I wish religion would stop being given a platform, it's an irrational and indoctrinated idea that is holding back society in almost every way.,(reply>), @Demetter If you don't think culture (including religions) influences the rest of society, your depth of understanding is so shallow there's no way for this conversation to progress. I could start listing off examples, like; drill music being intensely tied to gang violence, or the music and drug culture of the 1960's causing wide scale social unrest, but I'm not gonna drone on.<br><br>All that 14 year old stuff is just transparent projection, if you're not self-aware enough to realize that each persons sense of identity, even your own, is just a story we're telling ourselves, a fictional narrative to connect the events of our lives, and that most of human history up until recently with post-modernism (the deconstruction of grand narratives) has been centered on and driven by a grand narrative, whether it be nazism, communism, or religions, or yes even sometimes smaller cult narratives that have far reaching consequences (dig into the manson murders if you want to have a fun afternoon in that realm), then you have got a lot of self-reflection to do to realize the basic truth that our lives are an inseperable mixture of fiction and non-fiction.<br><br>Don't get me wrong, I was once an edgy 14 year old atheist who thought religion was the enemy, before I realized the problem was much deeper, and that we're all susceptible to becoming prey to a corrupt narrative, whether that narrative be political, religious, from the arts, or just a paranoid delusion hatched in our own mind. I really do wish religion was just the enemy here, but it's not, and in time I hope you'll be able to see things clearly enough to realize that.,(reply>), @something-beautiful I don't know how old you are but if you think anime has any relevance when talking about wars, murders and political unrest then I think you're a bit too young for this conversation.<br><br>We don't need religion, its an outdated and immature view that was inspired out of control and ego. I don't care about anime in this conversation because I'm not a 14 year old who thinks the entire world revolves around cartoons and video games.,(reply>), @Demetter What does being fiction have to do with anything? Great works of art are fictitious in a sense, but if they were not truthful in representing reality we wouldn't care about them. Something like berserk has an incredibly devoted following and has influenced generations of art beyond anime because it is a very truthful and deep representation of the human experience, which is what all great art and religion aspires to be. Irrelevant and insignificant to society? I really don't know what to say to that, if you think art and culture are separate from society then you are so off the mark I don't know if any of what I'm saying is going to make sense to you.,(reply>), Ignorance and censorship, two things which you seem to be a supporter of are some of the things that hold society back. Many things were invented under religious people such as the algebra that is in use everyday.