even as somebody who's been on the atheist/agnostic cusp for most of my life, I still think the dismissal of religion as a whole is pretty shitty

the idea that religion, in general, is privileged is like...pretty obviously wrong? like sure, there are parts of the world where certain religions are privileged, and worldwide I think Christianity is, but like...indigenous religions definitely aren't, right?

the idea that religion, in general, is a cover for bigotry is also wrong. Plenty of non-bigoted people practice religions. Lots of people, if their religion suggests bigotry, will exclude that

the idea that religion, in general, is anti-scientific is I think rooted in a misunderstanding of what religion actually is? I think most of the time religion and science aren't really seeking to ask or answer the same questions

there are people, of course, that use religion to justify their own shitty behavior. but broadly, I think most people practice religion because it, in whatever way, makes them feel better. so there might be issues in religious groups, but that doesn't make religion itself bad

when a bunch of (mostly white) snooty atheists say shit like "lol only idiots would believe in a magic sky man" or "all types of zodiacs are eugenics" it's like...idk, feels like you're disrespecting whole swaths of cultures because you don't like Christians and weird New Agers

for me personally, I've tried before to kind of...connect with god or gods or whatever before, and it hasn't really clicked. I've done research, I've prayed, none of it has ever really made me feel like believing in a religion would comfort me?

but I do take comfort from the fact that everything that we're made of was at one point something else. and when we die, everything we're made of will become a million other somethings. and I don't think that's just limited to the matter that we're made of

the universe is incomprehensibly massive in both time and space, but also in its interconnectedness. And I think in order to properly appreciate it, you have to believe that the universe has mysteries we can't ever possibly understand

I think that incomprehensible cosmic interconnectedness is Divine? Whatever Divinity means?

I used to be kind of an edgy atheist until I had all of this realization and suddenly I understood what it meant to have faith? it didn't make me believe in god but I could better understand why somebody would

kinda two points in this thread lmao, I got lost in that cosmic sauce. the point is i guess if you think all religions are backwards and stupid you should probably ask yourself why?

I know some people have bad experiences with religion, but I feel like maybe you're buying into that New Atheist movement that disguises racism and colonial attitudes as rationality and reason