Which addiction is org. religion most like?

[Ravenlock]

I'll throw the topic out there, and I'll wait a bit to throw my opinion on. This should make for some good "criticism." ;D

Which addiction (not necessarily casual use) is organized religion most like? Alcohol? Tobacco? Crack/Heroin/Other Hard Drug? Other?

~Roger

[profdunebastard]

I'm kind of thinking tobacco, mostly because I asscociate Christianity with the political right and really, politicicians and government in general, which as we all know, is friends with Big Tobacco.

A much deeper association is the fact that Tobacco gets you young and early, small doses won't kill you but long intervals exposed to it can destroy your entire life and those around you, it bugs and hurts people not even smoking (ie us) and it takes a long process to get over, hard to escape from. To smokers it offers ease and some relaxation, but really it is only there to get people addicted , making other people powerful in the process, regardless if uit jacks them up.

Contrasts I see is the fact that really most people do know smoking is bad for you now, unlike Christianity, which everyone here loves. Non-smokers enjoy much more comforts and benefeits than atheists do.

I didn't pick alchohol because it is only bad if used irresponsibly or in excess, which I just can't see applying to Christianity. Other hard drugs seem less mainstream, although still of course very dangerous, very additivemind alterating, and life damning (depending on what/how much you used. They are generally maligned and restricted to underground, criminal networks etc. They do have ties with business and government, and I see similarities, but I just can't see Christianity being socially hated and privately indulged....its more of an evil no one realizes/everyone allows to exist, a plauge no one sees or chooses to ignore...thus making it all the more evil


You know what really fits...junk and fast food. It is bad for you, turns you into a bloated, dependant beast, but you love it because it tastes awesome and is available everywhere and is popular socially except with a few health nut loonies that no one really likes. It is also an infliction most rampant in the Us and less so in other countries, to one degree or another.

But I really like junk and fast food, so what does that make me?

[Frogsy]

It's like alcohol in one very important way:

People use it as an excuse to do stupid and (potentially) harmful things.

[Seany-D]

Organized religion can be like sex ... it can feel really good, but it ends up costing you a lot of money, particularly if you're not protected during it!

Sean "you know that staff the bishop carries is just a phallic symbol anyway" Davis

[Ravenlock]

I'll throw in my bit, now.

I'd have to go with tobacco, too.

Those who use it are generally ferverently in favor of it being allowed anywhere, any time, on their terms. If you complain about it overrunning everything, then you're being "exclusionary." Those championing its mainstreaming fail to understand the benefits of neutrality in the public, and the nature of the choice they are making for another when they force it on those around them without their permission. It slowly poisons the user to the point where their health can never be regained. Its byproducts extend farther to those around them, especially those they are close to most often, also poisoning them almost as bad as the original user. And the vast majority is hooked on it by external compulsion and peer pressure. After a short time, they all use it as a coping method, even as a defense mechanism. Each time they do it, they push themselves a bit closer to oblivion than if they hadn't. You can't make them quit, they have to quit themselves. Quitting is exceptionally painful, and if they've been doing it a long time, they're never really healed 100% from its insidious effects.

How's that?

~Roger "After a hard day of hanging on that cross for your sins, nothing relaxes me like the smooth, satisfying taste of Laramie menthols. *pffffft* Ah!" Smith

[familyjules]

Frogsy said:

It's like alcohol in one very important way:

People use it as an excuse to do stupid and (potentially) harmful things.

Oh, agreed. And I would also prepare it to alcohol because while alcohol isn't a problem until used irresponsibly, that's more or less how Christianity is. If they just read their Bibles and shut the fuck up, there would minimal issues. But they go and use it irresponsibly, they warp it to fit whatever cause they are fighting at the time.
That's what I thought... if that made any sense.

Although just now seeing Roger's... I agree a lot with what he says too. Can there be combined addictions? Like they are like smoking and then when they throw alcohol into the mix everything just insanely gets shot to hell?
..okay, that just made even less sense.

[Rama]

familyjules said:

Oh, agreed. And I would also prepare it to alcohol because while alcohol isn't a problem until used irresponsibly

Pssst...NO drugs are going to be a problem until they're used irresponsibly. There's a line between drug use and drug abuse. The one can be constructive and enlightening, the other can make your life into a bad Chapelle show joke.
Some of us know where that line is, some of us don't. Just think of drug abuse as a sort of darwin-awards competition. Specifically in noting that those fuckers don't represent the entire pool of contestants.
Personally I'd say christianity is more like mystricin, the active ingredient in nutmeg. Yes, you can get high/trip off of nutmeg. No, don't try it.
As with nutmeg, people only turn to christianity in times of high duress (when perhaps they're 15 and can't find any weed, or when their significant other has been stricken down with cancer). Also like nutmeg, doing christianity will make you look like an idiot to all your right-minded and rational friends. Desperate, and pathetic as well.
Nutmegianity: It might feel good until you get caught.
As a side note, nutmeg isn't addictive, so I guess the whole post is kinda pointless.

[I cant log in]

Percocet, Oxycontin, Xanax, etc.

Christianity is most like prescription drug abuse. They think they are doing a good thing at first. "Hey, my friends and family WANT me to do this." And the harmful affects aren't only not initially apparent, but can actually seem beneficial in the begining. For either, one might seem happier or less stressed... for a while. Like with prescription drugs, almost no one starts right off heavily abusing Christianity, it just builds over time. Eventually though, they start becoming isolated from friends and family, from coworkers or fellow students, isolated, that is, except from fellow addicts, those who "understand." And like with prescription drug abuse, few ever notice it for themselves and those that do never notice until it is too late to climb out of the hole on their own. Again in this situation, like any kind of drug addict, the Christian turns to the only thing they know for relief, despite that they may know it is also their problem as well - and that's the cycle of abuse.

As a side note, prescription drug abuse in America is highest per capita among devote Christians (although actually all drug abuse is). What's the correlation? Is Christainity a gateway drug? One thing is for sure though, any parents that force their young children to become addicts are sick child abusers and should be tried for such. If I had a kid and got him addicted to crack by age four, you know I'd be prison.

[profdunebastard]

I still like the fast food analogy. It is horrible for you, has no real logical redeeming value except that it fills a void that seems to be primal and archaic in nature, and although the taste is tempting, prolonged exposure contorts and disfigurs and corrupts the user, any good side effect or delicious taste is drowned out by the harm it causes.


And yes, I know that among us I eat the least healthily and consume, advocate for, and contribute monetarily to the junk and fast food industry probably twice more than the rest of you. At least fast food isn't a reincarnated piece of a 2000 year dead carpenter's skin.