What Humanists are opposed to is the irrationality in religions. It hinders personal and worldwide development and perpetuates ignorance and superstition. Chanting over impure water or opposition to blood transfusions causes more harm than good. Where harmful irrationalism is unintentional, some irrationalism, like religious bigotry is positively designed to foment hatred and violence, and as such is evil. Cults follow behaviours and require beliefs that are plain stupid and diminish those who practice them.
Irrational beliefs are so obviously untrue that they distort truth on a wider scale.
Levi Fragell confessed to feeling some warmth of resentment against these irrationalisms. He had come to Humanism from a narrow evangelicalism, and well remembered these forms of belief from his earlier days. Even more angry was another Norwegian, Dr Tove Beate Pedersen, a psychologist and former Director of the Norwegian Gender Equality Council. Dr Pedersen gave an address entitled 'No Humanism without Feminism'. The speech was basically a long list of the gender grievances of Norwegian women, which seemed to involve little more than inequity of housework undertaken by men and women.