“I Hate Religion!” says the religionist. What’s behind this non sequitur?

If you spend any time following  Xtian news and the reader commentaries on line, you will eventually come across the hyper-religious fanatic who declares  “I hate religion too.”    You’ll even come across this absurd “God Hates Religion” message through-out the internet. 
 

This patently contradictory disclaimer makes sense to the fanatic because they are attempting, through word games, to separate their own flavor of religious delusion from the religious delusion, dogma, rituals and politics of established denominations.  They will even go so far as to admit the damage and horror religion has caused over the centuries. But this is a falsehood – either intentional or as a result of self delusion - for at least two reasons.
First, by definition their Xtian belief and acceptance and adherence to the belief system of Xtianity is by definition a religion.

re.li.gion
 : the belief in a god or in a group of gods
 : an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods

:  the service and worship of God or the supernatural

:  commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance

:  a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices

hhttp://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/religion

Note that while they’d like “religion” to be defined as belonging to an organized sect, or denomination, and boiled down to “… ceremonies, rules … or institutionalized system”   religion obviously means much more than that.  In fact as we can see, those elements are the least important aspects of the definition for religion. The meat and potatoes of the definition are a personal belief in god/gods, acceptance of the Xtian doctrine/set of beliefs, worship of said god/gods, devotion to and observance of that faith, and a personal set of religious attitudes, beliefs and practices.  This is precisely what the devout believer embraces. Thus, they are religionists / practitioners of religion.

Second, whether or not they identify with a sect or denomination and that sect’s  prevailing social or political perspective or the activism of some sects, if they perceive their scripture to be against homosexuality, and it prompts/guides/ justifies their homophobia, they don’t have to be members of notoriously homophobic denominations (Catholic, Baptist, Mormons for example) to be thus influenced by ancient scripture. Their perspective of this (and other) hot button social or political issues is in fact religiously driven…they are just “unaffiliated” or perhaps better stated: they are freelance religious bigot homophobes at god’s behest.   

Even if their interpretation is that scripture does not condemn homosexuality, if they are establishing their more liberal social perspective on religious scripture they are by definition religionists / practitioners of religion.

No, word games not withstanding,  there is no escaping being a religionist by cherry picking what parts of the definition of religion one prefers.  And if you’re a Xtian and  truly “hate  religion” you may be schizophrenic and in a love hate relationship with yourself.  Get some professional help.