November 27, 2011   38 notes

Squashed: "Religion is a crutch"

thecallus:

squashed:

I’ve always found this criticism a bit perplexing. What do you have against crutches? As medical technology goes, they’re not terribly controversial. If you break an ankle, there’s really no substitute. It’s great to have a crutch around when you need it.

And that’s the essence of the…

You’ve got it all wrong. The problem isn’t crutches. The problem is that we have a desperate need to lean on something, but there’s nothing there. So we lean on ourselves, or our families/privileges, or we simply fall.

The problem with the crutch metaphor is that we are giving credit for something tangible to something nonexistent.

I think we have more in common than our exchanges would suggest. I would certainly agree with your general theme that we’ll struggle along as best we can relying on our family, our community, our privileges, or just dumb luck for as long as we can, but in the end it’s not going to be enough. I just think that 1) despite this all, things will turn out okay in the end, and 2) that’s not a coincidence.

(via thecallus)

  1. sunfallisthedownfall reblogged this from squashed
  2. not-so-fluent reblogged this from the-quiet1-has-a-new-blog
  3. donamajicshow reblogged this from squashed
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  5. skyrite said: I don’t think the saying is against need of medical (or psychological) assistance, the idea is that we cannot progress scientifically or logically if we allow our out-moded ways of thought to hinder us.
  6. the-quiet1-has-a-new-blog reblogged this from squashed
  7. anitakatyzita reblogged this from squashed
  8. squashedcomments reblogged this from thecallus and added:
    I think we have more in common than our exchanges would suggest. I would certainly agree with your general theme that...
  9. baileyeverywhere reblogged this from squashed
  10. valcano reblogged this from squashed
  11. selvenknowe said: You may have your crutch, if you so desire something to rely upon. I shall continue to rely upon myself, rather than a celestial father figure to hold my hand because “the illusion of power and control turns out to be … illusory.”
  12. thousandmilesfromnowhere reblogged this from squashed
  13. boskranium said: I used to be of this position, then I learned about the genocide in Rwanda, and read the account of Immaclee Ilibagiza. Now I know what “crutch” really means. When faced with the greatest evil, we have to invent the greatest good.
  14. preachers-wife reblogged this from squashed and added:
    Read this. So well said.
  15. squashed posted this