Its about puberty. When your young life is good: everything is provided for you, you can do what you want, no worries. Then one day you learn about sex and life just goes downhill from there.
I believe Nietzsche was correct that by denying the relevance of material existence modern christianity has the affect of allowing people to accept hardship and unfair treatment. Christianity is a servants religion. I think he overestimated the uniformity of christian thought, but maybe that was...
No matter what cruel acts a person has committed at some point that person just isn't going to deserve any more punishment. Even Hitler or Pol Pot created a finite amount of suffering, it would seem the God many religious fanatics believe in is less merciful then even them
I make do just fine with plenty of inner dialog and regular meditation. some of the guidelines christians use for prayer are pretty helpful. for example:
-be thankful for what you have
-focus on ways that your life could be improved
-consider the needs of your loved ones
-and spend some time...
It certainly doesn't help!
I think a lot of otherwise tolerant people are unable to get over the childish fear of homosexuality because of the restrictions organized religion imposes on thought.
What about our fellow great apes who can understand language, even written symbols to some degree, who can plan, communicate with one another, form relationships, even pass a culture down to their children? Meanwhile computer programs can do all the things you cite as hallmarks of consciousness...
Lower animals show the same type of care and protectiveness of their mates and offspring. Love is just a word for an instinct that has maybe outlived its evolutionary purpose. Not to belittle human bonds, but it seems clear to me that feelings of affection are part of the pattern of nature and...