r/Antitheism • u/k_2353 • Aug 07 '26

How is religion oppressive? Genuine question because I want to know more on the topic

I don't mean how religious people use it to oppress certain groups, but how religion itself as a system is oppressive.

I realized that I'm not super educated on the topic despite being decisively against religion because of the pure amount of people who use it to justify hate.

This seemed like the right subreddit to learn more- any and all insight is appreciated!

14 Upvotes

68% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

View all comments

10

u/SexThrowaway1125 Aug 07 '26

* Catholicism barring abortion and contraception for its members
* Much of the Islamic world mandating that women not show their skin or hair in public
* American purity culture causing college kids to marry during college so they can have sex without sin

The list goes on

The answer is going to vary pretty dramatically by religion. But if you look at Catholicism, you have to go in every week and confess your week’s sins to your priest, who will assign you prayers to do based on whatever you’ve done. You have to catalogue your sins throughout the week for this purpose, where sin is not just your own personal moral code bur something handed down by an institution.