huh- i don't know i agree but it's an interesting point and is making me think. christianity is really the biggest problem imo. in the hypothetical situation where one could just poof it away i think a lot of the baggage around religion would dissipate (but would all of it? that i don't know).

i'd also say that there's kinda two aspects of religion that influence its perception and its impact on the world at large- there's the personal aspect (i.e. a christian not believing in evolution) but there's also the community aspect (recruiting, missions, etc).

there are tons of American cultural Christians, agnostics, or atheists who still replicate and live by the exact structures of discrimination, authoritarianism, and inequality religions create and encourage

this is mostly referring to in-group/out-group tensions, right? (with a side order of religious leaders having too much power) because i THINK it's possible to practice religion/spirituality on a larger scale without considering anyone outside of your community lower than you. to me at least, it doesn't seem antithetical (virtually NO experience with religion, and no sociological research to back this up).

i guess my question is, how much of the general shit going on perpetrated by religious groups do you think is attributed to religion/spirituality as a concept, and how much to christianity specifically, or even christian influence via colonization

(now i'm thinking about the concepts of punishment, and rule following/law, how much that's been influenced by specifically christianity, and how much that in turn has influenced general western culture... yeah we'd probably be better trying to pull out at least those roots)