Originally Posted by
jon1959
No, they also explain the rise of radical Islamist views and Hindu fundamentalism.
If it just exists in someone's head, or amongst a group of like-minded cultists, it probably does little harm. The problems come when the adherents get off their shopping centre soap boxes and lead or influence governments, or street mobs, and the cults grow into mass movements. That has happened in Iran and India, on a smaller scale in Israel, and many other places, with governmental cheer-leaders in the USA (at least under Trump), Brazil and even some states in Europe.
I hope you are right about the growth of humanist beliefs. I think there has been a move in the last half century away from unquestioning religious beliefs in many parts of the world, but at the same time a hardening and growth of fundamentalism in Islam, Judaism and Christianity - and maybe the Hindu faith too.
Maybe two steps forward and one step back?