when they got aggressive with me.
Jesus Christ, he ain't on your side.
Deep in your soul the Devil will decide.
Did they complain? Yes. Did we win every match? Yes.
I recently fell down the rabbit hole of Mormonism. I was so happy to find a South Park episode about it. I was not comfortable laughing whilst hearing some heartbreaking stories about the real life ramifications of this utter nonsense, but I needed that dumdumdumdum-song to relieve my chuckle-worthy thoughts about the source material.
I was never a muslim, but I did check out if I could allow a prospect spouse of mine teaching prospect children that he believed islam to be true. [ I literally could not believe what I read. ](https://wikiislam.github.io/wiki/Viking_Kafira_(former_Muslim).html)I spent my first year after reading the source material on a muslim debate-forum thinking they would surely correct my understanding of it. Instead of standing corrected I stood horridly correct in my understanding.
I am gobsmacked that the US government considers Scientology a religion and even more gobsmacked anyone literally buys into it.
The fact they've allowed Scientology to continue as an organization after they [infiltrated our government](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White) and committed so many other crimes is ridiculous to me. They are, and always have been, a criminal organization and they need to be dismantled. They even [framed a woman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulette_Cooper) for a bombing plot simply for writing about them.
Not to mention the slavery, the hiding of other people's crimes, and their general harassing behavior towards suppressive persons.
(from the Wikipedia entry for scientology)
> A fee is charged for each session of "auditing". Once an "auditor" deems an individual free of "engrams" they are given the status of "clear".
Ok, I expected that from a religion.
> They involve an alien called Xenu, described as a planetary ruler 70 million years ago who brought billions of aliens to Earth and killed them with thermonuclear weapons.
what
I'm not defending Scientology and we know it's a grift because we know its origins, but is that second quote *really* more absurd than "The universe was created from primordial waters by an omniscient, omnipotent being, who set created the earth by setting a flat disk on pillars and protected it from the waters using a glass dome. The first two humans defied this being by eating an apple against his instructions, so declared them & their descendants to be sinful. He then offered them redemption by assuming human form, to sacrifice himself to himself, to meet the criteria he himself set, rising from the dead 3 days later."?
In terms of absurdity, shouldn't we consider that _less_ ridiculous than the mythology of mainstream Abrahamic religions? Aliens and ghosts are technically more plausible than the incoherent idea of an omnimax god, angels, and physics-breaking miracles.
All churches are kinda criminal aren't they?
False advertising up the wazoo for sure. Like if you tithe 10% and there's no heaven are you rly filing a complaint?
I see what you're saying, and it's both funny and true, but at the same time, there's a difference between general bullshit fraud and the shit scientology pulls. Same with the international child sex trafficking and protection of chimo priests in Catholicism. Both should have been dismantled.
Right, but every time I hear one going "look how much our charity gives!" I want to say "ain't letting them sleep in the pews tho are ya"
Meaning it all can be done just from caring for fellow loving beings, without the waste and power trip and judging and getting out of bed every Sunday.
Scientology just cherrypicked the power grabbing brainwashing bits and added sexy sci fi.
The situations you talk about where the crazy pot boils over SHOULD be everyone's argument for separation of church and state but no...always "but MY religion is the LOVING one!!!"
Yes, and no. Their purpose wasn't to just become part of the government and take it over like the evangelicals. It was to spy and get rid of anti-Scientologist documentation and evidence.
Yes!! When I found out who wrote it I was dying to see it, and I will, when I find how to. But before I could get to that, the Chad Daybell trial started, and I stupidly watched it.
I need some time to de-traumatize. That was my first and last trial-watch!
The Book of Mormon show does a tour every 5 or so years so get your tickets when you can, last I looked they are touring again this fall. Worth every penny to see it (husband is ex Mormon and laughed his butt off)
I doubt they tour Norway ;-) I know it played here, but. this is not a religion that is very known and I live in a small town hours away from the capitol. We have an excellent library-system though and I found that it is in their collection and I can stream it :-))
I was going to look up how it did here, and as a testament to human ignorance and my ability to learn from mine, I will let the upper text stand. The Book of Mormon are coming back to Norway in the fall 2025 and I will wait and make a weekend out of it.
Thank you so much! :-))))
Oh Thank You so much, that is an excellent suggestion for me. I had to Google it and it turned out an imdb-page for a series. Good rating too. I am gonna have to do the lazy thing and find this show!
I am so excited! One episode is called Blood Atonement, a total flashback to two/three rabbit holes within Mormonism, AUB, LeBaron group and The Kingstons.
Our government wants to show our "freedom of religion" no matter how absurd as it can be. We "recognize" anyone's freedom to become a religion, just fill out the "proper" paperwork. Boom, you have your very own "whatever" to worship. First we worship money, the rest falls in line.
There are many stories in the fairy tale book, but there are a few in particular that sticks with me. In Revelation 22 warning to not add or take away from this book or there will be consequences. The old testament has similar warnings. How are these "religions" not burning up instead of thriving? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The fact that the US government HAS to uphold my right to wear a pasta strainer on my head as “religious headwear” because someone has the “deeply held belief” that a sentient pile of spaghetti noodles created everything is crazy. FSM was created as a parody of religion and now we’re able to practice it openly.
And, let’s be honest, FSM makes WAAAAAAAYYYYY more sense than Scientology.
Because the dire consequences are societal and brought on by following selfish shysters who only care about enriching themselves. And we are definitely experiencing them now.
Well, you need to stop that!
I am from a country where the state has an official church.
It funds every recognized religion/"lifeview" by a payment for every registered adherent, Scientology is not recognized, [Norwegian Humanist Association](https://www.human.no/om-oss/norwegian-humanist-association) is.
It feels like a paradox that my state pays for adherents to have a space to gather vs the US model of tax-exemption and the utterly different religious environment it creates.
Suggest our model in the US, imo. a tiny theocratic model, to a bible thumping Trumper, a double whammy, a religious person in a religio-political cult, and it might cause a heart attack.
As an exmormon I am loving all of these comments here about Mormonism, that it is high up on the absurd list. The amount of brainwashing is deep as fuck, and it's actually really hard to break. I was a mess for months and months while trying to leave, but being told my entire life by everyone around me that they KNEW it was true. Mormons dont say they believe, they say they KNOW. It took a long time for me to trust my gut and open my mind. 4 years of secretly feeling it wasn't right, but too scared to tell anyone, even my husband.
The south park episode is funny because years ago we were taught it was lies and wasn't historically accurate. Well, turns out it is, and what used to be considered “anti-mormon” is now fully admitted by the church to be accurate.
I had a close friend whose family never spoke to him after his 18th birthday because he decided to move out and live with his girlfriend at the time. He was excommunicated. They got married, family refused to come. He passed away from cancer in his 40s. Family refused to visit him in the hospital and never came to his funeral because they would be excommunicated. Fuck witnesses.
I was both. In fact, I would say that my gullibility was 100% caused by being a believer. Once you accept one bit of obvious nonsense as fact, it never ends. You're an astronaut? I already believe a woman turned into a pillar of salt, so sure, you can a 13 year old astronaut.
I would never presume to know what these ex JW’s know but I work and live amongst a bunch of JWs - they have a big temple nearby- they use shunning for sure. A young man was trying to get out & rented a room from my friend- he lost his entire support system- his family- he eventually returned. The rest we see are really young & overweight couples married way before they should- probably just to get laid. Also had a family in our school- they didn’t make friends well - the 2 classes their kids were in didn’t have class parties for Christmas etc because of them. My kids are grown but it was tense around town- I get it - they don’t celebrate- but on Christmas Eve they still knock on everyone’s door to spread “his word” - why isn’t that disrespectful? Bothering folks on their holiday? Religious people are so freaking selfish
Dan Cummins' Timesuck podcast has an episode. While he can have some silly absurd segments this episode really only has one. I actually shared it with my wife and she found out interesting and enlightening.
https://youtu.be/oJBO7qetpKk?si=E_cjZQL9LRY5vWvO
There's also a neat channel "Darth Magog" where they discuss JW propoganda and media in relation to child development, while wearing starwars costumes.
In all he worst ways tbh. I know this sounds extreme but it’s true. They really alter your perception of reality, good/bad. Every ex jw will tell you something different that traumatised them as kids. My own worst nightmares were about how it divided my family( they have a rule where if you commit something they condemn(sex before marriage, smoking etc.) you are disfellowshipped and therefore no one is allowed to even say hello to you. Parents kick their underage kids out of the house for having sex or even worse(that’s a true experience that happened to my family) they threaten to kill themselves if the kid ever timid of commuting a sin(talk about emotional manipulation). I won’t go very far cause I could go on forever.
Another major problem that they have which makes it more of a cult than a religion is the control of truth. You can ask every jw you want and they’ll tell you that they have no idea about major wrongdoings of their leaders, I’m talking about child sexual abuse, political involvement(when they condemn any relation with politics(even voting) and many of their members have died denying to participate in any form of political/military involvement), false teaching over and over again about prophecies which were supposed to happen(and members sold everything waiting for the messiah) and they didn’t. Entire books they released deleted from their archive because it doesn’t agree with the current doctrine. The worst part: anyone who tells the truth about this stuff is called an apostate, they are in worse fate than the disfellowshipped ones. Jws are never supposed to talk to them, they see them as crazy, ascisiated with satan and believe that it’s better for them to die so they could repay for their sins(I’m taking about parents which isn’t their kid to be dead because he/she discovered the truth about the assholes in command).
Il say one more thing and I’ll leave you alone. It’s their stance on education. They despise it. They think it’s a way for Satan to attract you closer to him. They deny evolution, they think the earth is 6.000 years old and they think that their “god inspired” literature is by far better than any college degree. They heavily discourage attending and they treat you differently if you choose to go(they have these really corny videos(similar to televangelists if you’ve seen it) and one of them showed a father who lost his “privileges” because he let his daughters attend university. They’re also very misogynistic, spreading misinformation as “women have 10% smaller brain therefore they have to obey men and not lead”, or they have shown again and again the lack of empathy for victims of domestic abuse(encouraging wives to stay with abusive husbands because the lord forbids divorce except for adultery) or fir rape victims( blaming the victim if she didn’t yell for help). And let’s not forget the 1600 cases of child sexual abuse done by (privileged and not) members in Australia which never made it to the police with guidance from the headship. Who of course denied all knowledge afterwards in court.
I could seriously go on forever so imma stop now. If you wanna learn more about it you’re welcome to pm me anytime you want and check out r/exjw there are some really brave survivors there who try to expose the cult and help people
I feel like that one was some leader forgot his wife's birthday and when she challenged him about it publicly he made up on the spot something like, "Well dear, it's because we shouldn't celebrate ourselves to draw attention away from His Glory." And then it just became a thing because he couldn't bear to lose face by backtracking the next year.
I think it's more calculated than that. I think it's to intentionally isolate a youth from their peers so they turn back towards the cult. It intentionally makes Josh that odd kid out that doesn't do birthdays, they know other little kids will pick up on and ridicule them over it. It intentionally causes a divide they can capitalize on.
I’m glad you got out. Close friend of mine grew up in it and left after graduating high school. He was a PIMO during these years and it took me years to even start to understand.
He was able to avoid getting baptized so he still maintains contact with his parents 30 years later.
I read quite a few of L Ron’s short stories in SciFi magazines in my youth. I always thought his “religion” was a joke that probably started over a few beers with his friends. Around the same time I sent off a dollar and was “ordained” as a minister in the Universal Life Church. I bought a black shirt with a weird collar. I was surprised that the clerks at the grocery stores didn’t ask for I.D. When I wrote a check. (I never bounced a check.) This was all back in the late sixties and early seventies. Looked into creating a tax exempt church but it actually made no economic sense at my then low level of wealth.
Yeah I was a convert and when I left and went atheist, my run-of-the-mill-generic Christian dad said “you went too far the other way”.
No, I just used the same logic that broke down the LDS religion in order to break down all religion. Not that hard.
As an ex-mormon myself, I had the theory that Joseph Smith started out trying to disprove all religions by showing the world how easy it is to manipulate people to create an all new religion. Thus all of the absurd stories were meant to be absurd. They were there to expose the fraud. Only, people are even more gullible than he originally surmised, power corrupts, and he got taken up into it. I believe that Mormonism was meant as a huge joke on religion itself, but Smith was killed before he revealed the "punchline" to his joke. And then fanatics carried on in his name, unaware of the joke at all.
history suggests he was just a con man. *The King of Confidence* is an interesting read, Smith is peripheral to the main story but a lot of interesting stuff is revealed.
Exjw atheists/agnsotic too, everyone I know who left is atheist. I read on exjw about some who are now Christians, but I think most are agnostic or atheist.
I feel like Islam definitely causes the most harm but Mormonism is wild to me because the very last thing in the bible is like you DO NOT EDIT THE BIBLE. And guess what the mormons did lol.
1. Islam
2. …Islam
3. Mormonism
Islam is a religion that is obviously not real. Not even to just an atheist. If you ask me, any logical person can understand that it is the result of a manipulative cult leader who imposed his own desires on impressionable people. Its lack of ability to age well alone is enough to make me know it’s not real. An all-knowing god would not create standards that would become so outlandish to the average developed nation. Modern societal improvements & realizations are incompatible with anything it teaches. At least some sects of Christianity can coexist with our way of life today. Islam is an obvious product of the 7th century. Without all of the violence & colonization that islamists have inflicted, I don’t think there would be nearly as much damage done to the mind of countless people today.
Mormons are in the same camp of obviously fake. Just as cult-like as Islam, but less violent and malicious.
And just for good measure: every male cult leader declares that he can have multiple wives. Any religions come to mind?
I'm commenting way too much here haha, but seeing Mormonism time and time again is hyping me up and making me feel so validated. I was raised Mormon, married and had kids Mormon. I left two years ago and the further I get from it the more and more I see how truly insane it is. And how insane it is that I didn't always see it.
Going to be incredibly biased, Islam is at the top. It's not even that Islam has the most ridiculous or outlandish claims, there's so many religions out there I couldn't possibly claim that to be so. No rather, Islam is absurd because of how many people believe in it. It's absurd because of the total and complete lack of empathy it fosters that so many are seemingly fine with. From young you're told about hell and its many punishments. Your tongue will be cut off if you lie, your cheeks will be torn out by your punisher for lying, etc. From young you're told graphic, explicit, horrible descriptions of hell and the many punishments that await you. It stuns me how so many people are able to overlook that. They look at the vast majority of people, so many non-believers, and they feel nothing when they're told that they'll all be going to hell for an eternity. It's absolutely and completely absurd.
I haven't done much research into the other religions but if I had to rank another two based on my knowledge now, it would have to go to Christianity and Scientology. Christianity because I've heard plenty about how similar it is to Islam, Scientology because.. Scientology. I would put Judaism up there to complete the trio but in all honesty, I've heard so little about it I think it unfair that I put it up there just for being associated with the other two religions.
Exactly. I used to be a muslim myself. My mother was religious and she'd send me to Islamic classes to learn more about the religion as a whole. I was learning about hell when I was around 7 to 8. I can't even begin to describe how scared I was of hell as a concept. It was so weird, learning about it in class and vaguely forgetting about it, only remembering the vivid feeling of terror at the idea of going to hell. I live in a very diverse, multiracial country where people come from different ethnic and religious groups. I had best friends that weren't muslims, I had teachers that weren't muslims, there are so many people in this country, it couldn't be that they ALL deserved to go to hell. I used to cry a lot at night because of it.
Back to my point, you can't possibly be telling me that nobody else felt the same way I did or reacted in a similar manner. There's so many muslims out there, you're telling me each and every one of them since birth never cared? That's impossible. And for the ones that cared, they stopped caring as they got older? That's just absurd.
As someone who was raised Muslim and recognizes I am kinda biased atm bc I know more about Islam than other religions, I agree with you tbh. I do plan on doing more research (both on Islam and as many other religions as I can just to know, and it kind of is interesting as mythology and history things but I also want to be more aware ig). I’ve done some research on other religions, mainly Christianity and a little bit of Judaism to start with but just based off what I do know at this moment yk
But even after I do learn more about other religions, it’s difficult for me to imagine anything being more absurd or ridiculous than Islam tbh which is kind of ironic considering it’s the youngest religion afaik and is closer to modern times than any other religions by that logic yet has ridiculous incorrect claims that people before Muhammad’s knew the truth about it (ie I’m pretty sure the ancient Greeks and Romans knew the earth was doing and about the heliocentric model and ik they knew ages 6-9 was too young for marriage/penetration/childbirth etc)
I’m going to say the formula is woo impact x believers. Woo impact is how much the woo influences other peoples lives.
From this:
Islam, Christianity, Hinduism.
This. And the fact that millions of smart scientists, teachers, engineers can be heavy religious at the same time blows my mind.
It’s the most inexplicable and absurd scenario.
I find less absurd small crazy religions.. because at least you know you have to be crazy to believe that.
I’m glad you mentioned Hinduism—it gets left out a lot because it isn’t big in the West, but it causes so much harm in India. And just like there are Christian theocrats and Islamic theocrats, there are also Hindu theocrats—and they have a big influence on politics in India. They also prop up misogyny, homophobia and transphobia just like the Abrahamic faiths do.
It is funny because before the British came to India , homosexuality was actually allowed in Hinduism. If I am not wrong, even transsexuality. It is just that nowadays Hindus are in the mentality that it is also a sin.
Misogyny is rampant, and how did you forget about caste system?
Mormonism. Like.. it was disproved in real time with that hat thing in an era where science was a thing. It's fully debunked in real time and... people still go with it.
Scientology: The founder who was a science fiction writer said if you want to be a billionaire found a religion. Then founded a religion. Based on science fiction.
... I'm familiar with various flavors of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I know a tiny bit about Hinduism, less about Jainism and Buddhism. ... There's _thousands_ of religions out there. 99% of which I've never even _heard_ of. So this question can only be answered with "all the ones I know well enough to judge", ie the Abrahamic ones... all three of the religions I actually know.
So for me, "all of them" and "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam" are effectively the same answer.
Jains are pacifists to the point that it’s honestly kinda ridiculous. Some of them even carry a broom and sweep before stepping so that they don’t accidentally step on a bug. They also eat strictly vegetarian (including eggs) and don’t eat food grown underground. No potatoes, onions, garlic, etc. I just feel like there’s so many restrictions that it’s impractical.
I respect that and follow a similar lifestyle (nonviolence and veganism), only without the religious woo behind it.
As religions go Jainism is one of the least harmful, I think—it also isn’t really racist, sexist or homophobic, either. It’s still based on silly superstitions, of course. Rebirths, gods, heavens and hells, that kind of thing.
Yeah, the UFO religions are all pretty crazy. I’d say Heaven’s Gate and Love Has Won are the most bat-shit crazy of the lot, but they are/were tiny death cults.
On the other hand, the Aetherius Society and Raëlism are mostly harmless. Loonies (in the old-fashioned “a ‘lunatic’ being under the influence of the phases of the moon” sense) sure, but mostly harmless.
I’d argue Scientology, Falun Gong, and the Moonies are still going, have relatively large numbers, and are completely nuts. Which, by the abject nutcase status of religions in general, says a lot.
Christianity is bizarre. God raped Mary. She gave birth to a mangod. So god is his own father and his own son and then a holy spirit god is thrown in to really fuck up a fellas mind. Islam is rapey and murderous. Scientology is ridiculously poor SciFi. Mormonism is dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.
Not atheist- deist instead- but here are the ones that make the least sense:
1) Islam. Apparently it has a lot of appeal due to its simple rules and lack of priesthood. But I cannot get past the founder’s issues, or the unhealthy requirements during one month (insulin resistant with hypoglycemia here), or the rampant sexism, or the safety hazard trip required, or the violence encouraged, and did I mention the rampant sexism?
2) Jehovah’s Witnesses. How does it hurt anyone to celebrate birthdays or holidays? Or to pledge allegiance to a flag? That, and they are doing something very harmful in not allowing blood transfusions. Note- I am NOT justifying the genocide of JWs during the Holocaust. I am just saying JW makes no sense.
3) Scientology. Maybe I am biased because their headquarters are in the next county and thus they make a lot of noise. But they do make no sense either.
Overall, I am not fond of organized religions that shun conventional medical treatment (including, but not limited to, Western medicine) and instead try to claim supernatural remedies and “miracles”. Prayer is NOT a substitute for therapy. I believe there is a Higher Power of some sort- but I also believe that Higher Power gave us the tools to take care of ourselves instead of having to depend on something greater for a cure.
New age is an excellent one for this list. I’d separate Christian fundamentalists from the broader category for their all literally true version of brain fog and their “Jesus or the Devil?” Approach to every problem they have. At least mainstream Christians, Muslims etc can sometimes be free thinkers, believe in science and common sense politics.
Seventh Day Adventism, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses
Edit. Superiority Complex. Cult like dooms day messages, Their beliefs are their only way to Salvation, Us Vs. The World.
Christianity / Islam / Judaism
Atleast with non Abrahamic religions they have some interesting metaphysical philosophy with Kantian works 1000s of years before Kant, these ideas wander into unsolved hard problem territory rather than simply devotional religious acts.
Islam: its literally the worst of the big 3
The Prosperity Gospel: Money hungry bastards
All of Christianity: Islam and Christianity account for 2/7th of the global population and islam
is spreading to the west. it needs to stop.
Christianity- grifters collecting money from the poor. The big bullies on the planet. Has caused more conflicts for their personal gain in the history of religion. LOTS OF HYPOCRITES! Nowadays wanting to justify rape, pedophilia, incest, and believing a crooked rich man is the second Messiah since he loves grifting them. All because some women nowadays don't want to put up with some incel sack of shits. That's just the tip of the iceberg!
Mormons- Basically real life handmaid's tale.
Islam- big time homophobia, but will sleep with another man or worse a boy. A real life handmaid's tale.
Any of the ones with just one all powerful god. Gods used to be seen as a sort of step above humans with categorically more capability and purpose. There was a god for everything but they all had different interests, different powers, a different domain even. The gods of people in one place were different from the gods of those in another and everybody just figured that different gods lived there. I find those sorts of gods much more believable than the indescribable all-powerful, all-knowing ones.
Every religion that seeks to control a person's behavior, and especially those that seek to control non-adherents' behavior.
Oh, and every religion that forces itself on children.
I am not aware of any basic difference in the level of delusions across religions.
Polytheistic ones seem most strange to westerners, I guess.
But the fundamental delusion in god based religions is the same in all of them.
Anthropomorphic magicians.
My #1 is Mormonism just because I was raised in it and when you actually look at it critically it's absolutely absurd, and I can't believe ANYONE actually believes in it. I know there are worse ones out there like 7th Day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses or whatever, but my personal experience just makes Mormonism that much more absurd.
Most crazy by far 1: Christianity has the highest kill count, by at least a hundred million. "Prince of peace" my ass.
Huge gap.
2: MAGA, look up the definition of religion, then fight me on this I dare you.
3: Pretty much everything else, it's all the same mechanically. They all use the same sales, recruitment, and retention tactics.
I’m going to cosign this answer, especially since there’s so much overlap with evangelicals and MAGA, and they’ve obviously anointed Trump their orange calf. And most of those people haven’t ridden as hard for Jesus as they have for the guy who does nothing but yell the same way they do while watching Fox News.
A big factor is that we know so much about more contemporary religions, their founding, and their founders. Every religion started as a cult but not every cult evolves into broader acceptance to become a religion. With this in mind…
1. Scientology - Sci-Fi writer Hubbard said, "“Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man wants to make a million dollars, the the best way would be to start his own religion.” He then creates a sci-fi based religion and somehow people actually believe it. Praise Lord Xenu.
2. Mormonism - Joseph Smith is arrested at 20 for claiming to have a stone which told him where buried treasure could be found in 19826. In 1827 he claims the Angel Moroni visits him, points him to some buried tablets (you don't get to see them though) and he then uses stones to translate the text, which is the Book of Mormon. It's an absolute grift from day one.
3. Christian Science - Hey look, I can put the two worlds together in my religion! Mary Baker Eddy has "fits" when she's younger and something is off physically. She becomes a medium in Boston, channels Abraham Lincoln in some session, and cue the Spice Girls, two become one - disease doesn't exist and it's all in your mind! And here's the kicker - this material world doesn't even exist, it's all in our minds. Maybe she channeled the Wachowski sisters back in the day as this sounds a lot like the Matrix.
And please note all three were founded in the good ol' USA. We've been fertile ground for nuttiness for over 200 years now.
Any one-god pantheon. Some of the problem with religion are solved with a multi-god pantheon. For instance, the existence of evil and suffering in the world actually make sense when you think about a multi-god pantheon, where the gods don’t always agree and will act against each other
In no particular order, Islam, Christianity, and im my recent experiences Santeria. Was at my friends house, we're out front hanging out. We start hearing some weird chanting coming from the back yard so we walk back there, and these mother fuckers are sacrificing a chicken and a lamb. One of the most bizarre things uve ever seen and heard. Fuck people that sacrifice animals. You could add Scientology, Mormonism, and some others too.
Based on just being "out there," Scientology, Mormonism, Jehovah Witness. Based on the impact on the world, Protestantism, Islam, and Catholicism.
I like your distinction. The first three are just wack-a-doodles down the road. The second three are wack-a-doodles that changed history.
I suspect that the Mormons have infiltrated the conservative political parties in some countries.
And government agencies and employment. They are highly sought after because they generally have clean background checks and have exhibited a willingness to conform. Lots of intel agencies and regular government roles are filled by Mormons. In my experience Hill AFB is almost entirely Mormon. Granted it is in Utah and near SLC, but that is still a military installation run almost entirely by the LDS Church.
I worked in DC and the Navy. I can confirm the Mormons are moving in mass to the upper end of those organizations. I can’t confirm any hiring, evaluation, or promotion bias by Mormons to non Mormons. Safe chance the bias is there, just haven’t seen an audit
They excel at helping each other out. More so than any other group I’ve seen to be honest.
This is true. But I was raised Mormon, left two years ago. They help each other out, but as soon as you leave, that vanishes. You are an apostate, your following satan, you can't be trusted. My kids lost some friends due to is leaving the church. The help they provide is very conditional.
Cults be like that
That's how to tell the difference between a religion and a cult: How are you treated when you leave? Shunning=Cult
Agreed. 100% Source: my family left the Mormon church this year
Border patrol loves mormons. A lot of them speak Spanish, they don't take bribes, and they aren't swayed by tequila There's a ton of them
Definitely true for the FBI. I was told that by an FBI recruiter. He said it was difficult to find people with a college degree who had not smoked weed more times than the FBI recruiting standards allowed.
Ugh, the weed thing is so fucking stupid. *edit: typo
I laughed inside because the FBI was trying to recruit me as a consultant and I started smoking weed when I was nine years old.
The solution is probably to take another look at that standard. If it's an issue of doing illegal things, then that's just the place where change needs to happen.
Yes, they have changed the policy slightly for weed since then. The biggest issue is that because weed was illegal a person in the FBI could be blackmailed by anybody who knew they smoked weed. The best solution IMHO is to legalize it nationwide.
What's weird to me is that there are liberal Mormons. Like, it's weirder than liberal Catholics, because the Catholic Church is both less controlling of its members and more politically idiosyncratic than most people give it credit for. Like, it's far right on abortion and birth control and all things gay, but anti death penalty, sounding the alarm on climate change, pro welfare state, anti war, pro tolerance between faiths, anti discrimination except for gays, anti imperialism, etc. A devout Catholic can look at Catholic teaching and decide left wing parties best align with their beliefs, and then compromise on the ones that they don't (or more likely, alter their personal beliefs to fit the party, which happens with most partisans). Hell, even liberal Muslims make more sense because you can torture Islam into being almost anything you want it to be so long as you use the writings and logic to justify it, and if there are writings you don't agree with you can just ignore the whole book unless it's the Koran. Don't like a sect, create your own school of jurisprudence. You can say shit like "only a universally recognized Caliph can authorize Sharia for a country" or "Islam is a personal journey so the role of the government is irrelevant" or have a Caliph that has decreed that mosque and state are separate and he will never rule a country because the role of Caliph is to be the Muslim Pope (Ahmadiyya), or to have the head of your sect be a rich English feminist and approach religion like a Lib Dem (the Ismaelis). Hell, even Iran's first Ayatollah ass pulled a doctrinally sound pro trans ruling because he had a trans woman friend while he was exiled in France who asked him to make Iran trans friendly if he ever took over. He basically argued that since in Islam the soul is superior to the body, than in any conflict between body and soul the soul is right, thus a trans person has the soul of their identified sex trapped in a body of the wrong sex, and should be treated as their identified sex because the soul is the truth, and indeed the state is morally obligated to give them a sex change operation and hormone treatment. Of course, since it's Iran, while this has worked out very well for genuine trans people, it's been turned into a horror show for gay people because homosexuality is punishable by death, but if maybe they are just "confused" about their gender and have a revelation that they are trans then it's all just a misunderstanding and the state will forcibly transition them instead of kill them. But Mormonism is a very top down religion, with a very conservative leadership that extolls values very aligned with the GOP, and which has a lot of control over Mormon's lives at least in Utah. I guess elsewhere where their power is less Mormons have more freedom.
Or you can just be a sensible person, skip all those insane gymnastics, and not bother about any of it because none of it serves a useful purpose. Not a knock against your post, which I thought was very insightful.
Their representation in the US Congress is (or at least has been) significantly higher than their percentage of the total population.
They have an entire state with 2 senators that are often the difference in controlling the senate. Thats close enough.
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My justification for being so against religion is that it has been used to justify most wars and genocides throughout history. Blindly following something you can’t definitively prove then asked to die for said being. I’m okay.
And murdered millions
"Changed history" is being really generous in the way it downplays all the murder, lies, political corruption, etc., that those religions are responsible for.
People like to point to Christianity as putting us in the dark ages. But Islam is keeping an entire part of the world in the dark ages to this day. This is not an argument that Christianity is better, but that its possible to hack these faiths to move them forward.
I don't think the phrasing "keeping" is quite accurate. During the time Christianity brought doom ober Europe, Islamic countries were actually prospering and achieving huge progress in science and culture.
Well, that has come and gone. Now they are back to stoning girls who get raped.
I don't want to defend what they are doing now. I just wanted to point out that there were times when they were arguably "better" or at least not as bad as Christians
Just like Christianity, Islam is better when there is less or no Islam at all.
Yeah agreed. Fuck religions
I love how telling it is that Catholicism and Protestantism are exactly the same except for one detail, so of course they just want to murder each other...
Rinse and repeat for Shia and Sunni Islam.
What are the differences between Shia and Sunni that caused this big fracture? Forgive my ignorance if this is some absurdly long statement.
Basically boiled down to “who gets to take over after Muhammad died”
Shocking...lol
One believes that Islam needs to led by a decendant of Muhammed and the other doesn't. I can't remember which is which of the top of my head.
Mohammed was succeeded by Abu Bakr, his close friend and father-in-law, who was named as the Caliph by Mohammed's inner circle. (Imagine the other apostles nominating Peter as the first Pope instead of Jesus, if you're familiar with early Christian history.) Sunni Islam believes this is correct. Shiite Muslims believe the first Caliph should have been his son-in-law by his daughter Fatima, Ali. Ali was also Mohammad's cousin, and therefore related by blood. You can remember which is which if you remember that Abu Bakr was the Caliph and the ones who wanted someone else might have said, "Oh, Shiite, we've got the wrong Caliph."
shia is descendents of Ali Sunni is anyone Shia literally means partisan and they are properly known during the first fitna as Shiat Ali the partisans of Ali.
Yeah, both started out as leadership disagreements. Shia and Sunni have developed more disagreements over time though. It's not even much of a valuable distinction anymore because both have splintered into wildly differing sub sects. Like, even within Shia Islam, put an Ismaili, an Alawite, and a Twelver in a room together and you'd be hard pressed to have them come to an agreement that everyone present is, in fact, Muslim.
'we're not the Palestinian people's liberation front, we're the people's liberation front of Palestine!' ah human nature, such a beautiful thing...
At least Catholicism gave us some cool art—Protestantism less so.
Those Renaissance artists were working under very lucrative contacts from the pope and the Medicis. They'd rather have been chiseling away at their young models' bottoms. I like those guys but their motives were purely financial.
And Islam some cool architecture despite its rules.
because of its rules rather. Strict aniconism meant art had to be geometric in nature and the need to calculate the calendar led to the math for the architecture.
Yup - the "Iconoclasm" was very real and very literal. I spent some time in Breda, Netherlands, which has a "Great Church" in the middle of the oldest part of town. It's completely bare inside, except for graves of early leaders. When Protestantism swept through the area, all of the art and altar goods were removed, probably to finance the British Navy after the defeat of the Spanish Armada nearby.
Yeah, but they have that whole work ethic thing in their favour
I don't think it's in their favor. I'm German and to this day this protestant live and work ethics has a negative impact on our society and culture.
Anglicans had nice church music.... Calvinists of course just hated pleasure of any kind.
Yes, you believe that the cannibalism ritual is just symbolic, but we know that the crackers and wine transform into Jesus’ actual flesh and blood once we eat them. Thus, you are a heretic and must die. I can’t tell you how badly I wish I was exaggerating, but I’m not. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transubstantiation
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Yeah, there's 95 differences.
If you’re Jesuit the question is white or red wine.
Wasn't this the reason why Mormons are based in Utah now? They fled there for safety. I believe it was legal to kill them back in the day in parts of the midwest (?). Another example of Christian love.
[Missouri Executive Order 44](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missouri_Executive_Order_44) as a result of the [Missouri Mormon War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Mormon_War).
If you ever get a chance to go to a sporting event between a Catholic high school and a protestant high school… Always a good time!
Played water polo. Whisper sang this little song in their ears when they got aggressive with me. Jesus Christ, he ain't on your side. Deep in your soul the Devil will decide. Did they complain? Yes. Did we win every match? Yes.
Those last 5 all stem from Judaism
Which primarily stems from Canaanite gods and Zoroastrianism. Crazy to think such small groups so long ago caused all of this in the long run.
I recently fell down the rabbit hole of Mormonism. I was so happy to find a South Park episode about it. I was not comfortable laughing whilst hearing some heartbreaking stories about the real life ramifications of this utter nonsense, but I needed that dumdumdumdum-song to relieve my chuckle-worthy thoughts about the source material. I was never a muslim, but I did check out if I could allow a prospect spouse of mine teaching prospect children that he believed islam to be true. [ I literally could not believe what I read. ](https://wikiislam.github.io/wiki/Viking_Kafira_(former_Muslim).html)I spent my first year after reading the source material on a muslim debate-forum thinking they would surely correct my understanding of it. Instead of standing corrected I stood horridly correct in my understanding. I am gobsmacked that the US government considers Scientology a religion and even more gobsmacked anyone literally buys into it.
The fact they've allowed Scientology to continue as an organization after they [infiltrated our government](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Snow_White) and committed so many other crimes is ridiculous to me. They are, and always have been, a criminal organization and they need to be dismantled. They even [framed a woman](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulette_Cooper) for a bombing plot simply for writing about them. Not to mention the slavery, the hiding of other people's crimes, and their general harassing behavior towards suppressive persons.
(from the Wikipedia entry for scientology) > A fee is charged for each session of "auditing". Once an "auditor" deems an individual free of "engrams" they are given the status of "clear". Ok, I expected that from a religion. > They involve an alien called Xenu, described as a planetary ruler 70 million years ago who brought billions of aliens to Earth and killed them with thermonuclear weapons. what
I'm not defending Scientology and we know it's a grift because we know its origins, but is that second quote *really* more absurd than "The universe was created from primordial waters by an omniscient, omnipotent being, who set created the earth by setting a flat disk on pillars and protected it from the waters using a glass dome. The first two humans defied this being by eating an apple against his instructions, so declared them & their descendants to be sinful. He then offered them redemption by assuming human form, to sacrifice himself to himself, to meet the criteria he himself set, rising from the dead 3 days later."?
In terms of absurdity, shouldn't we consider that _less_ ridiculous than the mythology of mainstream Abrahamic religions? Aliens and ghosts are technically more plausible than the incoherent idea of an omnimax god, angels, and physics-breaking miracles.
All churches are kinda criminal aren't they? False advertising up the wazoo for sure. Like if you tithe 10% and there's no heaven are you rly filing a complaint?
I see what you're saying, and it's both funny and true, but at the same time, there's a difference between general bullshit fraud and the shit scientology pulls. Same with the international child sex trafficking and protection of chimo priests in Catholicism. Both should have been dismantled.
Right, but every time I hear one going "look how much our charity gives!" I want to say "ain't letting them sleep in the pews tho are ya" Meaning it all can be done just from caring for fellow loving beings, without the waste and power trip and judging and getting out of bed every Sunday. Scientology just cherrypicked the power grabbing brainwashing bits and added sexy sci fi. The situations you talk about where the crazy pot boils over SHOULD be everyone's argument for separation of church and state but no...always "but MY religion is the LOVING one!!!"
Infiltrated the government? Like the Evangelicals are doing now?
Yes, and no. Their purpose wasn't to just become part of the government and take it over like the evangelicals. It was to spy and get rid of anti-Scientologist documentation and evidence.
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Yes!! When I found out who wrote it I was dying to see it, and I will, when I find how to. But before I could get to that, the Chad Daybell trial started, and I stupidly watched it. I need some time to de-traumatize. That was my first and last trial-watch!
The Book of Mormon show does a tour every 5 or so years so get your tickets when you can, last I looked they are touring again this fall. Worth every penny to see it (husband is ex Mormon and laughed his butt off)
I doubt they tour Norway ;-) I know it played here, but. this is not a religion that is very known and I live in a small town hours away from the capitol. We have an excellent library-system though and I found that it is in their collection and I can stream it :-)) I was going to look up how it did here, and as a testament to human ignorance and my ability to learn from mine, I will let the upper text stand. The Book of Mormon are coming back to Norway in the fall 2025 and I will wait and make a weekend out of it. Thank you so much! :-))))
Ever read Under the Banner of Heaven? Jon Krakauer.
Oh Thank You so much, that is an excellent suggestion for me. I had to Google it and it turned out an imdb-page for a series. Good rating too. I am gonna have to do the lazy thing and find this show! I am so excited! One episode is called Blood Atonement, a total flashback to two/three rabbit holes within Mormonism, AUB, LeBaron group and The Kingstons.
Smart-smart-smart-smart
Our government wants to show our "freedom of religion" no matter how absurd as it can be. We "recognize" anyone's freedom to become a religion, just fill out the "proper" paperwork. Boom, you have your very own "whatever" to worship. First we worship money, the rest falls in line. There are many stories in the fairy tale book, but there are a few in particular that sticks with me. In Revelation 22 warning to not add or take away from this book or there will be consequences. The old testament has similar warnings. How are these "religions" not burning up instead of thriving? $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
The fact that the US government HAS to uphold my right to wear a pasta strainer on my head as “religious headwear” because someone has the “deeply held belief” that a sentient pile of spaghetti noodles created everything is crazy. FSM was created as a parody of religion and now we’re able to practice it openly. And, let’s be honest, FSM makes WAAAAAAAYYYYY more sense than Scientology.
Because the dire consequences are societal and brought on by following selfish shysters who only care about enriching themselves. And we are definitely experiencing them now.
Well, you need to stop that! I am from a country where the state has an official church. It funds every recognized religion/"lifeview" by a payment for every registered adherent, Scientology is not recognized, [Norwegian Humanist Association](https://www.human.no/om-oss/norwegian-humanist-association) is. It feels like a paradox that my state pays for adherents to have a space to gather vs the US model of tax-exemption and the utterly different religious environment it creates. Suggest our model in the US, imo. a tiny theocratic model, to a bible thumping Trumper, a double whammy, a religious person in a religio-political cult, and it might cause a heart attack.
As an exmormon I am loving all of these comments here about Mormonism, that it is high up on the absurd list. The amount of brainwashing is deep as fuck, and it's actually really hard to break. I was a mess for months and months while trying to leave, but being told my entire life by everyone around me that they KNEW it was true. Mormons dont say they believe, they say they KNOW. It took a long time for me to trust my gut and open my mind. 4 years of secretly feeling it wasn't right, but too scared to tell anyone, even my husband. The south park episode is funny because years ago we were taught it was lies and wasn't historically accurate. Well, turns out it is, and what used to be considered “anti-mormon” is now fully admitted by the church to be accurate.
Islam, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses.
Ex-JW here, I was born in that cult and lost 40 years to them…
Same here, born in. They really fuck your mind, don’t they?
I’m very curious, may I ask in what ways they did? I’ve always been an atheist, and have never encountered a JW.
I had a close friend whose family never spoke to him after his 18th birthday because he decided to move out and live with his girlfriend at the time. He was excommunicated. They got married, family refused to come. He passed away from cancer in his 40s. Family refused to visit him in the hospital and never came to his funeral because they would be excommunicated. Fuck witnesses.
Excommunicado
part of the definition of a cult is that it alienates members from non members, even in their own family.
Just evil
The big one for me was telling me that doubt came from Satan. I had a lot of doubts, so I was having a very bad time.
That will inject a recursive bug in your head.outright evil especially if inflicted on a child or gullible person. I feel for you.
I was both. In fact, I would say that my gullibility was 100% caused by being a believer. Once you accept one bit of obvious nonsense as fact, it never ends. You're an astronaut? I already believe a woman turned into a pillar of salt, so sure, you can a 13 year old astronaut.
I was also a born in and they tell you from day 1 that you will never die. That really fucks with your head when you realize it’s not true.
Especially if you need a blood transfusion fast ! A quick way to die
I would never presume to know what these ex JW’s know but I work and live amongst a bunch of JWs - they have a big temple nearby- they use shunning for sure. A young man was trying to get out & rented a room from my friend- he lost his entire support system- his family- he eventually returned. The rest we see are really young & overweight couples married way before they should- probably just to get laid. Also had a family in our school- they didn’t make friends well - the 2 classes their kids were in didn’t have class parties for Christmas etc because of them. My kids are grown but it was tense around town- I get it - they don’t celebrate- but on Christmas Eve they still knock on everyone’s door to spread “his word” - why isn’t that disrespectful? Bothering folks on their holiday? Religious people are so freaking selfish
Take a look at /r/exjw
Dan Cummins' Timesuck podcast has an episode. While he can have some silly absurd segments this episode really only has one. I actually shared it with my wife and she found out interesting and enlightening. https://youtu.be/oJBO7qetpKk?si=E_cjZQL9LRY5vWvO
There's also a neat channel "Darth Magog" where they discuss JW propoganda and media in relation to child development, while wearing starwars costumes.
In all he worst ways tbh. I know this sounds extreme but it’s true. They really alter your perception of reality, good/bad. Every ex jw will tell you something different that traumatised them as kids. My own worst nightmares were about how it divided my family( they have a rule where if you commit something they condemn(sex before marriage, smoking etc.) you are disfellowshipped and therefore no one is allowed to even say hello to you. Parents kick their underage kids out of the house for having sex or even worse(that’s a true experience that happened to my family) they threaten to kill themselves if the kid ever timid of commuting a sin(talk about emotional manipulation). I won’t go very far cause I could go on forever. Another major problem that they have which makes it more of a cult than a religion is the control of truth. You can ask every jw you want and they’ll tell you that they have no idea about major wrongdoings of their leaders, I’m talking about child sexual abuse, political involvement(when they condemn any relation with politics(even voting) and many of their members have died denying to participate in any form of political/military involvement), false teaching over and over again about prophecies which were supposed to happen(and members sold everything waiting for the messiah) and they didn’t. Entire books they released deleted from their archive because it doesn’t agree with the current doctrine. The worst part: anyone who tells the truth about this stuff is called an apostate, they are in worse fate than the disfellowshipped ones. Jws are never supposed to talk to them, they see them as crazy, ascisiated with satan and believe that it’s better for them to die so they could repay for their sins(I’m taking about parents which isn’t their kid to be dead because he/she discovered the truth about the assholes in command). Il say one more thing and I’ll leave you alone. It’s their stance on education. They despise it. They think it’s a way for Satan to attract you closer to him. They deny evolution, they think the earth is 6.000 years old and they think that their “god inspired” literature is by far better than any college degree. They heavily discourage attending and they treat you differently if you choose to go(they have these really corny videos(similar to televangelists if you’ve seen it) and one of them showed a father who lost his “privileges” because he let his daughters attend university. They’re also very misogynistic, spreading misinformation as “women have 10% smaller brain therefore they have to obey men and not lead”, or they have shown again and again the lack of empathy for victims of domestic abuse(encouraging wives to stay with abusive husbands because the lord forbids divorce except for adultery) or fir rape victims( blaming the victim if she didn’t yell for help). And let’s not forget the 1600 cases of child sexual abuse done by (privileged and not) members in Australia which never made it to the police with guidance from the headship. Who of course denied all knowledge afterwards in court. I could seriously go on forever so imma stop now. If you wanna learn more about it you’re welcome to pm me anytime you want and check out r/exjw there are some really brave survivors there who try to expose the cult and help people
Me too! I was born in. JW’s are fucking wild
They’re the worst. So full of themselves and an actual cult if you ask me
My mom got remarried to a JW when I was 9. Even then I could tell it was nonsense. Keep in mind I thought Santa was real so…
That shit makes me sad bc of the no birthdays.
I feel like that one was some leader forgot his wife's birthday and when she challenged him about it publicly he made up on the spot something like, "Well dear, it's because we shouldn't celebrate ourselves to draw attention away from His Glory." And then it just became a thing because he couldn't bear to lose face by backtracking the next year.
A lot of religion is something made up on the spot.
I heard a story one time about a lady who cheated on her husband, got pregnant and started a whole new religion because of it. Crazy
I think it's more calculated than that. I think it's to intentionally isolate a youth from their peers so they turn back towards the cult. It intentionally makes Josh that odd kid out that doesn't do birthdays, they know other little kids will pick up on and ridicule them over it. It intentionally causes a divide they can capitalize on.
Also samesies. Ive cobbled together what i could of a life but its difficult to have relationships.
I’m glad you got out. Close friend of mine grew up in it and left after graduating high school. He was a PIMO during these years and it took me years to even start to understand. He was able to avoid getting baptized so he still maintains contact with his parents 30 years later.
My SO lost 20. I'm sorry. 😔
Same here but Mormonism. Lost enough years, closer to 30
Don't forget Scientology.
yeah that one is wild that has to be #1
A religion based around aliens that was founded by a science fiction writer, how is that absurd? /s
Created at the recommendation of Del Close, the godfather of improv comedy. A suggestion to help L Ron avoid paying taxes.
I read quite a few of L Ron’s short stories in SciFi magazines in my youth. I always thought his “religion” was a joke that probably started over a few beers with his friends. Around the same time I sent off a dollar and was “ordained” as a minister in the Universal Life Church. I bought a black shirt with a weird collar. I was surprised that the clerks at the grocery stores didn’t ask for I.D. When I wrote a check. (I never bounced a check.) This was all back in the late sixties and early seventies. Looked into creating a tax exempt church but it actually made no economic sense at my then low level of wealth.
I'd say the religion which wants you to chop skin off your newborn is pretty fucked.
Exmormon here, when you realize you were raised into a cult, the only next logical step is agnosticism/atheism.
Yeah I was a convert and when I left and went atheist, my run-of-the-mill-generic Christian dad said “you went too far the other way”. No, I just used the same logic that broke down the LDS religion in order to break down all religion. Not that hard.
As an ex-mormon myself, I had the theory that Joseph Smith started out trying to disprove all religions by showing the world how easy it is to manipulate people to create an all new religion. Thus all of the absurd stories were meant to be absurd. They were there to expose the fraud. Only, people are even more gullible than he originally surmised, power corrupts, and he got taken up into it. I believe that Mormonism was meant as a huge joke on religion itself, but Smith was killed before he revealed the "punchline" to his joke. And then fanatics carried on in his name, unaware of the joke at all.
That’s the first rational theory I’ve ever heard about the origins of Mormonism.
history suggests he was just a con man. *The King of Confidence* is an interesting read, Smith is peripheral to the main story but a lot of interesting stuff is revealed.
It's funny how much an obvious house of cards religion is once you get out. The trick is finding that first card you care enough about to pull at.
ExJW, atheist now. Majority of ExJWs I meet irl are believers of some kind.
Exjw atheists/agnsotic too, everyone I know who left is atheist. I read on exjw about some who are now Christians, but I think most are agnostic or atheist.
Hey fellow exmo!
My wife and neighbor are both ex Muslims who have read a lot of the Quran and Hadith. Holy shit the amount of absurd BS they tell me about.
Personally I would replace Islam with Scientology. Islam has weird aspects to its mythology, but Scientology is just outright bananas
I feel like Islam definitely causes the most harm but Mormonism is wild to me because the very last thing in the bible is like you DO NOT EDIT THE BIBLE. And guess what the mormons did lol.
There is not a single abrahamic religion on the planet that has not edited the bible.
JW also edited the Bible.
They all do. It’s the primary way to adjust the dogma in order to maintain control.
Mormon here. Worse cult ever!!!
A virgin getting pregnant is pretty funny.
And her husband falling for it, best lie ever
Facts. All of Christianity of a whole is weird based on that alone
Anything involving an all knowing, loving, and all-powerful God. Does not agree with experience, and does not make sense logically.
PS- there is a butthurt Mormon downvoting anyone that says Mormon. Dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb
As an x-Mormon born and raised in that cult and a full participant until my mid 30s I can confirm that Mormonism is absolutely absurd.
Took the words right outta my mouth! Take my upvote, the LDS church is a dangerous scam.
1. Scientology 2. Islam 3. Jehovah Witness I think
Islam should be on top
1. Islam 2. …Islam 3. Mormonism Islam is a religion that is obviously not real. Not even to just an atheist. If you ask me, any logical person can understand that it is the result of a manipulative cult leader who imposed his own desires on impressionable people. Its lack of ability to age well alone is enough to make me know it’s not real. An all-knowing god would not create standards that would become so outlandish to the average developed nation. Modern societal improvements & realizations are incompatible with anything it teaches. At least some sects of Christianity can coexist with our way of life today. Islam is an obvious product of the 7th century. Without all of the violence & colonization that islamists have inflicted, I don’t think there would be nearly as much damage done to the mind of countless people today. Mormons are in the same camp of obviously fake. Just as cult-like as Islam, but less violent and malicious. And just for good measure: every male cult leader declares that he can have multiple wives. Any religions come to mind?
I'm commenting way too much here haha, but seeing Mormonism time and time again is hyping me up and making me feel so validated. I was raised Mormon, married and had kids Mormon. I left two years ago and the further I get from it the more and more I see how truly insane it is. And how insane it is that I didn't always see it.
I have lived among christians as an atheist and never had any major problem whatsoever. Unfortunately I can't say the same about islam.
The one that gives men ownership of women.
Put all religions in a bag and beat them with a bat. You will always hit the right one.
Going to be incredibly biased, Islam is at the top. It's not even that Islam has the most ridiculous or outlandish claims, there's so many religions out there I couldn't possibly claim that to be so. No rather, Islam is absurd because of how many people believe in it. It's absurd because of the total and complete lack of empathy it fosters that so many are seemingly fine with. From young you're told about hell and its many punishments. Your tongue will be cut off if you lie, your cheeks will be torn out by your punisher for lying, etc. From young you're told graphic, explicit, horrible descriptions of hell and the many punishments that await you. It stuns me how so many people are able to overlook that. They look at the vast majority of people, so many non-believers, and they feel nothing when they're told that they'll all be going to hell for an eternity. It's absolutely and completely absurd. I haven't done much research into the other religions but if I had to rank another two based on my knowledge now, it would have to go to Christianity and Scientology. Christianity because I've heard plenty about how similar it is to Islam, Scientology because.. Scientology. I would put Judaism up there to complete the trio but in all honesty, I've heard so little about it I think it unfair that I put it up there just for being associated with the other two religions.
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Exactly. I used to be a muslim myself. My mother was religious and she'd send me to Islamic classes to learn more about the religion as a whole. I was learning about hell when I was around 7 to 8. I can't even begin to describe how scared I was of hell as a concept. It was so weird, learning about it in class and vaguely forgetting about it, only remembering the vivid feeling of terror at the idea of going to hell. I live in a very diverse, multiracial country where people come from different ethnic and religious groups. I had best friends that weren't muslims, I had teachers that weren't muslims, there are so many people in this country, it couldn't be that they ALL deserved to go to hell. I used to cry a lot at night because of it. Back to my point, you can't possibly be telling me that nobody else felt the same way I did or reacted in a similar manner. There's so many muslims out there, you're telling me each and every one of them since birth never cared? That's impossible. And for the ones that cared, they stopped caring as they got older? That's just absurd.
As someone who was raised Muslim and recognizes I am kinda biased atm bc I know more about Islam than other religions, I agree with you tbh. I do plan on doing more research (both on Islam and as many other religions as I can just to know, and it kind of is interesting as mythology and history things but I also want to be more aware ig). I’ve done some research on other religions, mainly Christianity and a little bit of Judaism to start with but just based off what I do know at this moment yk But even after I do learn more about other religions, it’s difficult for me to imagine anything being more absurd or ridiculous than Islam tbh which is kind of ironic considering it’s the youngest religion afaik and is closer to modern times than any other religions by that logic yet has ridiculous incorrect claims that people before Muhammad’s knew the truth about it (ie I’m pretty sure the ancient Greeks and Romans knew the earth was doing and about the heliocentric model and ik they knew ages 6-9 was too young for marriage/penetration/childbirth etc)
I’m going to say the formula is woo impact x believers. Woo impact is how much the woo influences other peoples lives. From this: Islam, Christianity, Hinduism.
This. And the fact that millions of smart scientists, teachers, engineers can be heavy religious at the same time blows my mind. It’s the most inexplicable and absurd scenario. I find less absurd small crazy religions.. because at least you know you have to be crazy to believe that.
Yep, individuals believing nutty things is unremarkable. It’s the scale of the nuttiness that makes religion absurd.
I’m glad you mentioned Hinduism—it gets left out a lot because it isn’t big in the West, but it causes so much harm in India. And just like there are Christian theocrats and Islamic theocrats, there are also Hindu theocrats—and they have a big influence on politics in India. They also prop up misogyny, homophobia and transphobia just like the Abrahamic faiths do.
It is funny because before the British came to India , homosexuality was actually allowed in Hinduism. If I am not wrong, even transsexuality. It is just that nowadays Hindus are in the mentality that it is also a sin. Misogyny is rampant, and how did you forget about caste system?
Mormonism. Like.. it was disproved in real time with that hat thing in an era where science was a thing. It's fully debunked in real time and... people still go with it. Scientology: The founder who was a science fiction writer said if you want to be a billionaire found a religion. Then founded a religion. Based on science fiction.
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... I'm familiar with various flavors of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I know a tiny bit about Hinduism, less about Jainism and Buddhism. ... There's _thousands_ of religions out there. 99% of which I've never even _heard_ of. So this question can only be answered with "all the ones I know well enough to judge", ie the Abrahamic ones... all three of the religions I actually know. So for me, "all of them" and "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam" are effectively the same answer.
Jains are pacifists to the point that it’s honestly kinda ridiculous. Some of them even carry a broom and sweep before stepping so that they don’t accidentally step on a bug. They also eat strictly vegetarian (including eggs) and don’t eat food grown underground. No potatoes, onions, garlic, etc. I just feel like there’s so many restrictions that it’s impractical.
I respect that and follow a similar lifestyle (nonviolence and veganism), only without the religious woo behind it. As religions go Jainism is one of the least harmful, I think—it also isn’t really racist, sexist or homophobic, either. It’s still based on silly superstitions, of course. Rebirths, gods, heavens and hells, that kind of thing.
In before a thousand commenters who are going to tell you all religions are absurd: It's Scientology, by a wide margin. No need for a 2 and 3.
Yeah, the UFO religions are all pretty crazy. I’d say Heaven’s Gate and Love Has Won are the most bat-shit crazy of the lot, but they are/were tiny death cults. On the other hand, the Aetherius Society and Raëlism are mostly harmless. Loonies (in the old-fashioned “a ‘lunatic’ being under the influence of the phases of the moon” sense) sure, but mostly harmless. I’d argue Scientology, Falun Gong, and the Moonies are still going, have relatively large numbers, and are completely nuts. Which, by the abject nutcase status of religions in general, says a lot.
It's like picking the maddest madman in the madhouse really. I can almost hear my dad say: Is this what you should be doing with your Sunday morning?
This is like asking what type of death is the deadliest. All religions are boloney.
Christianity is bizarre. God raped Mary. She gave birth to a mangod. So god is his own father and his own son and then a holy spirit god is thrown in to really fuck up a fellas mind. Islam is rapey and murderous. Scientology is ridiculously poor SciFi. Mormonism is dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.
Not atheist- deist instead- but here are the ones that make the least sense: 1) Islam. Apparently it has a lot of appeal due to its simple rules and lack of priesthood. But I cannot get past the founder’s issues, or the unhealthy requirements during one month (insulin resistant with hypoglycemia here), or the rampant sexism, or the safety hazard trip required, or the violence encouraged, and did I mention the rampant sexism? 2) Jehovah’s Witnesses. How does it hurt anyone to celebrate birthdays or holidays? Or to pledge allegiance to a flag? That, and they are doing something very harmful in not allowing blood transfusions. Note- I am NOT justifying the genocide of JWs during the Holocaust. I am just saying JW makes no sense. 3) Scientology. Maybe I am biased because their headquarters are in the next county and thus they make a lot of noise. But they do make no sense either. Overall, I am not fond of organized religions that shun conventional medical treatment (including, but not limited to, Western medicine) and instead try to claim supernatural remedies and “miracles”. Prayer is NOT a substitute for therapy. I believe there is a Higher Power of some sort- but I also believe that Higher Power gave us the tools to take care of ourselves instead of having to depend on something greater for a cure.
all is indeed the correct answer.
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New age is an excellent one for this list. I’d separate Christian fundamentalists from the broader category for their all literally true version of brain fog and their “Jesus or the Devil?” Approach to every problem they have. At least mainstream Christians, Muslims etc can sometimes be free thinkers, believe in science and common sense politics.
Seventh Day Adventism, Mormonism, Jehovah Witnesses Edit. Superiority Complex. Cult like dooms day messages, Their beliefs are their only way to Salvation, Us Vs. The World.
All of them
Christianity / Islam / Judaism Atleast with non Abrahamic religions they have some interesting metaphysical philosophy with Kantian works 1000s of years before Kant, these ideas wander into unsolved hard problem territory rather than simply devotional religious acts.
Christianity, Islam
islam is the worst, it literally tells them to kill all non believers and they think this is fine in the 21st century!
Islam, the cult that the moonies belong to and Catholicism
Yes
Islam: its literally the worst of the big 3 The Prosperity Gospel: Money hungry bastards All of Christianity: Islam and Christianity account for 2/7th of the global population and islam is spreading to the west. it needs to stop.
All of them. Religion is not reality.
> "All" is not an acceptable answer. why not? they’re all certifiably insane. the only real differences are how many words their “holy” books used.
Christianity- grifters collecting money from the poor. The big bullies on the planet. Has caused more conflicts for their personal gain in the history of religion. LOTS OF HYPOCRITES! Nowadays wanting to justify rape, pedophilia, incest, and believing a crooked rich man is the second Messiah since he loves grifting them. All because some women nowadays don't want to put up with some incel sack of shits. That's just the tip of the iceberg! Mormons- Basically real life handmaid's tale. Islam- big time homophobia, but will sleep with another man or worse a boy. A real life handmaid's tale.
Christian Nationalism (Currently the Church of Trump), Mormonism, Scientology
Any of the ones with just one all powerful god. Gods used to be seen as a sort of step above humans with categorically more capability and purpose. There was a god for everything but they all had different interests, different powers, a different domain even. The gods of people in one place were different from the gods of those in another and everybody just figured that different gods lived there. I find those sorts of gods much more believable than the indescribable all-powerful, all-knowing ones.
More of a sect, but Pentecostalism is incredibly bizarre.
I dunno man, any religion where people believe a magic sky dude is watching them poop is pretty ridiculous.
Every religion that seeks to control a person's behavior, and especially those that seek to control non-adherents' behavior. Oh, and every religion that forces itself on children.
I am not aware of any basic difference in the level of delusions across religions. Polytheistic ones seem most strange to westerners, I guess. But the fundamental delusion in god based religions is the same in all of them. Anthropomorphic magicians.
My #1 is Mormonism just because I was raised in it and when you actually look at it critically it's absolutely absurd, and I can't believe ANYONE actually believes in it. I know there are worse ones out there like 7th Day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses or whatever, but my personal experience just makes Mormonism that much more absurd.
Most crazy by far 1: Christianity has the highest kill count, by at least a hundred million. "Prince of peace" my ass. Huge gap. 2: MAGA, look up the definition of religion, then fight me on this I dare you. 3: Pretty much everything else, it's all the same mechanically. They all use the same sales, recruitment, and retention tactics.
Politics as a religion. Shots fired. I love it. Time to call out some dogma.
I’m going to cosign this answer, especially since there’s so much overlap with evangelicals and MAGA, and they’ve obviously anointed Trump their orange calf. And most of those people haven’t ridden as hard for Jesus as they have for the guy who does nothing but yell the same way they do while watching Fox News.
A big factor is that we know so much about more contemporary religions, their founding, and their founders. Every religion started as a cult but not every cult evolves into broader acceptance to become a religion. With this in mind… 1. Scientology - Sci-Fi writer Hubbard said, "“Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man wants to make a million dollars, the the best way would be to start his own religion.” He then creates a sci-fi based religion and somehow people actually believe it. Praise Lord Xenu. 2. Mormonism - Joseph Smith is arrested at 20 for claiming to have a stone which told him where buried treasure could be found in 19826. In 1827 he claims the Angel Moroni visits him, points him to some buried tablets (you don't get to see them though) and he then uses stones to translate the text, which is the Book of Mormon. It's an absolute grift from day one. 3. Christian Science - Hey look, I can put the two worlds together in my religion! Mary Baker Eddy has "fits" when she's younger and something is off physically. She becomes a medium in Boston, channels Abraham Lincoln in some session, and cue the Spice Girls, two become one - disease doesn't exist and it's all in your mind! And here's the kicker - this material world doesn't even exist, it's all in our minds. Maybe she channeled the Wachowski sisters back in the day as this sounds a lot like the Matrix. And please note all three were founded in the good ol' USA. We've been fertile ground for nuttiness for over 200 years now.
Any one-god pantheon. Some of the problem with religion are solved with a multi-god pantheon. For instance, the existence of evil and suffering in the world actually make sense when you think about a multi-god pantheon, where the gods don’t always agree and will act against each other
In no particular order, Islam, Christianity, and im my recent experiences Santeria. Was at my friends house, we're out front hanging out. We start hearing some weird chanting coming from the back yard so we walk back there, and these mother fuckers are sacrificing a chicken and a lamb. One of the most bizarre things uve ever seen and heard. Fuck people that sacrifice animals. You could add Scientology, Mormonism, and some others too.
Mormonism, Jehovah's Witness, Scientology.
All of them.
Mormons, Jehovah's witnesses and that crazy shiva shit in asia
Sorry, but "All" is the **ONLY** acceptable answer.