society is chock full of people who have exited religion

Where the church and state has been separated the fear of doing so is decreased. This is not the case in all religious countries indeed. Hence why public education, which is state funded, should therefore be devoid of religion except for in history classes.

But is that a problem with religion or with government? To some extent it’s both but the real issue is the ability of people to do violence to you with impunity. In modern society this is a feature of government and not religion.

It’s religion that causes people to want to do violence, the government doesn’t interfere because it has been poisoned by that exact same religion.

you’re free to stop participating any time. If you decide you no longer want to follow their silly rules then you don’t have to.

Sorry, nothing personal, but this is remarkably out of touch with reality. You frame it as being just as easy like not believing in Santa anymore. When children are raised in strict religious conditions it often means their entire identity and social structure is built around it. The slightest hint of doubt could mean negative repercussions, and wavering faith or leaving it has a high likelihood of being ostracized by the community. Not to speak of severe punishment. Moreover, brainwashed people lack the cognitive capabilities to question themselves. I’d even say the majority of humans struggle with this whether they are religious or not.

It’s a little weird to call out specific religions here for behavior they all engage in.

First, some religions have worse track records than others. Second, your imploration was to “name a more iconic duo”, which you got. Third, what’s actually weird is FGM and kiddy fiddling.

religions are bad but as long as we live in a world where they are voluntary

Religion isn’t voluntary because it’s perpetuated by the indoctrination of children.

Governments and telling people how they’re allowed to dress. Name a more iconic duo.

• Islam and female genital mutilation.
• The Catholic Church and little kids.

My grandfather believed in a Hildegard von Bingen based religion that got him convinced putting rocks under his pillow and following a strict monotonous diet would be good for his health. He died.

“Men will continue to commit atrocities as long as they continue to believe absurdities.” ―Voltaire

All religion should be a thing of the past. If banning something is the best course of action I don’t know, but currently it would be something I’d vote yes to if I could; unless someone convinces me otherwise without using ad hominems, nonsensical claims such as being racist, or any other fallacies. I simply despise anything that makes humanity dumber.

To consider antireligion instead of atheism
“The harm of religion is historically evident whereas the presence or absence of gods is not. Ultimately, the continued existence of religion is predicated on the indoctrination of children and suppression of rational thought. Therefore, I am against religion but not necessarily against the idea of gods. For all we know gods are computer scientists and we are in their video game.” ―https://www.arscyni.cc/file/antireligion.html

Honestly that’s the best I got.

I’ll take whatever of that sparse good stuff that’s given us.

Well, we don’t do witch hunts anymore.
[Accidentally checks world news.]
Oh goddammit.

Technologically we’ve witnessed wonderful advances. Appendicitis? Appendectomy. Rotten tonsils? Yeet them yonder. However, psychologically and ethically, when reading back to societies from 2000 years ago, we haven’t improved a bit as a species.

Ad hominem. Bye.

“Advertisement: a public notice
especially : a paid notice that is published or broadcast (as to attract customers or to provide information of public interest)” ―https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/advertisement

Do you think Clay Butler pays to have his cartoons published?

“What a way to kill the fun.”

But, where does killing the fun start exactly? Isn’t it you who first expressed the contrarian opinion? Surely you must expect people to refute your claims, or at the very least some pushback.

Why do you consider this an advert? Because it mentions Sidewalk Bubblegum, which is “Clay Butler’s self-syndicated weekly political cartoon”? I hardly think that by drawing cartoons such as God Bless America, Or Else! he belongs to the racket of greedy profiteers who manipulate people into buying stuff they don’t need.

Source: Aha! Graffiti! by Clay Butler, Sidewalk Bubblegum (1996).

Direct link for others who also prefer avoiding piss-poor websites: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8yO_TUNd0Xg

“And do not, under any circumstances, take a job that involves night shifts. This shit should be illegal.”

While true for most professions this obviously doesn’t apply to firefighters, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), emergency dispatchers, air traffic controllers, nurses, trauma surgeons, police, weather forecasters, et cetera. Basically all professions where human lives are at stake require night shifts. The crucial part is that people who want to do night shifts should only need to do night shifts as to have a healthy sleeping pattern. Anything preventing people from having a decent sleeping cycle against their will should be illegal.

Give each and every one of them housing and health care. 🖤🐜

Definitely.

Also, I stand corrected: the “e.g.” was preceded by a dot and capitalized, so my picks indeed seem silly haha. Those are two of my favourite artists so my choice was primed. 🙃

“The average person has one Fallopian tube.” ―Bo Burnham

Ah yes, “feasible full self-driving next year since 2012-something never-tells-a-lie”-Musk claims “AI, not tele-operated”. Let’s trust him implicitly.

While you made me laugh out loud, those belong to the “and…against our whole corrupt system” part of the sentence, not the “many artists do not have plenty of money”.

Feel free to append the list ;)

Buy merch from your favourite artists/bands instead and be vocal about taxing the rich. Also stop using Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, et cetera. The EU Parliament has plenty of money, many artists do not, yet the latter have way more reach than wearing an EU t-shirt, and plenty of artists are vehemently against our whole corrupt system. E.g., Massive Attack, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, et cetera.

In the grand scheme of things, from an ethical point of view, they’re worth nothing as they don’t contribute anything of true value to societal change. In other words, pure entertainment, bread and circuses.