Especially in the Middle East and a large proportion of Africa?
EDIT:
What I mean by “religious toxicity” is being very religious to the point of hating the non-religious, and secularism.
EDIT 2:
I’m not surprised that religions like Christianity and Islam still exist, I’m surprised that there are still so many super religious Christians and (especially) Muslims out there. If I’m going to be honest, it concerns me.
In what way specifically?
In that they still value their religions (mainly Christianity and Islam) to the point where they really hate the non-religious, and secularism.
Love your username by the way.
I mean I think that the reasons are just as varied as people themselves. I think a lot of times it’s tradition in the sense that their parents believed it, there parent’s parents believed in it. So, it’s easy to just do what everyone else does.
Then you have, especially in Islamic countries a situation where their religion is everything. From the government, to the judicial system, to the education system, and of course the religion. It’s a way to control the masses. I think it was Hitler that said “He alone that owns the youth gains the future”. Indoctrinate your people early and reinforce it every step of the way.
Then you also have a situation where Muslims pray multiple times a day. Once again this just reinforces the indoctrination, but it also serves as a constant reminder that if you “sin” bad things will happen.
All of these things and more help to cement a tight grip on a population. There is a YouTube channel hosted by an ex-Muslim that I find interesting. The dude is way smarter than I. The channel is called “Apostate Aladdin”. He does a great job of explaining things in easy to digest ways.
Think it has been a few hundred years since Christianity has been outwardly expressing hate and acting on it. If course there will be individuals that are extreme. Mostly it is edge lords that like to include it in these overall statements.