Resisting religious indoctrination

Mail, extract made anonymous It just so happens that one of my relatives was attacked a few weeks ago. He felt weak, ashamed and guilty and is now turning in an extreme way to the Catholic religion (having grown up in a Catholic family, he never questioned his faith but it had never had a big place in his life, never conditioned his thoughts, his every move). He expresses, as you mention, a great fear of death and hell (which obsesses him), convinced that he is not a good person and that he must constantly redeem himself in the eyes of God. He thinks he has opened his eyes and rediscovered life and death as a result of his aggression. He even tries to convince me despite the fact that I am an atheist. Do you think it can just be a phase? Could it be the only thing he has found in order to get answers and to which he is trying to "hang on" following the trauma he has experienced? How to act in this kind of situation? How to help him, how to get him out of this mystical deliriu

De-dramatising death to alleviate life "If there is nothing after death, then there is no point in living". This statement suggests that life is a kind of work that deserves pay. Being convinced that I am not endowed with immortality, I could not take the fruits of my actions to the afterlife and the morality of reward-punishment is inoperative. Religions work to dramatise existence. In addition to death itself, the believer has to face additional trials such as the Last Judgement, and is then directed towards Paradise, after a possible stay in Purgatory, or towards Hell. The verdict is valid for eternity, and it is very frightening. In other religions, Hell is replaced by reincarnation in an inferior being, but the problem remains the same. My secular heart does not tend towards such a "hope". When religious concerns lead to negative feelings such as fear, it is a measure of mental hygiene to distance oneself from them. For the atheist, death is a natural event, de

Question or objection Numerous accounts testify, in a circumstance of imminent death, to the passage through a tunnel, the end of which is brightly illuminated. One can see there an opening to an afterlife. Answer When brain activity is disturbed, visual areas spontaneously produce geometric shapes. It is the organisation and functioning of the visual cortex that is thus reflected, which has nothing to do with the revelation of an afterlife. I have the intense feeling of living under the benevolent protection of a guardian angel. I feel that someone is watching over me. You generally feel lucky. On the other hand, slum dwellers in Bangladesh should not often see angels passing by. Angels have their darlings. Why this privilege over those who are unlucky? Is it necessary to understand that an important part of humanity has to live under the malevolence of demons? I suggest looking for more natural explanations. If your character is worried or pessimistic, you tend to compare the events

The agnostic believes that there is no proof of the existence or non-existence of a creator (or creators) and generally rejects constituted religions. However, as he admits that God may possibly exist, he must consider the possibility, not established but not excluded, of being subject to divine judgment. This is why his position with regard to the religion he has left - or that of his social environment - often remains ambiguous and uncomfortable. Overcoming agnosticism: parsimonious monism On the borderline between philosophy and religion The two central questions of philosophy are “1. How do we deal with the uncertainty of the future, i.e. what to do with our ignorance?” and “2. What rules will I adopt to govern my life?” The response of the believers is "Ignorance no longer exists since the Revelation". The rules to be followed have been recorded in The Book. The response of agnostics is "Since we know nothing, we renounce engaging in religion, but we do not exclude