I don't want to insult anyone's faith here, but even if you are religious you might agree there is some BS in religions, maybe even in yours. Sometimes it's provable like in the case of the "Book of Abraham" in the Mormon faith:



However, there seems to be positive effects for children growing up in religious environments, like community or instillment of positive values. Here is an ex-Mormon story where he admits as much from 18:50 on:



It seems the best approach to Religion is to follow it until young adulthood, and then quit it. So how do we get the best of both worlds here? I think the solution is obvious, and revolves around the initiation ceremony for young adults which is common to every religion afaik (Holy Communion, Confirmation, Bar Mizwa...)

So my proposal is:

- Make up a new Religion from the combination of the best parts of all the exiting religions
- At the initiation ceremony, the young adults are told it is all BS, but necessary BS they have to keep on pretending in front of kids. But they can now do what they want in places where kids have no access, of which there are plenty in existence already (Universities, Casinos, Bars, Strip Clubs, Brothels,...).
- The kids that find out before the ceremony win the Religion and get to be priests.
- If someone drops out they might be telling the kids it's all BS, but today's Religions drop-outs do that already, as we can see above, and the Religions are still fine; so no harm done!

Thoughts? Who is with me?

Why is quitting the best strategy? How is that better than a mixed strategy since you don’t know for sure that God doesn’t exist?

If God exists, then he is sovereign. Since almost all religiously active people are apologists who don’t hold God accountable, the non believers should spend a fraction of their week praying, affirming his sovereignty. Just in case he does exist.

Otherwise, no one is holding God accountable. It is beyond idiotic to not hedge this bet on something so consequential, especially when so much of humanity is struggling. Just because people don’t want to do something they don’t feel like doing? For a few minutes per day?

Do the prayer affirming God’s sovereignty whenever you hear news of a tragedy. The apologists will pray for healing, nevermind that. The agnostics and non believers should pray -> everything is God’s will and responsibility.

Well, it's the best strategy for the secular parts of live.

It depends on how much you value the pursuit of truth.

0.1% requires more effort than zero, but there is so much more value to 0.1% if it actually turns out to be true. The most useful way for non believers to spend the 0.1% is through prayer.

Wait can we still have Christmas as adults?

You can have Christmas every day brother!

nice

...so you in?

I'll have to talk to my mom first

Wouldn't just adhering to the 10 commandments be the most useful way? Most come natural anyway, and if you have great parents and can keep it in your pants you're pretty much golden.

For raising children, the Ten Commandments are good. The golden rule is good.

Here is something I recommend:

“The good father is always with you.”

Say this ^ when you have to put a kid in timeout or when you have to leave and the kid is upset.

“Religion is when you are forced to believe something that is not in your experience.” – Sadhguru.

That is to say, gnosticism is a sacred path and orthodox religion, whatever the brand, is canned myth.

Religions are takes on The Great Mystery formalized into an orthodoxy. To approach the whole subject with the attitude, "Which of these religions is true or best?" is akin to "which demon causes epilepsy?" or "which demon causes leprosy?' The world has advanced. The gnostic path is not trapped into this perspective. Stories are stories. Truth is lived.

Anecdotes aren’t evidence, they are anecdotes.

Religious indoctrination of children frequently causes life long psychological harm. Evidence is the large number of struggling ex-Christians who know there is no evidence to believe in god, but keep getting pulled back to their religion because of a terror of going to hell they can’t shake.

The anti-Christian can’t fix this problem. He has practically no power or influence on Christians.

The Non-Christian will fix it.