I think the value add of religion per the top comment is that it typically has a built in community and sense of connection. Churches bring people together in multiple ways.
I write that as an atheist who is more isolated than I'd like. I'm working on community and connection but it's challenging when one works remotely and relocates to a new town.
While I recognize the community value of religion and the comfort it brings people, it comes at a huge cost that far outweighs the benefits. IMHO, organized religion is a cancer on modern society. I think there's other ways to get the good parts from it but that's a team effort.
>While I recognize the community value of religion and the comfort it brings people, it comes at a huge cost that far outweighs the benefits. IMHO, organized religion is a cancer on modern society. I think there's other ways to get the good parts from it but that's a team effort.
Those who abandon the Path are evil.
Those who reject the path to enlightenment must be destroyed!
Absolutely nothing. Religious people just tend to think they have it all figured out because they've been well trained in following tradition and avoiding questioning the status quo.
America is swinging even more towards theocracy -- the Military Prayer Meetings say killing people is a mission from god, the White House Faith Office 1) exists, and 2) says that saying no to the rapist running government is "saying no to god"
That's not what the article says at all. Perhaps you should re-read it, especially the section that directly contradicts what you are saying about religion and happiness.
If anything, Americans are more religious than they were pre-pandemic (reversing a 30-year trend), and yet they're less happy.
Because the article's question is 'how did America get so sad' and the answer is 'because it lost Christianity' because Christianity makes people less sad.
To respond to another comment you just made, it is not "the" driver, as in the only thing that makes me sad. It is one of the big ones. Modern politics and the loss of American mythology broadly make up the remainder. These are all arguably intertwined, of course.
Let me first correct my statement, it is a little too broad. In my circle of family and friends, I can readily identify maybe three people, one of whom is now passed, who I think of as Christians in the biblical sense. That is to say, their actions seem to closely reflect an honest attempt to answer the question "What would Jesus do?" The vast majority of Christians in my family are Evangelicals, though, and to be fair this is who I was really thinking of. They like to ask that same question, and then answer it "See Leviticus."
Why do they make me sad?
Because they are judgemental jerks who pretend that the Bible is the most important thing in their life while simultaneously giving uncritical loyalty to a man who is the closest embodiment of an antichrist that I've encountered in all my years.
They have tried to declare ownership of the word "patriot" and defined it as loyalty to their faith, while making a mockery of it at every turn.
They have declared a huge swath of their fellow Americans as evil, not someone to be disagreed with but someone to be bullied, kicked out of the country, or worse.
They make me sad when they try to talk me into hating immigrants, or minorities, when they piously say they cannot in good conscience be associated with the few people in our family who are openly gay, when they pretend to be oppressed by The Alphabet Mafia, when they act all righteous up until the moment when someone close enough to them (like their own child) runs afoul of these 'values'. And even then, more than one of them have disowned their child instead of moderate their approach to faith.
It is corrosive, antisocial, and they cannot seem to stop themselves from dragging everyone else around them into the mud. All I have ever wanted is to be predominantly left alone in my beliefs but loved by my family. I don't put conditions on my love, I am sad when they put conditions on theirs.
Not the person you're replying to, but Christianity in America makes me sad, too.
I grew up in a fairly religious area. The Christians (mostly Catholics, as my family was) I knew were largely good, friendly, helpful people, with a strong work ethic and what I'd today consider good moral fiber. No one was perfect, of course, but most people seemed to want to do good, and tried to treat other people the way they'd like to be treated themselves.
Today, I can't say the same. Most Christians I run into these days are intolerant people who only seem to care about their own in-group, and paint others (other races, LGBTQ folks, immigrants, etc.) as the cause of all of their problems. They seem paranoid, acting like non-Christians (or even Christians of other sects) are somehow threatening their religious views. They try to force their religious beliefs on others, and advocate for Christian views to be enshrined in law. They speak of Jesus and the Bible, and then treat those around them as sub-human and not worthy of compassion or opportunity. Occasionally I run into a Christian that reminds me of 30+ years ago, but they seem to be in the minority these days.
I'm not saying that this behavior is restricted to Christians (or religious people in general), but it seems a lot more prevalent in Christians these days than in anyone else.
In 2026, after Trump started the war in Iran, when he is doing all he can to cover Einstein’s accomplices, after providing legal cover for the ICE agents who killed two Americans, when he called the pope weak and said he is not a fan, Evangelicals still approve of his actions 69% [0].
Sorry pal, it is the white christians who are hypocritical. Their idol is a walking version of the all 7 deadly sins.
People who are lucky in life never question their faith, because why would they? That's why Christians are happier. I grew up Christian, but I was not lucky in life. Christianity did fuck all to help me. Actually, I find more peace in my lack of faith now. But everyone is different.
I'm not even sure it's Christianity that makes people less sad (I would argue that it isn't). It's the civic community that churches often create that breed purpose & happiness. Churches aren't the only types of communities that do this, but they're by far the most common.
As someone who was perplexed, I've only heard perplex used in past tense (I was perplexed) so seeing "For the perplex" just made me confused as to what "perplex" meant and I had to do a further search to decipher this tree of comments haha
There's an argument that they did that intentionally - some hated it, but more bought it because they wanted to be recognized as having bought a hybrid - hence the "Toyota Pius" nickname.
Presumably you'd want human habitable atmosphere on the inside of the sphere, which would radically change the equation against the use of wood unfortunately.
I disagree. Traditional underwater human habitats are overengineered and expensive.
By using plywood in conjunction with other off-the-shelf parts and materials, we can change this equation to deliver more value while dramatically reducing costs.
If, due to unforeseen circumstances the habitat occupant can no longer sustain life, they're automatically entombed inside a makeshift plywood coffin—no costly recovery operations required. Logitech wireless game controller sold separately.
Could we involve robotics, LLMs and maybe some camera based vision models to this process? Surely with AI we could make building those very fast. Especially with humanoid robots...
After the initial trial of humanoid robots resulted in too many fatalities owing to falls, it was decided to instead acquire industrial 6-DoF robotic armatures and place them atop treaded, omnidirectional-pivot cargo transport systems intended for warehouse use.
The LiDAR option on the armature was eschewed due to cost in favor of an in-house, camera-based vision model that has thus far reduced the number of safety incidents that later result in amputation (knock on plywood) while increasing manufacturing output.
Pressure vessel construction still remains a point of concern on account of recent trends which indicate a rise in errant armature misfires when gripping tools that facilitate the application of nails and staples to the plywood superstructure.
The very first sentence of the article:
"Will Apple turn to Intel for production of its M-series chips in 2027? "
So it is not returning to Intel architecture.
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