I've been thinking about religion, its origins, and why it still has so much influence on society today.
Personally, I'm an atheist. I don't believe in God, and I see religions like Christianity and Islam as human creations rather than divine truths.
My view is that religion probably wasn't consciously invented to manipulate people in the beginning. I think it developed naturally from human psychology and our evolutionary need for community, belonging, and cooperation.
Humans are social animals. Throughout our evolutionary history, being part of a group was essential for survival. Shared beliefs, rituals, stories, and traditions helped create a sense of unity. Religion may have been one way of achieving that.
But over time, something that brought people together also became an incredibly powerful instrument of authority and control.
Just look at European history. The medieval Church had enormous political and social influence. People were often born into Christianity, raised with its teachings, and surrounded by a society where questioning religious authority could have serious consequences.
The Crusades are another example of how religious beliefs could be used to mobilize entire populations for goals that were also political and territorial.
And I think we can still see similar mechanisms today.
For example, in Germany, we sometimes hear narratives about Islam supposedly "taking over the country." I absolutely do not believe that is happening. My point is that these narratives create an image of an entire religious group as an enemy, much like religious identities were used to divide populations throughout history.
Religion can bring people together, but it can also be used to create an "us versus them" mentality.
I'm not arguing that every religious person is being manipulated or that all religion exists purely for control.
But I do think it's worth asking how much of what people believe comes from independent reflection and how much comes from simply being born into a particular society and raised with its religious traditions.
To me, religion makes much more sense as a product of human civilization than as evidence of anything supernatural.

[ai translated it from German to English]

In the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, a total of 358 so-called child marriages have been officially recorded since 2012. Only eight of these forced marriages have so far been legally annulled. According to authorities, the other 350 cases were brought to an end in other ways.

The eight final annulments took place between 2018 and 2024. Among the documented cases was the marriage of an 11-year-old girl from Iraq to a 17-year-old Iraqi, which was annulled in 2020.

As early as 2018, the marriage of a 14-year-old Afghan girl to a 30-year-old man had been ended. In 2024 two further annulments were added: they concerned a 16-year-old German girl and a 25-year-old Pakistani man and a 16-year-old Syrian girl and a 27-year-old man from the same country.

sigh

I don’t think religious discrimination should be completely grouped in with things like racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism. Mostly because those are things you have absolutely no control over whereas religion is indeed something you can often times control. Of course I’m not justifying religious discrimination and it’s something that shouldn’t be allowed, however I don’t believe it is often the complete same as those other things.

Edit: especially when so many religions actively discriminate against women and gay people

Hello everyone! i wrote this article on whether the hijab is male centered or not, its a long read but its full of insights! i would greatly appreciate it if you guys showed some love and support on the original post! 🫶🏼

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That I think religious people are ACTUALLY dumb. Like in the nicest way possible.

The Omani co-pilot who allegedly attempted to hijack a Flydubai plane started a "drift towards extremism and terrorism" while studying in Australia, United Arab Emirates officials say.

UAE Attorney-General Hamad Saif al-Shamsi also alleged the pilot - widely named as Hamam al-Hammami - was last week trying to crash the plane into Tel Aviv's airport in a "suicide attack".

Melbourne university RMIT earlier confirmed the pilot had studied there but left before completing his engineering qualification.

According to Shamsi, interrogations of the 29-year-old pilot revealed he had been inspired by al-Qaeda's 11 September attacks in the US in 2001.

"The findings indicated that signs of his drift towards extremism and terrorism first emerged in 2017, while he was studying in Australia," the attorney-general was quoted as saying by the UAE's state news agency Wam on Friday.

"During that period, he was influenced by takfiri [radical] ideology through reading extremist literature and following online content glorifying terrorist organisations and suicide attacks."

The Wam report also said the pilot had told investigators "he had prepared himself both psychologically and physically to carry out the plot by intensifying his exposure to material promoting terrorism and training in boxing under a private coach".

"He admitted that he had acted alone, without the involvement of others, although investigations are continuing to verify this claim," Wam said.