Chesterton's Fence - Atheism and Culture

[Lillailler]

Authoritarian religions are abusive by (their human) nature, in my limited experience

I would turn this round, to say that sociopaths / Bandits are attracted to institutions as sources of power and money they can abuse to their advantage, and religious institutions are one such source.

[jacob]

https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Theory-Se ... 001QFWHT0/ (chapter: Against Philosophy)... in which Steven Weinberg explains how he really feels about [the usefulness of science] philosophy. (Positivism vs realism)

[Riggerjack]

if one takes the somewhat pessimistic view of humanity that 75%+ are gullible, don't want to be enlightened, don't enjoy agency, and enjoy external rewards and rules, then maybe a benevolent cult like Mormonism is the best strategy, with Cynic Humanism for those humans that would rather Do The Right Thing without believing in god.

Well, I am such a pessimist. But the problem with your solution is niether group is very tolerant of the other.

Mormons vary in intensity as much as other forms of Christianity, with some following all the rules, some following some of the rules, and some making up new rules to follow. But the reason they are (accurately) called a cult is the huge amount of time/energy they require of members. This is a handy way of inoculating your flock from foreign concepts (in marketing terms, this reduces churn and increases retention). Unfortunately, that tends to make members less tolerant of all ideas that weren't written on gold plates nobody ever saw. But it does provide a place of community, and a sense of continuity that secular life lacks.

This doesn't play well with the free exchange of ideas crowd. Which is fair, the free exchange of ideas crowd does nearly nothing for the kind of personality that wants a set of rules and a sense of community, as Mormons do.

In short, I like your solution, and I think I'm fairly neutral on Mormons, but it won't work for humans, Mormon or otherwise.