Normal people should be able to empathize.

Mammals and some other animals have a need for religion. When a new-born or new-hatched creature comes into this world, they develop a bond with the creature they see first. This is a function of empathy. I don't know how many animals have this capacity in their genes, but most humans and many other animals do.

It is true that some individuals are born (and possibly hatched) without this capacity, but that has nothing to do with the overwhelming need in their species to identify with others (presumably their own species, but not always.)

This attachment to others may be the start of religion, but for humans, the need to find meaning continues that need. We humans think too much. We realize our mortality. We need to understand what we are, and we think in terms of what the purpose of our life is.

There is nothing wrong with religion providing comfort in this quest. It is just that there is power in this form of thought. There are those who are born without empathy or were trained to ignore that empathy who will use the need for religion for personal opportunity. These opportunists may even be psychopaths who enjoy inflicting harm on others.

When someone advocates that they have to have religion to know good from evil, they may actually be sociopaths or psychopaths without empathy to know the difference. This specific need for religion may very well be necessary for people afflicted without empathy, and they should get it along with a good understanding of the law that normal people have established for just this reason.

However, the establishment of a particular religion should not be the criteria for expecting normal people to have empathy. Normal people should be able to empathize. 

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