Attack religion by letting people be happy
We know, from several studies, that the more happy and content people are with their lives, and the safer their society is, the less likely they are to be religious. We also know that the more educated people are, the less likely they are to be religious. If anyone wants to dispute these facts, I can dredge up the studies, but that's not what I'm here to talk about.
So, the two things which are most antagonistic to religion are contentedness and education. Suddenly, the Catholic church's actions in Africa and South America make perfect sense. They know that the enlightenment in Europe was the main thing which weakened their political power. And they are focussing all their efforts in Africa at preventing the same thing from happening. They want Africa to be over-populated and disease-riddled. These are exactly the situation they want. Things are far too desperate for general education, and people don't feel safe.
The Catholic church isn't merely misguided and blind to reality, it's just that their goals are completely opposite to humanitarianism. They want power and organisational continuity. They can only have those two things while they have a large population base who are fearful and undereducated. This may also explain their organisational attitude towards child abuse. Again, it instils fear and mistrust and discontent in the population, just the things they need to be prevalent. Go listen to that Irish 70 year old man talking about how he wakes in the middle of the night in terror if you don't think it does.
And it's not just the Catholics. Islamic states (ones where the church has political power) also make sure that the people are discontented and distrustful, via strict and unfair laws which discourage helpfulness and community.
The worst thing in the world is ideologues with untrammelled political power. If there is such a thing in the world as evil, that comes pretty darn close, if you ask me.
So, the two things which are most antagonistic to religion are contentedness and education. Suddenly, the Catholic church's actions in Africa and South America make perfect sense. They know that the enlightenment in Europe was the main thing which weakened their political power. And they are focussing all their efforts in Africa at preventing the same thing from happening. They want Africa to be over-populated and disease-riddled. These are exactly the situation they want. Things are far too desperate for general education, and people don't feel safe.
The Catholic church isn't merely misguided and blind to reality, it's just that their goals are completely opposite to humanitarianism. They want power and organisational continuity. They can only have those two things while they have a large population base who are fearful and undereducated. This may also explain their organisational attitude towards child abuse. Again, it instils fear and mistrust and discontent in the population, just the things they need to be prevalent. Go listen to that Irish 70 year old man talking about how he wakes in the middle of the night in terror if you don't think it does.
And it's not just the Catholics. Islamic states (ones where the church has political power) also make sure that the people are discontented and distrustful, via strict and unfair laws which discourage helpfulness and community.
The worst thing in the world is ideologues with untrammelled political power. If there is such a thing in the world as evil, that comes pretty darn close, if you ask me.