bonifartius 𒂼𒄄 @bonifartius@social.cleverlibre.org

i dislike christianity. to me, it is the unrepentant murderer of our gods, the rampaging desecrator of our spiritual heritage (to say nothing of scientific or philosophical), a foreign invader that has no place in european lands, let alone souls, and whose ideology is anathema to the things so many of our nations used to cherish -- heroism, strength, accomplishment, virility, pleasure, honor, and most of all, life. i don't follow any one established religion myself, i'm too demoralized and isolated for that, but i find much to admire in the many native european pagan faiths which christians violently extinguished, and the native iranian baha'í faith which muslims would certainly like to extinguish.

but even so i would rather, i think, live in a country that had a single christian state church and required everyone to be a practicing member rather than a country where all faiths (and thus, all cultures) were enthusiastically welcomed, even the absence of faith. christians are still far closer to my values and beliefs, and certainly behave better on average, than many of the alternatives. people have, in my view, a fundamental right to live among those who share their way of life. and ultimately, simply sharing common beliefs and a way of life with those around you is often far more important than the particulars of those beliefs. faith isn't about saving souls in the afterlife; it's about binding souls together here on earth -- and any preacher who tells you otherwise is a death cultist as far as i'm concerned