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Thank... Goodness!

Honestly? I'm blown away that the least religious states are still like 1/3rd religious. Stoked to live here but I actually thought it might be lower than that.

I'm not religious myself but I'm curious, why "thank goodness"? Religion does help people who need something to belive in to stay on track. Some of the moral values are good as well.

Just don't understand the outright hate.

It will drop as the Boomers and their parents clock out

Why would the Quakers be pissed? They aren’t really historically associated with New England. I know there are quakers in Putney though. That concludes my thoughts on the matter.

I am so grateful to share this brave little state with so many people of reason. Superstitions solve nothing and create much more harm than good in this world. We are all much better off without them.

Yay Vermont!

I think New England associates themselves with them, perhaps not the other way around. I remember going to a quaker museum or.. a place where they live, maybe a reenactment, in elementary school in new hampshire.

Proud to be a Vermonter

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The little Quaker prayer group that used to meet in Green Mountain College in Poultney disbanded, and the next nearest Meeting is in Shrewsbury, a half hour drive away. I'm a sad Friend.

Not sure why a group of pacifists would have feelings of hostility towards a region that they’re not really associated with? This isn’t Pennsylvania

That’s not true. the VT town I grew up in was founded by Quakers and quick google search pulls up many examples of Quakers living in Vermont

Shakers by definition couldn't breed. So, you only had to wait them out...

And their presence is barely noticable in PA today.

Reason over superstition is the way.

Churches provided community, which we are sorely lacking these days. It would be nice to have more of that without having to worship an imaginary sky-friend.

Sky friend would one thing, but sky dictator that might fuck with you even if you are loyal. No thanks.

#vermontproud

I can't bother with church and religion in general because when I was younger, Jehovahs Witnesses would harass my family constantly to the point where my mother once chased them away with a broom. I call it "harassment" because when told "no", they just didn't stop coming. They continued to sporadically bother me and it turns out that other people with my disability have also been harassed by them. I got a letter last year from a local JW and again, I don't understand why they're so obsessed with recruitment.

I also had former friends that tried to recruit me into the local "born again christian" church group for people with my disability. Once again, I cut off those people when they wouldn't leave me alone. I have heard (and seen for myself) that they are some of the most judgmental, evil people and that most of them use the group for the community part.

And now I'm sad for you. I hope you are able to find a community

Many thanks. I'm currently worshiping with the Methodists in Poultney, and they are wonderful people, but I miss the silence and I'll just set my alarm earlier.

But man, all of the congregations are so small and so old!

I think it has to do with a perception that the harms outweigh the goods.

This is not a perfect analogy, but it's the best I can come up with right now: opioids have helped a lot of people. They're extremely effective painkillers that can help people during periods of significant difficulty (e.g. when recovering from a surgery).

Their prolific, poorly-regulated usage has also fueled an epidemic of addiction and death. As a result, a lot of people have justifiably negative feelings about opioids.

Cmon the analogy is far from perfect. Comparing a system of beliefs and moral values to an opioid crisis?

Well, not "a system" of beliefs and moral values. More like the entire broad concept of "systems of beliefs and moral values," specifically within the framework of organized religion.

Glad that we're in agreement about the analogy not being perfect.

Religion is the largest source of evil and hatred on the planet.