Okay, but “includes many progressives” is a better phrasing than “includes much of progressivism” … albeit in a subtle way.
Like, for example I have Muslim friends and Christian friends, and if you said, “the majority of Christian/Muslim ideology is genocidal.” I’d scoff because that’s obviously untrue.
The majority of Islam, as a religion, as it impacts my Muslim friends’ life? They pray several times a day. They fast on particular days on particular months for particular hours.
None of that is Jihad. None of that is what goes on in Iran. That’s just plain old boring old riituals.
The same with the Christians I know. They pray. They attend worship gatherings. They read the Bible and try to find wisdom in it that will help them become kinder, more righteous people.
Again, none are pushed toward another Spanish Inquisition by these rituals.
And this is literally coming from an anti-theist. I think religions are inherently harmful to their practitioners on an emotional and psychological level. I think Jihads and Inquisitions and Crusades and American Indian genocides are unusually common when embracing these philosophies.
But even I, an anti-theist, would still be annoyed – on behalf of those people (whose religion I find deeply problematic) – if someone said, “the majority of this religious philosophy is about subtly driving people to genocide.”
Because that’s insulting everything valuable and precious to these people and disregarding everything positive they get from their church.
Okay, but “includes many progressives” is a better phrasing than “includes much of progressivism” … albeit in a subtle way.
Like, for example I have Muslim friends and Christian friends, and if you said, “the majority of Christian/Muslim ideology is genocidal.” I’d scoff because that’s obviously untrue.
The majority of Islam, as a religion, as it impacts my Muslim friends’ life? They pray several times a day. They fast on particular days on particular months for particular hours.
None of that is Jihad. None of that is what goes on in Iran. That’s just plain old boring old riituals.
The same with the Christians I know. They pray. They attend worship gatherings. They read the Bible and try to find wisdom in it that will help them become kinder, more righteous people.
Again, none are pushed toward another Spanish Inquisition by these rituals.
And this is literally coming from an anti-theist. I think religions are inherently harmful to their practitioners on an emotional and psychological level. I think Jihads and Inquisitions and Crusades and American Indian genocides are unusually common when embracing these philosophies.
But even I, an anti-theist, would still be annoyed – on behalf of those people (whose religion I find deeply problematic) – if someone said, “the majority of this religious philosophy is about subtly driving people to genocide.”
Because that’s insulting everything valuable and precious to these people and disregarding everything positive they get from their church.
In other words, phrasing is important.
No, because I explicitly mean to blame aspects of the ideology of progressivism for this.
I absolutely get the difference, and agree with you on your examples, but I do mean progressivism.