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I was thinking about the effect theism has on humanity, and how it manifests in many, if not most instances.
There is an aspect to theism that many people don't consider.
I assert that essentially all deity beliefs, and the methods of worshiping those deities, ie: religion, create a type or variation of racism. You might call it bigotry. I'll call it a, "divine racism", because it manifests itself that way, however, in which all are equal and equally loved by the deity, unless, you don't worship whatever particular deity happens to be being worshiped. Theists even use terminology that denotes a seeming type of "race". The, "chosen people", "gods children", "this is my gods country and we are his people", etc.
If you don't worship that deity, then you are suddenly and for no other reason less than those who do. Due to a faith based belief that is no more substantial than waking up in the morning, looking at the sky and for whatever reason, you decide it will certainly and beyond a doubt rain that day. But not on you.
This holy *club*, and I want to emphasize the usage of *club* on purpose, is then used to bludgeon those who don't worship the specific deity and even further, within the various flavors or denominations of the specific religion, even the followers of the deity will discriminate against, castigate, and openly despise adherents of other denominations devoted to the same deity. Just look at the comments you see and hear from the members of Catholicism, Protestantism, Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, et al, concerning the other. Each against the another. Each declaring a divine superiority and authority. Each boldly claiming that all others who are not a member of their holy *club* are most certainly going to die or suffer retribution in some way. Because they and only they are members of the true method of worship that the deity prefers.
Each of those denominations being based upon the exact same book that the roughly 30,000 other denominations within Christianity also use. I've used Christianity to example this, but you can find the same types of, "divine racism", within Islam, Judaism, Hinduism and other deity beliefs, methods of worship and practices.
Within religion, the color of your skin matters very little, but the belief within the mind becomes the deciding factor for acceptance or rejection by the religious racists. A racism that encompasses the entire world. There is no tribe, border, or boundary involved here.
Quite possibly surpassing, "plain old racism", in it's scope and impact upon humanity.
Woe to the heathen. The person who doesn't have a deity belief at all. I've found that, suddenly, if you happen to fall into that category, those of different denominations and deity beliefs will at times find a common bond among themselves. Each of them suddenly find a unifying element based on nothing more than, at the least, they do worship a deity. Any deity will do. It doesn't matter if the deities are different that they each worship, *AT LEAST THEY BELIEVE IN ONE*. The non believer is at the bottom rung of divine racism. The *holy clubs* of deities smite all heathens equally, and I imagine that each deity will take its turn in punishing the heathen in various ways, with various punishments. In order of popularity~. Of course~~.
The adherents of the particular deity are all certain the heathen is the most reviled creature. All based upon the beliefs of the theist. A belief that is held and supported by faith and solely within the mind, that their deity swings the biggest *club*. If the deity doesn't swing that *club*, and it never does, the believer will, because the deity ~obviously~ has left it up to the believer to declare the heathen less than all others since the deity is always preoccupied with some other task, and relies upon the follower to decide what it means and intends. Additionally, if the follower does something wrong or not within the deity plan, no worries, all is forgiven by a ritual or some method that, again, the follower believes absolves them of wrong doing. All they need do is confess to the busy deity that they were either wrong or doing the deities job in its stead and it is forgiven.
Which, brings up another thought.
This relates to this mentality fostered within theism. The mentality that the believer is only responsible to the deity for whatever they do, whether in the name of the god, or not.
Ultimately, under most theistic beliefs you can only be good with the perfect gods help, and bad because of the trickster gods help. According to believers, we are incapable of no more or less without the intervention of the god(S).
The perfect god(S) and trickster god(S) are given credit for what we do all by ourselves.
This is a flawed and escapist sort of reasoning used by theists. They are able to avoid being truly accountable to their fellow man, and, depending on the circumstance, will claim a type of immunity by divine authority or forgiveness by that divinity, or claim being manipulated by the evil agent, expecting sympathy and leniency due to either circumstance.
Some, even being so bold as to not need to be absolved on any material level since they've been forgiven by the perfect god, and have no need of mans involvement at all.
It negates morals, even those morals claimed by the theist to have been given by the particular deity. A person, whether practicing the religion "correctly", or, "incorrectly", can obtain absolution at all times. No matter the circumstance.
Within that framework of skewed theistic moral view and reponsibility, no one need ever know about crimes or transgressions. Those things can remain "dirty little secrets". That's not a good thing for societies. Or civilization.
That mentality is dangerous. It amounts to a person muttering under their breath a prayer of forgiveness to the ceiling fan whirring overhead and it's forgiven and forgotten. The ceiling fan will tell no one. The fans silence is it's acknowledgement of your prayer. You are forgiven.
Fortunately, the ceiling fan always says - it's okay~.
After all, they're part of the holy *club*.
Someone has to swing it.
Or no one will.
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"The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their consciences."~ C.S Lewis
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A lie is something that's only valuable to yourself. Truth is valuable to everyone. If the only thing you have to offer is something that is only valuable to you, then people will eventually not seek you out for what you have to offer.
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