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im trying to make a point that 'religion' encompasses a phenomenon that isn't done justice by our concept of culture. i agree the lines are blurry and often coexist, but like... idk, did you watch the recent FLDS documentary on netflix? 'culture' feels inadequate to explain that

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sure but i feel like i'm trying to point at a real distinction here. If you take a group where people genuinely, earnestly believe that contradicting the prophet will make them burn in hell, and they make choices strictly out of that fear, it feels weird to call that 'culture'

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like, sure you can pull out the culture label to wrap around it, but the way we use culture feels more like 'basic norms' or 'social judgment' or 'moral disgust' is the thing that guides your behavior, not 'trying to avoid being tortured by a supernatural figure'

11:37 PM · Aug 21, 2022

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im trying to say that the category of behavior that's influenced by literally believing in a specific supernatural system is something we should conceive of differently than behavior influenced by strung together moral justifications or trying not to be weird

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That fear of 'being tortured by a supernatural figure' is what keeps people honest and moral.