the craving for power are way more detrimental.

....no doubt religion has pushed back against all sorts of social norms changing. Women's rights, minority rights, the freedom to do what you wish with your own body, and family.

Seems like greed and a lust for power could easily retard and delay some scientific advances. Back-stabbing, dirty tricks, outright theft can benefit one side over another in competition, but the science wins out, and someone gets very rich. Religious fools might have initially discouraged spaceflight, because it's not in the Bible! But it's often not strong enough to stop science.

If you look hard enough, you can find some common sense in the Bible, but most of it is no sense. You can find other "ways to live" in countless other books

https://russblib.blogspot.com/?m=1

How many people do you know who happened to pick up a Bible and suddenly believed everything in it?

I also don't know anyone who suddenly became greedy and developed a lust for power.

But I don't get around much anymore.

taste for money, property, and power over time. But then I'm 72 years old, and I've known a lot of people during my long life. You'd be surprised how much people can change over time. It's never the Bible that does it in my experience. It's deciding the money and influence are more important than friends and people. Very sad, but true.

with money, property, and power over time. But then I'm 72 years old, and I've known a lot of people during my long life. You'd be surprised how much people can change over time. It's never the Bible that does it in my experience. It's deciding the money and influence are more important than friends and people. Very sad, but true. Religion is not more powerful than capitalism.

...that's why they insist on children going to church and Sunday School - to get indoctrinated into the thought-malady. If you can snatch them early, they will likely stay in the church for a long time, or at least until they start getting exposed to freethinkers and rational people.

But no, I have not known anyone who went off the deep end and went nuts with greed and power. No one in my family or circle of friends. That is likely something that develops over time. It seems the other way around with religion: you get brainwashed early in life and eventually you can shed that mental straightjacket.

And I'm not claiming that one is more powerful than the other. But even with the accelerating rise of the "nones" the big-name preachers can still move a lot of sheep to do a lot of stupid shit.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218909625

https://www.salon.com/2024/04/30/brian-cox-bible-worst-books-ever/?in_brief=true

Brian Cox, the 77-year-old "Succession" actor is a self-proclaimed socialist well known for his controversial and discourse-sparking opinions. In an episode of "The Starting Line Podcast" with Rich Leigh, Cox shared more of his thoughts on religion, wealth distribution and politics.

When asked about religion holding humanity back, Cox said, "Oh considerably, yes – I think religion does hold us back because it's belief systems which are outside ourselves."

"They're not dealing with who we are. We’re dealing with, 'Oh if God says this and God does that, and you go, 'Well what is God?' We’ve created that idea of God, and we’ve created it as a control issue, and it’s also a patriarchal issue . . . It’s essentially patriarchal; we haven’t given enough scope to the matriarchy."

"I mean the propaganda goes right way back. The Bible is one of the worst books ever, for me, from my point of view." He continued that people may need religion, "but they don’t need to be told lies, they need some kind of truth, and that is not the truth. It is not the truth, it’s a mythology you know . . . it’s not really to do with what women understand more than anybody."