Crossposted from https://lemmy.world/post/51921184
this post was submitted on 15 Sep 2026
150 points (98.7% liked)
Mental Health
7371 readers
188 users here now
Welcome
This is a safe place to discuss, vent, support, and share information about mental health, illness, and wellness.
Thank you for being here. We appreciate who you are today. Please show respect and empathy when making or replying to posts.
If you need someone to talk to, @therapygary@lemmy.blahaj.zcan be reached on Signal at TherapyGary13.12.
Rules
The rules for posting and commenting, besides the rules defined here for lemmy.world, are as follows:
- No promoting paid services/products.
- Be kind and civil. No bigotry/prejudice either.
- No victim blaming. Nor giving incredibly simplistic solutions (i.e. You have ADHD? Just focus easier.)
- No encouraging suicide, no matter what. This includes telling someone to commit homicide as "dragging them down with you".
- Suicide note posts will be removed, and you will be reached out to in private.
- If you would like advice, mention the country you are in. (We will not assume the US as the default.)
If BRIEF mention of these topics is an important part of your post, please flag your post as NSFW and include a (trigger warning: suicide, self-harm, death, etc.)in the title so that other readers who may feel triggered can avoid it. Please also include a trigger warning on all comments mentioning these topics in a post that was not already tagged as such.
Partner Communities
To partner with our community and be included here, you are free to message the current moderators or comment on our pinned post.
founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I hate religion, generally speaking, but I will say:
Definitely a few good points to religion. It's a pity there's so much crap for so many of them.
A friend of mine once told me:
You dont hate religgion, you hate religious institutions, which is a huge difference.
And I think about It every day because I was raised religious and a lot of hate to it comes from that.
Fundie Southern Baptist as a kid, and yep. Your words from your friend are wise and I appreciate them, so don't take the following as disagreement per se: For me, it's more about what the people do with the religion than the religion itself on hating religion.
That said, I'm open to good ideas. Hell, a large part of my philosophy comes from the Discworld novels by Sir Terry Pratchett. Although if you think about it, as an atheist, I see that as no more nor no less divinely inspired than any religious work. hehehe
Also, really, all I hate is the part where they use it to do bad things harming people. I hate things tha harm people, generally. So I feel it's not unjustified hate - nor blind hate.
But even while I had a comeback for you here, it is still worth a reminder (that I appreciate) to look for the good wherever it may be :)
Totally agreed. I take some issue with the way Buddhism is practiced in various organized settings. But, when looking at the writings of the Buddha himself and of select Buddhist thinkers (Thich Nhat Hanh, Buddhadasa Bhikku, Walpola Rahula, and others) who tend to de-emphasize ritual and focus on the core spiritual practice, ethics, and meditation, it is hard to find fault.
One thing that resonated with me was something Buddha reportedly said to a noble who asked him about converting. Sort of like the Buddhist version of Pascal's wager. He said he didn't know whether Buddha was correct, particularly about rebirth, etc. Buddha told him that if his teachings are correct and he follows the eightfold path, then he'll achieve Nirvana. If his teachings are wrong and he follows the eightfold path, he will have lived a blameless life, will be at peace, and will do no harm to others.
I don't think the teachings on rebirth are right, but I like the sound of that second part pretty well.
I feel like it sort of matches some general feelings I have on the matter.
As a strong atheist, I firmly believe this life is all we get. So what do we do with this life? Hopefully a balance of enjoying life and making others' lives better.
Things are pretty shit for me in some ways - seven heart attacks, kidney failure so I'm on dialysis, below-knee amputation, I'm now a wheelchair user. Can't do a lot of things I used to. But it doesn't mean I can't make the best of it. I've learned more simple pleasures in life: Making someone laugh and brightening their day just a little. That's valuable and makes life worth living.
I still have so far to go to get where I want to be. For example, I'm still incredibly susceptible to "Someone on the internet is WRONG!" lol. That's a hard one to overcome.
But I think there are some great little principles to live by: Try not to harm others (or yourself); try to make the world a better place to the extent that you can; but also, relax, enjoy life as best as you can. Find joy in simple pleasures.
After growing up a fundie Southern Baptist and recovering… I've less patience for fundies than many others. heh. My attitute toward the Christian God these days is basically: If, after I die, turns out that's the god that exists, and I have to face him and explain why I didn't worship him....... I'll be terrified,of course, but do my best to say: You weren't around. You allowed children to die painful deaths. You created evil. Fuck you. If that's the god in control, fuck that god. heh
Which is not to say I can't get along with Christians. My dad - a pastor's son at that - is very very very laid back and accepting. If I grew up with his brand of Christianity, I could live with that. heh
Hell yeah. Sounds like you have a great attitude, but I'm sorry you've gone through all that. I also have very little patience for people who preach hatred and cause harm to others - but I'm working on it insofar as it's constructive to do so.
There's a very fine line to walk, I think, between peacefulness while not being passive and assertiveness while not doing harm. I think there is some real truth to killing them with kindness.
I have some fundamental metaphysical disagreements about the nature of reality with religious folks of all stripes, but at the end of the day - while that does concern me - as long as they're good to others, I have grown out of being too upset about it. I made a fool of myself when I was younger trying to prove people wrong for the sake of it, but I'm ashamed of that now.
Well, there is also the principle of the intolerance of intolerance. I can respect your beliefs... until you try and dictate my beliefs or actions based on them. heh. But more importantly, I tolerate most people, but I cannot abide bigotry. "Very little patience" indeed. :)
I waffle on trying to convince others. Obviously not in supernatural debates much anymore, but certainly in politics and matters of acceptance and tolerance, where it might make a difference.
But to sloppily pick and choose where I draw from your reply - there is truly a fine line on being useful and helpful and just masturbating hatred into the text box and telling them what I REALLY think of them. lol.
I try to err on the side of what they say about Keanu Reeves who supposedly embodies the spirit of Laid Backness - if he disagrees with someone, he won't argue, just say, "You're right" and move on. lol. That is a level of zen to which I aspire. :)
Good luck with those challenges
Thanks <3 One day at a time, just like you, like everyone else, my friend <3