Quote Originally Posted by Elke View Post
15% of the world population is counted as either agnostic or atheist, amongst them (and I find this incorrect, but whatever) humanists. Secular religious people are counted amongst the religious, because even if you don't believe in a specific deity, religion itself isn't merely faith - it's an intricate play of ritual, morality, storytelling, culture and beliefs in the supernatural (however you define it). While more than half of my students self-identify as not-religious, most of them are actually secular christians, so the line is very blurry.

As for why it's important, just think of the whole discussion about the muslim veil in western secularized countries like Belgium and France, where it's seen as an instrument of oppression and/or a symbol of islamism. It's not only a sign of a lack of understanding of islam, but it's also a sign of a lack of understanding of religion on the whole.
The problem is very few people make a sincere attempt to understand, but nonetheless make their judgements without accepting how uninformed they are (this is bang your head against the wall ironic when you bear in mind what the stock criticisms of religion usually are). As the example you provide illustrates, a lack of understanding leads to misattribution, misunderstanding, and ultimately prejudice, division and finally, persecution.

Ultimately the real problems are the culture of ignorance and the extremist tendency - and this affects all of modern global civilisation. The absence across cultures of a willingness to accept and embrace plurality and to think critically at all times - subjecting your own beliefs to the scrutiny which most people reserve for opponents or the unlike, is what renders people prey to alternate and harmful narratives - people retreat into unsophisticated totalisations ie "israel and the west are responsible for most of the problems in the middle east", "islam is a static and backward ideology", "such and such group of people must be eliminated for the world to become a safer and more just place" (the reigning, chameleonic champ, which always gains more currency in times of unrest. People will do serious mental gymnastics so they can feel comfortable espousing that sentiment). Mass media and the internet have made this worse by provided a plethora of heavily biased media for people to wrap themselves up in - extreme right/left/religious news outlets, closed or heavily moderated discussion forums - all of these help to reinforce the tissue of confirmation bias and biased media that consititutes an alternate/false narrative.

Blah blah blah, upshot is, I agree with what you were saying earlier about the real issues transcending things like religion. It is my opinion that an uncritical mindset, a desire to lash out at reality and finally the elimnation of a substantial stake in social values, is what makes an extremist - religion, nation etc are all just trappings. Religion causes and exacerbates an awful lot of problems - however, dismissing or vilifying it without honest and committed research is more or less part of the larger problem - like the way most creationists don't seem to actually understand evolution and seem to think it can only exist at the exclusion of their own values.

i have no idea what the answer is, perhaps we are incapable of wider understanding and integration, and wars and strife simply have to happen. i hope not, nonetheless once I have enough money in the bank I will be off to build a well armed house in the sticks