I hate the use of freak ass words. spend half my time looking up the words' Wow you use big words ya'll must be really really smart. Just use common english, we don't care how smart you think you are

It all comes down to who's in power.

I could just as easily see the powers that be (in some near-future dystopia) preventing me from getting a certain kind of job because I'm an atheist so I obviously can't be trusted around children or whatever.

Can ideas be dangerous?

I say no; only actions are dangerous. I say this because I've known deeply religious types who have had no problem whatsoever fully accepting, respecting, and appreciating non-believers. And I know there are some pedophiles out there who know that sexual contact with a child is wrong and harmful and they purposely keep themselves away from children. (No idea how the numbers break down on this.)

So at the very least, I've seen that it's possible to have ideas and not act on them.

The way to combat troublesome ideas is education: logic, critical thinking, exposure to different platforms. Give people options. Give them tools. Model value placed on scientific method.

I care. I care very much. I want to see society value empirical evidence. I want to see public policy insulated from the vagaries of "faith". There has to be a way to do that... I don't know what it is, bit I know what it's not.

The moment I start telling mentally competent adults that they're organizing their minds incorrectly is the moment I open myself up to that same criticism.

Faith in the unprovable a.k.a. religion has been around since the start and been a huge part of human life. You're not going to convince people it doesn't have a place in public life--not yet. Educate, educate, educate, and slowly change culture. Better than backlash and back-slide.

Education is the hope that you can jump through the hoops. Get through the hoops...then what? Your peers say: "hey...that was pretty good jumping". The survival of our species? The foregone conclusion is that we must end.

People want salvation from the principles they create.as the holistic literature talks of handing response to a higher order...when really the bliss is light charged in heart center.so I guess using dogma can relieve and believe a mental anguish...

Good question..
I don't know, but I'm trusting fewer and fewer people, especially their judgement...

I think Logic should be a mandatory course in every grade, not an elective in college. If people learned it like they learned math and their language, maybe they'd know how to use it. Of course, we even have people on this site that use fallacious arguments, so I don't see this as a problem that stems from religion specifically.

I agree with you about education being some of the solution.

The churches, especially the Megachurches, want to keep their parishioners uneducated and gullible. This helps keep the money flowing.

It also influences their base to teach these uninformed delusions to their children which just keeps the cycle going.

It's an insidious disease that doesn't seem to have a cure anywhere in the near future.