The misunderstanding of religion

[Vladimir]

That wasn't really the takeaway point...the "balanced" view leads to bans on flag burning and such, which surely lead to a more unified, patriotic society. Essentially it is exchanging freedom for security.

According to the author, the balanced view leads to a happier, longer, and more fulfilling life. No where does it confirm your Orwellian fears. (OK, I didn't read the last 1/3rd)

So, you're saying balanced individuals are bad then?

Someone needs to work on his cognitive biases.

Why is it so hard to understand that other people are capable of seeing religion in a completely different way than you do?

You're exactly right, kinda. It isn't about the religion. It's about the people.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

According to the author, the balanced view leads to a happier, longer, and more fulfilling life. No where does it confirm your Orwellian fears. (OK, I didn't read the last 1/3rd), you're saying balanced individuals are bad then?

Someone needs to work on his cognitive biases.

I'm saying purity is not as important as fairness and caring--homosexuality may be disgusting, but not allowing gay marriage is unfair and uncaring. If you read the quote here:

Cultural conservatives work hard to cultivate moral virtues based on the three binding foundations: ingroup/loyalty, authority/respect, and purity/sanctity, as well as on the universally employed foundations of harm/care and fairness/reciprocity. The beehive ideal is not a world of maximum freedom, it is a world of order and tradition in which people are united by a shared moral code that is effectively enforced, which enables people to trust each other to play their interdependent roles. It is a world of very high social capital and low anomie.

He explains that the binding moral virtues are cultivated to ensure that the other foundations are enforced.

You are saying that the five spheres are equally important and should be balanced out--but even in religion 3 of the spheres are important only to ensure protection of the other two. In a contractual society we use other means, and thereby grant people more freedoms, at a slight cost to average happiness and longevity.

Balanced is not inherently good.

As for flag burning, it was an issue a while back.