Antireligion: Difference between revisions

'''Antireligion''' is opposition to [[:en:religion]] of any kind.<ref>{{cite web|title=Anti-religion|url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-religion|website=Merriam-Webster Dictionary|publisher=Merriam-Webster Online|archivedate=26 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Antireligion|url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/antireligion|website=Collins Dictionary|publisher=Collins Dictionary Online|archivedate=26 September 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Bullivant|first1=Stephen|last2=Lee|first2=Lois|title=A Dictionary of Atheism|date=2016|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780191816819}}</ref> The term has been used to describe opposition to [[:en:organized religion]], [[:en:religious ritual|religious practices]] or [[:en:religious institutions]]. This term has also been used to describe opposition to specific forms of supernatural worship or practice, whether organized [[:en:spiritual but not religious|or not]]. Opposition to religion also goes beyond the [[:en:Misotheism|misotheistic]] spectrum. As such it is distinct from deity-specific positions such as [[:en:atheism]] (the absence of a belief in deities) and [[:en:antitheism]] (an opposition to belief in deities), although "antireligionists", a neologism as of 2017, sfaik, may also be atheists or antitheists.   

A religion is a culturally dependent belief system.

Science/Reason is the one belief system that can produce objective truth about the real world.

Science is not culturally dependent, it is valid for all real beings everywhere and at all times.

A religion until it becomes something other than a belief system is a false one that may be prevalent in primitive cultures that have not yet achieved a thetic Scientific basing.

Since having a false fundamental belief system is bad in a way virtually nothing else can be, a moral/ethical individual will be anti-religious to the extent that they will seek the earliest possible resolution of any religion still posing as a system of objective belief into a vessel of cultural heritage.

A redact I made of the version of this &sect; I found divided it into Freedom of Religion and Freedom from Religion, since iirc, it was mostly about excesses of state atheism. Restoring that division.

Freedom is surely an illusion if it is an opportunity to do something grossly not in your own best interests. Nonetheless if people are truly free then they are free to do themselves ( but not others ) harm. Religions are not observed to be personal, private systems of belief, but rather ones whose adherents seek to expand or maintain a group of co-believers.

If they were private, personal, then there would be no need to protect them by various laws. It is in this sense that the religious generally understand Freedom of Religion, i.e. as a protected right to pursue their beliefs, often including imposing them on others such as their minor children.

An early form of mass antireligion was expressed during the [[:en:Age of Enlightenment|Enlightenment]], as early as the 17th century. [[:en:Baron d'Holbach]]'s book ''Christianity Unveiled'' published in 1761, attacked not only Christianity but religion in general as an impediment to the moral advancement of humanity.{{cn|date=April 2017}} According to historian [[:en:Michael Burleigh]], antireligion found its first mass expression of barbarity in [[:en:French Revolution|revolutionary France]] as "organised ... irreligion...an 'anti-clerical' and self-styled 'non-religious' state" responded violently to religious influence over society.<ref>[[:en:Michael Burleigh]] ''Earthly Powers'' p 96-97 {{ISBN|0-00-719572-9}}</ref> [[:en:Criticism of religion|Critic of religion]] [[:en:Christopher Hitchens]] was a well-known antireligionist of the 20th century who maintained opposition to religion, arguing that [[:en:Freedom of speech|free expression]] and scientific discovery should replace religion as the method of teaching [[:en:ethics]] and defining human civilization.

The [[:en:Khmer Rouge]] attempted to eliminate Cambodia's cultural heritage, including its religions, particularly Theravada Buddhism.<ref name="NYTi">[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9E0CE5DE163CF931A35752C0A964958260 Philip Shenon, Phnom Penh Journal; Lord Buddha Returns, With Artists His Soldiers] ''[[:en:New York Times]]'' - January 2, 1992</ref> Over the four years of Khmer Rouge rule, at least 1.5 million Cambodians perished.  A mere three thousand Buddhist monks survived the Khmer Rouge horror.  There had been sixty thousand monks previously.<ref>[http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1092899381 Khmer Rouge: Christian baptism after massacres] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120123124744/http://www.christianaggression.org/item_display.php?type=ARTICLES&id=1092899381 |date=January 23, 2012 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.crimesofwar.org/a-z-guide/cambodia/ CRIMES OF WAR]</ref>

See en-wiki for a maintained version of this &sect.

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* [[:en:Anti-Catholicism]]

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