“If people want to compete for leadership of a religious group, they can compete in piety. A chilling thought. Or funny.”
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It seems true that the growth of science and secularism made organized Christianity feel under threat.
I have increasingly, over the years, felt that religion today does our civilization more harm than good.
Mormons... are so strong, they can handle wealth, they are confident. I think it is because they are not bogged down by rules for equality, but have a firmly defined system of relative status and responsible command.
Religion can make it worse. Are you supposing that if people were encouraged to believe in a transcendent reality, and to be encouraged by grand rituals and music and preaching, to love their neighbors, then they would put jealousy and frustration aside?