There's a certain emphasis, by people of a certain type of religiousness, on focusing heavily on the base needs of a person instead of "worldly" desires. I don't mean this in a condescending way, I'm having trouble expressing how it manifests. It's sort of a focus on the gifts God gave us and the way he wants us to live. I'm not religious btw, but I think I understand the mindset.

I don't think religiousness is a prerequisite or an indicator for the mindset of enjoying the simple things in life or quality craftsmanship. Perhaps religious people are more likely to use religion to rationalize these proclivities.

It sounds like by "base needs", you mean basic, or foundational needs. Like, making sure that people have food, water and shelter. Which makes sense, if the foundation is strong, you can build a lot on top of it.

Well said - I think of Quaker (edit: I meant Shaker) furniture as a great example of this.

As a Quaker I appreciate the callout, but you probably mean Shaker furniture. The Religious Society of Friends isn't known for their carpentry.

D'oh - thank you, you are correct. I was thinking of Shaker furniture.

That said, I also admire the Quakers for their values.

Since my kitchen cabinets are "modified Shaker," I appreciate this.

There's something about simple design that you can appreciate without being in any way religious. Christopher Alexander tries to get at it.

Known for something even better though; banning a certain practice from their society more than a decade before the Constitution was ratified.

In areas that have them, Amish roofers are known for top-quality workmanship, period dot.

It's quality in general. If you are building something for whatever god you happen to believe in, you are going to want to build something of high quality to honor that. Why make a shoddy sacrifice?

I was just watching an old episode of Top Gear that had Steven Tyler as a guest. He mentioned a quote that his mom said, "The ark was made by amateurs while the Titanic was made by professionals". I found it amusing.

So atheists hate quality now?

I don’t recall chick-fil-a sandwiches being offerings to god, I’m pretty sure they’re sold to consumers.

This theory also doesn’t really explain why a lot of Christian products are very low quality.

The eggs at Aldi with the Bible verses are downright terrible compared to a pasture raised product from a brand like Vital Farms.

MyPillow pillows are bottom of the barrel.

Tyson Foods is certainly not known for quality.

Or... atheists like quality for other reasons?

Saying "some people associate quality workmanship with their belief in God" doesn't mean:

1. all religious folks care about quality workmanship

2. all people who care about quality workmanship are religious

I agree with you but that’s not really what all these parent commenters are strongly implying.

They’re giving religion way more credit than it’s due.

Religion is a reason for many great things that people do.

Food quality, perhaps. But art, music, architecture, definitely.

Not all religious people do great things, not all great things are done for religious reasons.

Your logic directionality is failing you badly here.

It is possible to say nice things about someone without implying condemnation of another.

Keep in mind that I’m responding to people that are using the exact same directional logic, the only difference is that their directional logic is pro-religion.

> If you are building something for whatever god you happen to believe in, you are going to want to build something of high quality to honor that.

That’s a very broad generalization and pro-religion statement. I provided a number of counter-examples of products whose religious ownership hasn’t motivated them to produce great quality products with ethical practices.

I would present the hypothesis that based on the demographics of US citizens that, statistically, most publicly traded companies are likely majority owned by Christian shareholders. After all, a commanding majority of Americans (70%). So this idea that a non-dollars-and-cents higher calling motivating Christian business owners to make better quality products seems like complete bunk.

Seems to me that the Christians get to cherry pick one company that focuses on product quality and give credit to religious thought despite the fact that most US companies including the shitty ones that dump toxic chemicals into rivers are also owned by Christians.

Friend, your comment made me laugh out loud. You know nothing about me and my religious/spiritual beliefs. I think you would be quite surprised if you knew what they were.

For what it's worth, I am not a Christian and I was not thinking of Christians or "Christian products" in my original comment you quoted.