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[[:en:Antireligion]]  
<table style="background-color: aliceblue;"><tr><td width=15% align=center valign=middle><div style="background-color: yellow;width: 130px;"><span class="plainlinks">[https://doorbell.meansofproduction.biz/?TCOLL=1&F1=TCCoR Common Cut Clip]<br>[[:en:Antireligion|EnWiki]] <br>[[Synchronicity]]<br>[https://doorbell.meansofproduction.biz/?TCOLL=1&F1=TRUTH Truth Clip]<span>  &nbsp;
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'''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|accessdate=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|accessdate=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.   
'''Antireligion''' is the opposite of [[:en:Omnism]], it is opposition to [[:en:religion]] of any kind and is more fundamental in its opposition than [[:en:Anti-clericalism]].<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.   
<blockquote style="position: relative;left: -50px;width:900px;">{{Cquote|Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool. }}<div align=right>&mdash;confabulated by the internet  as a quote of [[:en:Mark Twain|Twain]] with an actual quote to same effect from [[:en:Voltaire|Voltaire]] <ref>"Les divinations, les augures, étaient des espèces d’oracles, et sont, je crois, d’une plus haute antiquité ; car il fallait bien des cérémonies, bien du temps pour achalander un oracle divin qui ne pouvait se passer de temple et de prêtres ; et rien n’était plus aisé que de dire la bonne aventure dans les carrefours. Cet art se subdivisa en mille façons ; on prédit par le vol des oiseaux, par le foie des moutons, par les plis formés dans la paume de la main, par des cercles tracés sur la terre, par l’eau, par le feu, par des petits cailloux, par des baguettes, par tout ce qu’on imagina, et souvent même par un pur enthousiasme qui tenait lieu de toutes les règles. Mais qui fut celui qui inventa cet art ? ce fut le premier fripon qui rencontra un imbécile." Complete Works, Garnier, Tome 11 p. 88</ref></div>
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<blockquote style="position: relative;left: -100px;width:900px;">{{Cquote|Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. }}
<div align=right>&mdash;attributed to [[:en:Seneca the Younger|Seneca]] with essentially same actual sentence in  [[:en:Edward Gibbon|Gibbon]], Vol. I,  <span class=plainlinks style="color: lime;">[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/25717/25717-h/25717-h.htm#chap02.1 Ch. 2, &sect; I &para; 1]</span> <ref>As you might expect since Atheism doesn't really appear fully formed in the West until the late 18th century with d'Holbach.</ref></div>
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<tr><td></td><td>These faux quotes are telling of the West in contrast to its being the origin of modern science and especially telling of the part of the planet where it did and ostensibly no longer does culturally dominate. Even those pushing one absurdly claim that it is not a religion<ref>see Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus. the Movie and meme. The title "I hate religion" by the prosperity gospel televangelist [[:en:Creflo Dollar]] is exemplary of this.</ref>. Fortunately both in some societies and layers (e.g. scientific class) of the West and the societies of East Asia, this is no longer the case, these parts of humanity have risen above primitive stories as fundamental belief, can get that it is wrong to hold such as true and worse to try to push them on others. Scientific rationality at the species level is the destiny of Man generally but at this writing religion is still a thing in most places morally compelling polemic.
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== An Argument In Outline ==
= <span style="color: navy;">Thesis</span> =
 
This &sect; which was first written as a response on the enwiki article talk page where an [[:en:The_Antichrist_(book)#Decree_against_Christianity|ancestral argument]] by Nietzsche was noted, is the basis of the next &sect;.
=== Definition ===
{{TOCleft}}
== <span style="color: navy;">Definition</span>  ==
A religion is a culturally dependent belief system.
A religion is a culturally dependent belief system.
=== Premise ===
== <span style="color: navy;">Premise</span>  ==
Science/Reason is the one belief system that can produce objective truth about the real world.
Science/Reason is the one belief system that can produce objective truth about the real world.
=== Corollary ===
== <span style="color: navy;">Corollary</span>  ==
Science is not culturally dependent, it is valid for all real beings everywhere and at all times.
Science<ref>Obviously, here "science" means real culture independent knowledge, which presumes whatever body of knowledge is not produced by a single culture or species.</ref> is not culturally dependent, it is valid for all real beings everywhere and at all times.
=== Conclusion ===
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.


=== Imperative ===
== <span style="color: navy;">Conclusion</span>  ==
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 material rationality.


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.
== <span style="color: navy;">Imperative</span>  ==


== Historical Perspectives ==
Since having a false fundamental belief system is bad in a way virtually nothing else in an otherwise healthy thinking organism 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.
 
=<div align=right><span style="text-align: right; color: navy;">As a Positive Substantive</span></div>=
<blockquote style="background-color: white;"><blockquote><br>
"Antireligion" as noted before, could refer to a reconstruction, if you will, of the thing which is generally regarded as a fundamental human impulse in a manner that doesn't suffer from the defects above observed in all the current religions known to me. While the better ones don't assert belief about counterfactual states of affairs in the physical world, they still fail the not even wrong test. In this &sect; I sketch some expectations of such an Antireligion.
<blockquote>
*To be consistent with rather than opposed to science and true knowledge, our Antireligion must not assert beliefs about the world including relations between living beings but rather find them out (delegated to the relevant scientific discipline, if it exists and functions properly).<br><br> 
*It must address the same concerns as religions do and further it must do so better (as would be expected if the calumny of "a lie at the heart of being" were redacted):<br><br>
** The will and desire to overcome animal death.
** Relations between human beings and between Man and other living beings, in particular ...
** ... technologically superior beings, in the distant universe (if they were able to communicate with us since we currently lack even the ability to conceive of how to communicate with them in real time).<br><br>
* It follows from the first bullet above that it will have a strong aspect of [[:en:methodological solipsism|methodological solipsism]].<br><br>
* OTOH, societies may be judged on the basis of their belief systems, the quality thereof and their adherence to or lack thereof. A society with no fundament in belief is ill founded. Further, pursuant to the thesis above, a [[:en:categorical imperative|categorical imperative]] exists to find out and assert the sort of system of belief and social order which may be expected to hold for sentient beings everywhere, create it if does not yet exist, find and join it if it does.
</blockquote><br>
</blockquote></blockquote>
 
=  <span style="color: navy;">Historical Perspectives</span> =


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.
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 of Religion ===
== <span style="color: navy;">Freedom of Religion</span> ==


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.
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.


=== Freedom from Religion ===
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.
 
Antireligionism became increasingly violent with the rise of [[:en:communism]], where hostility to all religions as political enemies of the state was realized at the national level.{{cn|date=April 2017}}


The [[:en:Soviet Union]] adopted the political ideology of [[:en:Marxism-Leninism]] and viewed religion as closely tied with foreign nationality.  It thus directed varying degrees of antireligious efforts at varying faiths, depending on what threat they posed to the Soviet state, and their willingness to subordinate itself to political authority.  These antireligious campaigns were directed at all faiths,<ref name="countrystudies.us">http://www.countrystudies.us/russia/38.htm</ref><ref name="country-data.com">{{cite web| url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12521.html| title=Soviet Union: Policy toward nationalities and religions in practice| date=May 1989| website=www.country-data.com| accessdate=2017-04-25}}</ref> including [[:en:Christian]], [[:en:Islamic]], [[:en:Buddhist]], [[:en:Jewish]], and [[:en:Shamanist]] religions. In the 1930s, during the [[:en:Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]ist period, the government destroyed church buildings or put them into secular use (as museums of religion and atheism, clubs or storage facilities), executed clergy, prohibited the publication of most religious material and persecuted some members of religious groups.<ref name="countrystudies.us"/><ref>{{cite journal|jstor=125428|pages=20–30|last1=Timasheff|first1=N. S.|title=The Church in the Soviet Union 1917 - 1941|volume=1|issue=1|journal=Russian Review|year=1941|doi=10.2307/125428}}</ref><ref name="USGOV1">{{cite web|title=Revelations from the Russian Archives: ANTI-RELIGIOUS CAMPAIGNS|url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/archives/anti.html|website=Library of Congress|quote=The Soviet Union was the first state to have as an ideological objective the elimination of religion. Toward that end, the Communist regime confiscated church property, ridiculed religion, harassed believers, and propagated atheism in the schools. Actions toward particular religions, however, were determined by State interests, and most organized religions were never outlawed.|publisher=US Government|accessdate=2 May 2016}}</ref> Less violent attempts to reduce or eliminate the influence of religion in society were also carried out at other times in Soviet history. For instance, it was usually necessary to be an atheist in order to acquire any important political position or any prestigious scientific job; thus many people became atheists in order to advance their careers. Sources disagree on the results of the antireligious campaigns, with some claiming the death of 21 million [[:en:Russia]]n [[:en:Orthodox Christians]] by the Soviet government, not including other religious groups or persecutions without killings,<ref>World Christian trends, AD 30-AD 2200, p.230-246 Tables 4-5 & 4-10 By David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, Christopher R. Guidry, Peter F. Crossing NOTE: They define 'martyr' on p235 as only including christians killed for faith and excluding other christians killed</ref> and other sources stating that only up to 500,000 [[:en:Russia]]n [[:en:Orthodox Christians]] were persecuted by the Soviet government, not including other religious groups.<ref>[http://www.pravmir.ru/skolko-repressirovannyx-v-rossii-postradali-za-xrista Емельянов Н.Е. Сколько репрессированных в России пострадали за Христа?]</ref> The [[:en:Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic]] targeted numerous clergy for arrest and interrogation as enemies of the state,<ref name=mphdr>{{ro}}Martiri pentru Hristos, din România, în perioada regimului comunist, Editura Institutului Biblic È™i de Misiune al Bisericii Ortodoxe Române, BucureÈ™ti, 2007, pp.34–35</ref> and many churches, mosques, and synagogues were converted to secular uses.<ref name="BrezianuSpânu2010">{{cite book|last1=Brezianu|first1=Andrei|title=The A to Z of Moldova|accessdate=21 July 2016|date=26 May 2010|publisher=Scarecrow Press|language=English|isbn=978-0-8108-7211-0|page=98|quote=Communist Atheism. Official doctrine of the Soviet regime, also called "scientific atheism." It was aggressively applied to Moldova, immediately after the 1940 annexation, when churches were profaned, clergy assaulted, and signs and public symbols of religion were prohibited, and it was applied again throughout the subsequent decades of the Soviet regime, after 1944. ... churches were either pulled down or turned into facilities designed to serve secular or even profane purposes ... the Transfiguration Cathedral (previously dedicated to St. Constantine and Helena) housed the city's planetarium.}}</ref>
== <span style="color: navy;">Freedom from Religion</span> ==
The [[:en:People's Republic of Albania]] had an objective for the eventual elimination of all religion in [[:en:Albania]] with the goal of creating an atheist nation, which it declared it had achieved in 1967.  In 1976, Albania implemented a constitutional ban on religious activity and propaganda.<ref name="ReferenceA">http://countrystudies.us/albania/56.htm</ref> The government nationalised most property of religious institutions and used it for non-religious purposes, such as cultural centers for young people. Religious literature was banned. Many clergy and theists were tried, tortured, and executed. All foreign [[:en:Roman Catholic]] clergy were expelled in 1946.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref>World Christian trends, AD 30-AD 2200, p.230-246 Tables 4-10 By David B. Barrett, Todd M. Johnson, Christopher R. Guidry, Peter F. Crossing</ref> Albania was the only country that ever officially banned religion.{{cn|date=April 2017}}


Authorities in the [[:en:People's Republic of Romania]] aimed to move towards an atheistic society, in which religion would be considered as the ideology of the bourgeoisie; the régime also set to propagate among the laboring masses in science, politics and culture to help them fight [[:en:superstition]] and [[:en:mysticism]], and initiated an anti-religious campaign aimed to reducing the influence of religion in society.<ref>{{cite book|last1= Leustean|first1=Lucian|title=Orthodoxy and the Cold War: Religion and Political Power in Romania, 1947-65|date=2009|publisher=la University of Michigan|isbn=3447058749|page=92-93|url=|quote= One of the main aims of the regime was to transform Romania into a communist atheist society in which religion was considered the ideology of the bourgeoise. Thus in 1949, the Society for the Popularisation of Science and Culture was established. The main objective of this anti-religious society was 'to propagate among the labouring masses political and scientific knowledge to fight obscurantism, superstition, mysticism, and all other influences of bourgeois ideologies'. ...the regime's anti-religious campaign aimed to discredit the church and to reduce the influence of religion in society.}}</ref> After the communist takeover in 1948, some church personnel were imprisoned for political crimes.<ref name="Referenceb">January 23, 1999, issue of the London Tablet by Jonathen Luxmoore,  Published by Chesterton Review Feb/May 1999</ref>
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. 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 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>
The [[:en:Soviet Union]] adopted the political ideology of [[:en:Marxism-Leninism]] and viewed religion as closely tied with the capitalist order.  It thus directed varying degrees of antireligious efforts at varying faiths.  These antireligious campaigns were directed at all faiths,<ref name="countrystudies.us">http://www.countrystudies.us/russia/38.htm</ref><ref name="country-data.com">{{cite web| url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12521.html| title=Soviet Union: Policy toward nationalities and religions in practice| date=May 1989| website=www.country-data.com| archivedate=2017-04-25}} </ref> including [[:en:Christian]], [[:en:Islamic]], [[:en:Buddhist]], [[:en:Jewish]], and [[:en:Shamanist]] religions. In the 1930s, during the [[:en:Joseph Stalin|Stalin]]ist period, the government destroyed church buildings or put them into secular use (as museums of religion and atheism, clubs or storage facilities), executed clergy, prohibited the publication of most religious material and persecuted some members of religious groups.


== Notable antireligious people ==
= <span style="color: navy;">Notable antireligious people</span> =
;Intellectuals
*[[:en:Thomas Paine]] (1737–1809), English-American author and [[:en:Deism|deist]] who wrote a scathing critique on religion in ''[[:en:The Age of Reason]]'' (1793-4). "All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish [i.e. Muslim], appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit".<ref>[[q:Thomas Paine]]</ref>
*[[:en:Karl Marx]] (1818–1883), German philosopher, social scientist, socialist. He is well known for his antireligious views. He said religion was "[[:en:The opium of the people|the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness.]]".<ref>Marx, K. 1976. ''[https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm Introduction to A Contribution to the Critique of Hegel’s Philosophy of Right]''. [[Marx/Engels Collected Works|Collected Works]], v. 3. New York.</ref>
*[[:en:Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche]] (1844–1900), German philosopher, cultural critic, poet, composer, and Latin and Greek scholar. He wrote several critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy, and science, displaying a fondness for metaphor and irony.
*[[:en:John Dewey]] (1859–1952), an American [[:en:Pragmatism|pragmatist]] philosopher, who believed neither religion nor [[:en:metaphysics]] could provide legitimate moral or social values, though scientific [[:en:empiricism]] could (see [[:en:science of morality]]).<ref>"Dewey felt that science alone contributed to 'human good,' which he defined exclusively in naturalistic terms. He rejected religion and metaphysics as valid supports for moral and social values, and felt that success of the scientific method presupposed the destruction of old knowledge before the new could be created. ... (Dewey, 1929, pp. 95, 145) "William Adrian, [https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15363750590925929 TRUTH, FREEDOM AND (DIS)ORDER IN THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY], ''Christian Higher Education', 4:2, 145-154</ref>
* [[:en:Bertrand Russell]] (1872–1970), English logician and philosopher who believed that authentic philosophy could only be pursued given an atheistic foundation of "unyielding despair". In 1948, he famously debated the [[:en:Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] priest and [[:en:History of philosophy|philosophical historian]] Father [[:en:Frederick Copleston]] on the [[:en:existence of God]].<ref>''"I think all the great religions of the world{{spaced ndash}}[[:en:Buddhism]], [[:en:Hinduism]], [[:en:Christianity]], [[:en:Islam]] and [[:en:Communism]]{{spaced ndash}}both untrue and harmful. It is evident as a matter of logic that, since they disagree, not more than one of them can be true.&nbsp;... I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue."'' Bertrand Russell in "My Religious Reminiscences" (1957), reprinted in ''The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell'' [http://russell.cool.ne.jp/beginner/DBR-K1E.HTM]</ref>
* [[:en:Ayn Rand]] (1905-1982), Russian-American novelist and philosopher, founder of [[:en:Objectivism (Ayn Rand)|Objectivism]].
*[[:en:Richard Dawkins]] (born 1941), English biologist, one of the "four horsemen" of [[:en:New Atheism]]. He wrote ''[[:en:The God Delusion]]'', criticizing [[:en:Theism|belief in the divine]], in 2006.<ref>''Many of us saw religion as harmless nonsense. Beliefs might lack all supporting evidence but, we thought, if people needed a crutch for consolation, where's the harm? September 11th changed all that. Revealed faith is not harmless nonsense, it can be lethally dangerous nonsense. Dangerous because it gives people unshakeable confidence in their own righteousness. Dangerous because it gives them false courage to kill themselves, which automatically removes normal barriers to killing others. Dangerous because it teaches enmity to others labelled only by a difference of inherited tradition. And dangerous because we have all bought into a weird respect, which uniquely protects religion from normal criticism. Let's now stop being so damned respectful!'' The Guardian, 2001-10-11 "[http://books.guardian.co.uk/writersreflections/story/0,1367,567546,00.html Has the world changed?]." ''The Guardian''. Accessed 2006-01-29.</ref>
*[[:en:Christopher Hitchens]] (1949-2011), English-American author and journalist, one of the "four horsemen" of [[:en:New Atheism]]. He wrote ''[[:en:God Is Not Great]]: How Religion Poisons Everything'' in 2007.<ref name=hitchensobit>{{cite web|work=New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/arts/christopher-hitchens-is-dead-at-62-obituary.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0|title=Christopher Hitchens, Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, Dies at 62|last=Grimes|first=William|date=16 December 2011|accessdate=15 February 2015}}</ref>
*[[:en:Madalyn Murray O'Hair]] (1919-1995), American atheist activist, founder of American Atheists organization.
*[[:en:Steven Pinker]] (born 1954), Canadian-American cognitive scientist who believes religion incites violence.<ref>"[T]he Bible, contrary to what a majority of Americans apparently believe, is far from a source of higher moral values. Religions have given us stonings, witch-burnings, crusades, inquisitions, jihads, fatwas, suicide bombers, gay-bashers, abortion-clinic gunmen, and mothers who drown their sons so they can happily be united in heaven." [http://pinker.wjh.harvard.edu/articles/media/2004_10_29_religion.htm The Evolutionary Psychology of Religion], presentation by Steven Pinker to the annual meeting of the [[:en:Freedom from Religion Foundation]], [[:en:Madison, Wisconsin]], October 29, 2004, on receipt of “The Emperor’s New Clothes Award.”</ref>


;Politicians
See en-wiki for a maintained version of this &sect;.
*[[:en:Enver Hoxha]], Albanian communist leader between 1944 and 1985 who banned religion in Albania.
*[[:en:Nikita Khrushchev]], Soviet leader in 1953-64, who initiated, among other measures,<ref name="Ibiblio">http://www.ibiblio.org/expo/soviet.exhibit/anti_rel.html</ref><ref>{{cite journal |jstor=150643 |pages=374–386 |last1=Grossman |first1=J. D. |title=Khrushchev's Anti-Religious Policy and the Campaign of 1954|volume=24|issue=3|journal=Soviet Studies |year=1973 |doi=10.1080/09668137308410870}}</ref> the [[USSR anti-religious campaign (1958–1964)|1958-1964 Soviet anti-religious campaign]].
* [[Vladimir Lenin]], Soviet leader from 1917 until 1924, who, like most [[Marxist]]s{{cn|date=October 2016}}, believed all religions to be "the organs of bourgeois reaction, used for the protection of the exploitation and the stupefaction of the working class".<ref>''"Religion is the [[opium of the people]]: this saying of [[Marx]] is the cornerstone of the entire ideology of Marxism about the religion. All modern religions and churches, all and of every kind of religious organizations are always considered by Marxism as the organs of bourgeois reaction, used for the protection of the exploitation and the stupefaction of the working class."''{{cite web |url=http://www.psylib.ukrweb.net/books/maenl01/txt17 |last=Lenin |first=V. I. |title=About the attitude of the working party toward the religion |accessdate=2006-09-09 |work=Collected works, v. 17, p.41}}</ref>
*[[Pol Pot]], was a [[Cambodia]]n [[politician]] and [[revolutionary]] who led the [[Khmer Rouge]],  who banned religion in Cambodia.
*[[Periyar E. V. Ramasamy]], Tamil politician, between 1938-73, who propagated the principles of rationalism, self-respect, women’s rights and eradication of caste in South India.
*[[Mao Zedong]], Chinese communist leader.


;Others
=  <span style="color: navy;">See also</span> =
* [[Bill Maher]], who wrote and starred in ''[[Religulous]]'', a 2008 documentary criticizing and mocking religion.
*[[Marcus Brigstocke]], British comedian.
* [[James Randi]], former magician, professional "debunker" of psychics, outspoken atheist and founder of the [[James Randi Educational Foundation]].<ref>http://www.randi.org/</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.randi.org/jr/072503.html |title=Archived copy |accessdate=2013-10-09 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=http://arquivo.pt/wayback/20091007191524/http%3A//www%2Erandi%2Eorg/jr/072503%2Ehtml |archivedate= 2009-10-07 |df= }}</ref>
* [[Philip Roth]], contemporary Jewish-American novelist.<ref>"I'm anti-religious ... It's all a big lie ... I have such a huge dislike [of] the miserable record of religion." The Guardian, 2005-12-14 " ''The Guardian''. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/dec/14/fiction.philiproth 'It no longer feels a great injustice that I have to die']</ref>
*[[Matt Dillahunty]], Host of [[The Atheist Experience]] and former president of the Atheist Community of Austin, engages in debates with apologists.


== See also ==
Same.
{{columns-list|2|
* [[:en:Anti-Catholicism]]
* [[:en:Anti-Christian sentiment]]
* [[:en:Anti-clericalism]]
* [[:en:Anti-Islamism]], as distinct from [[:en:Islamophobia]]
* [[:en:Anti-Judaism]]
* [[:en:Anti-Mormonism]]
* [[:en:Anti-Protestantism]]
* [[:en:Anti-Buddhism (disambiguation)|Anti-Buddhism]]
* [[:en:Conflict thesis]]
* [[:en:Evidentialism]]
* [[:en:Faith and rationality]]
* [[:en:Freethought]]
* [[:en:Objectivism (Ayn Rand)]]
* [[:en:Persecution of Christians]]
* [[:en:Relationship between religion and science]]
* [[:en:Religious intolerance]]
* [[:en:Religious persecution]]
* [[:en:Religious segregation]]
}}


== References ==
= <span style="color: navy;">References</span> =
{{reflist|2}}
{{reflist|2}}
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Latest revision as of 00:43, 4 April 2024

Antireligion is the opposite of en:Omnism, it is opposition to en:religion of any kind and is more fundamental in its opposition than en:Anti-clericalism.[1][2][3] The term has been used to describe opposition to en:organized religion, 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 or not. Opposition to religion also goes beyond the 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.

“ Religion was invented when the first con man met the first fool. ”
—confabulated by the internet as a quote of Twain with an actual quote to same effect from Voltaire [4]
“ Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. ”
—attributed to Seneca with essentially same actual sentence in Gibbon, Vol. I, Ch. 2, § I ¶ 1 [5]
These faux quotes are telling of the West in contrast to its being the origin of modern science and especially telling of the part of the planet where it did and ostensibly no longer does culturally dominate. Even those pushing one absurdly claim that it is not a religion[6]. Fortunately both in some societies and layers (e.g. scientific class) of the West and the societies of East Asia, this is no longer the case, these parts of humanity have risen above primitive stories as fundamental belief, can get that it is wrong to hold such as true and worse to try to push them on others. Scientific rationality at the species level is the destiny of Man generally but at this writing religion is still a thing in most places morally compelling polemic.

Thesis

This § which was first written as a response on the enwiki article talk page where an ancestral argument by Nietzsche was noted, is the basis of the next §.

Definition

A religion is a culturally dependent belief system.

Premise

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

Corollary

Science[7] is not culturally dependent, it is valid for all real beings everywhere and at all times.

Conclusion

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 material rationality.

Imperative

Since having a false fundamental belief system is bad in a way virtually nothing else in an otherwise healthy thinking organism 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.

As a Positive Substantive


"Antireligion" as noted before, could refer to a reconstruction, if you will, of the thing which is generally regarded as a fundamental human impulse in a manner that doesn't suffer from the defects above observed in all the current religions known to me. While the better ones don't assert belief about counterfactual states of affairs in the physical world, they still fail the not even wrong test. In this § I sketch some expectations of such an Antireligion.

  • To be consistent with rather than opposed to science and true knowledge, our Antireligion must not assert beliefs about the world including relations between living beings but rather find them out (delegated to the relevant scientific discipline, if it exists and functions properly).

  • It must address the same concerns as religions do and further it must do so better (as would be expected if the calumny of "a lie at the heart of being" were redacted):

    • The will and desire to overcome animal death.
    • Relations between human beings and between Man and other living beings, in particular ...
    • ... technologically superior beings, in the distant universe (if they were able to communicate with us since we currently lack even the ability to conceive of how to communicate with them in real time).

  • It follows from the first bullet above that it will have a strong aspect of methodological solipsism.

  • OTOH, societies may be judged on the basis of their belief systems, the quality thereof and their adherence to or lack thereof. A society with no fundament in belief is ill founded. Further, pursuant to the thesis above, a categorical imperative exists to find out and assert the sort of system of belief and social order which may be expected to hold for sentient beings everywhere, create it if does not yet exist, find and join it if it does.


Historical Perspectives

A redact I made of the version of this § 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 of Religion

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.

Freedom from Religion

An early form of mass antireligion was expressed during the 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. According to historian en:Michael Burleigh, antireligion found its first mass expression of barbarity in revolutionary France as "organised ... irreligion...an 'anti-clerical' and self-styled 'non-religious' state" responded violently to religious influence over society.[8] Critic of religion en:Christopher Hitchens was a well-known antireligionist of the 20th century who maintained opposition to religion, arguing that free expression and scientific discovery should replace religion as the method of teaching en:ethics and defining human civilization.

The en:Soviet Union adopted the political ideology of en:Marxism-Leninism and viewed religion as closely tied with the capitalist order. It thus directed varying degrees of antireligious efforts at varying faiths. These antireligious campaigns were directed at all faiths,[9][10] including en:Christian, en:Islamic, en:Buddhist, en:Jewish, and en:Shamanist religions. In the 1930s, during the Stalinist period, the government destroyed church buildings or put them into secular use (as museums of religion and atheism, clubs or storage facilities), executed clergy, prohibited the publication of most religious material and persecuted some members of religious groups.

Notable antireligious people

See en-wiki for a maintained version of this §.

See also

Same.

References

  1. ↑ "Anti-religion". Merriam-Webster Online. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/anti-religion. 
  2. ↑ "Antireligion". Collins Dictionary Online. Archived from the original on 26 September 2017. https://www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/antireligion. 
  3. ↑ Bullivant, Stephen; Lee, Lois (2016). A Dictionary of Atheism. Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780191816819. 
  4. ↑ "Les divinations, les augures, étaient des espèces d’oracles, et sont, je crois, d’une plus haute antiquité ; car il fallait bien des cérémonies, bien du temps pour achalander un oracle divin qui ne pouvait se passer de temple et de prêtres ; et rien n’était plus aisé que de dire la bonne aventure dans les carrefours. Cet art se subdivisa en mille façons ; on prédit par le vol des oiseaux, par le foie des moutons, par les plis formés dans la paume de la main, par des cercles tracés sur la terre, par l’eau, par le feu, par des petits cailloux, par des baguettes, par tout ce qu’on imagina, et souvent même par un pur enthousiasme qui tenait lieu de toutes les règles. Mais qui fut celui qui inventa cet art ? ce fut le premier fripon qui rencontra un imbécile." Complete Works, Garnier, Tome 11 p. 88
  5. ↑ As you might expect since Atheism doesn't really appear fully formed in the West until the late 18th century with d'Holbach.
  6. ↑ see Why I Hate Religion but Love Jesus. the Movie and meme. The title "I hate religion" by the prosperity gospel televangelist en:Creflo Dollar is exemplary of this.
  7. ↑ Obviously, here "science" means real culture independent knowledge, which presumes whatever body of knowledge is not produced by a single culture or species.
  8. ↑ en:Michael Burleigh Earthly Powers p 96-97 ISBN 00-719572-9
  9. ↑ http://www.countrystudies.us/russia/38.htm
  10. ↑ "Soviet Union: Policy toward nationalities and religions in practice". May 1989. Archived from the original on 2017-04-25. http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-12521.html. 

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