#worth noting all of my family is religious and they don't treat me badly for it and don't tell me i'll suffer eternally

[shae-bun]

I just realized how close of an analogy this is to some religions. Some of them are like, approximately, "if you don't know about the religion but are a good person, you're safe! but once you've heard it, you better follow it or you'll get eternal punishment! 😡"

which, as someone non-religious, is just another version of Roko's Basilisk: an unknowable future might contain someone who wants to punish you if you knew they could exist and didn't do their bidding, so you better do their bidding!

and, just like with Roko's Basilisk I end up saying, "this is dumb, no rational super-being would act that way." That is, Roko's Basilisk wouldn't expect rational beings to be irrational and wouldn't dish out ineffective punishment. Similarly, I can't really see a god punishing me for not following their rituals when I am otherwise a good person. That god knows what life is like down here and knows that following their particular religion isn't always rational.

Roko's Basilisk is a good analogy for other religions' hells and scare tactics.

we’re still doing this huh