this post was submitted on 19 Sep 2025
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This sounds like an explanation on why I can't fully hate on people trying to convert others to their religion.
Because if they truly believe their religion, then they are honestly trying to "save" other peoples' souls with conversion. They really believe they're doing a good thing.
I can laugh because it's a silly notion and the odds of them convincing me of a real life deity is slim. But to them it's real and altruistic to spend time trying to "save" others.
I don’t sympathize with them, not because of their sincerity, but for their unwillingness to question themselves about how they came to embrace that their instructions are The Truth.
Most won’t have a better reason than “the adults told me when I was a child”, and IMO that isn’t enough reason to impose your beliefs on others when you’ve become an adult yourself.
I agree it does make them more sympathetic than just a garden-variety asshole who like, knows stealing your wallet isn't good, but does it anyways. But honestly...a couple snacks for thought here. Even someone who's stealing your wallet probably has a rationalization that allows him to think that it's not that bad. Like for instance you have more money than them. They really need money, etc. in a similar vein... How many people are there on Earth that do bad things and actually think that they're doing a bad thing? I would guess that 90% of "bad" acts are perpetrated by someone who thinks that they're doing a good act. If we give people a pass for thinking they're doing the right thing, then almost everybody gets a pass. There are even people who think there's nothing wrong with raping someone, and even if they truly believe they're not doing anything wrong - well, that actually makes them even more repulsive.
I'm reminded of this great quote from Steven Weinberg: "With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil - that takes religion."
I don't think 90% of people think they're doing good when doing bad things. I think there's a lot of lesser evil stuff happening, probably the majority of petty crime. There's also people who don't think that deeply about what they're doing, and probably many who refuse to think about it.
I do think the vast majority of people have the capacity to tell between right and wrong, but those values can be nuanced and twisted, and not examining the reasons for your values is the heart of ignorance.