I'm actually not wrestling at all with faith -- my point is that I understand the attraction and how in individual contexts it can be benign, but as a whole is the foundation of incredibly dangerous outcomes.

I appreciate your recognition of ugliness that can come out when it is wielded as a weapon, but it's still in the context of "you're holding it wrong".

> war is not a human thing

Au contraire, mon frere. It's been part of humanity the whole time (and we recently learned about chimpanzees doing the same thing. And here you illustrate a facet of my concern: ascribing horrible behavior to some supernatural entities rather than the the reality of human psychology and power dynamics.

This is not just a philosophical exercise -- this is going forward at full tilt and literally represents an existential threat: https://thefulcrum.us/democracy/project-2025-christian-natio...

You must be aware of the fate of heretics and blasphemers in theocracies, right? That is what faith brings when allowed access to power.