#'NO SHORTCUTS!' (because otherwise why *wouldn't* you just kill yourself and everyone you love? why not kill babies at birth?) | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

eggy-tea · 8 months ago

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Just going to vague about it because I don't actually follow any of these people and this is tangential to the post itself, but I saw an anonymous ask to the tune of "Why do you care about atrocities going on in the world if you're an atheist (unlike me, a principled believer)? Everyone dies; why does it matter how or when if you're not concerned about the afterlife?" and like...

It's really hard to deny the death cult allegations when you're out here straight-up admitting that within your moral framework, the only thing that matters is death, and the only thing that gives death any meaning is adherence to your religion. Death + Cult = Death Cult.

#i'm assuming this person would claim christianity as their religion because it's probably the biggest loudest english-speaking religion #that can tend towards death cult #especially at this time of year #i'm also assuming american because the boldest flavours of death-cult christianity seem to come from there #but really this is something that needs to be guarded against in any social structure that focuses on an afterlife #and regardless of whether you believe in the divine provenance of a religion #it is - in its earthly form - fundamentally a social structure #and like. a belief in an afterlife is a very powerful thing when your present life on earth is hard and painful (as everyone's is sometimes #it can help you keep going! it can be the foundation of hope when there's no hope to be found anywhere in the world around you!#but *that* should be its purpose #and even then it's a very dangerous way to live for both you and the people around you when life on earth is just a means to an end #and death is that end #that's why you have to add on all these other rules like:#'NO SHORTCUTS!' (because otherwise why *wouldn't* you just kill yourself and everyone you love? why not kill babies at birth?)#'oh but you have to live a GOOD life if you want a GOOD end' (because you've deprived life of meaning; gotta add that back in somehow)#'you have to say the right words / do the right actions' (gotta check that goodness against our rubric; how else can we KNOW???)#and the 'no shortcuts' leads to 'but what if it's not my fault' leads to 'okay look. permitted exceptions include...'#leads inevitably to people trying to game the system by making themselves martyrs because people are people and we work like that #like i'm sorry but if - as a religion - you're big on the promise of an afterlife #(makes sense! the world sucks a lot in a lot of ways! imagine if you could live in a world that didn't!)#then you really have to guard against the death cult that WILL be forming within your membership even if that's not what you're going for #and you have to keep watching out forever because the minute you let up #whoops! death cult!#fun and spicy religious thoughts brought to you in part by easter and the catholic church

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