Alt title. How to craft a poor metaphor of religion using dessert.
It's unlikely you will like this, it's probably a waste of time, and most of my statistics are overly generalized.
It's also way to long and verbose.
If you know me, it's rare I have dessert, I have seen far too many bad examples of what it does to people and I know myself well enough that it is easier to avoid it and believe in the concept as opposed to the specific thing.
In all likelihood, 95% of the planet believes in dessert in some form or another. Around 05% of the planet doesn't accept the concept of dessert, and that's ok. The downside is there are people in the dessert believers and non believers that go out of their way to shove that dessert or lack thereof down your throat.
Don't be like those people.
It is probably healthy for what we are as a mostly modified monkey with a smart phone to accept that concept that dessert is valid and also just as healthy to work on that belief internally. It's ok to find people with like or similar dessert proclivities and share in that revelry. It brings us closer by doing so. I think that is a good thing.
Personally I find those that refute the acceptance of dessert as rather smug. Same with vegans, they love to give you their opinion when you didn't ask for it.
Of the 95% of people that believe in dessert, probably 75% of them spend most of their time focusing on ice cream as their favored type of after dinner treat. That really isn't to say that pie or cake are bad or wrong, but in the dessert spectrum, it's just less people. Ice cream has many varieties and off shoots, but overall it is a road that goes east and west regardless of the flavor.
In the western world the prevalent belief is that vanilla ice cream is the only true dessert and all others are mistaken in their preference. I tend to think this is rather limiting, but I also don't like to get involved in the discussion and lack of tangible facts to back up my belief over anyone else's. Vanilla ice cream is kind of boring, but it's safe and easy to palette.
There is a very large segment of the planet that believes chocolate ice cream is the only true dessert and all others are wrong. Within this sect there are some purists that believe that the only way to even accept chocolate ice cream as the only true dessert is if it is made by hand, outside, with only one process to make it, that is not subject to change or cannot be updated based on technology or the evolution of our species. Many of these people are very militant about their chocolate ice cream and become very angry if their version of the receipt is questioned.
I think that is unhealthily on many levels. Many of those same believers in chocolate ice creams are also really good people that get a bad name because of the more militant and less flexible of their group. They also need to deal with this internally and rent really doing so. But that is a story for another day, or never.
Within the vanilla world, there is some chocolate chip, some French vanilla, some dairy free vanilla and even some things added to the vanilla to make it more interesting. But ultimately, vanilla ice cream is still vanilla ice cream. At one point a long time ago someone updated the recipe and that caused a split with the various vanilla factions. Out of that came mint chip and it's still ultimately ok as a dessert. For some reason a whole lot of the rest of the planet hates those that prefer mint chip. I have never figured that out. I actually really like mint chip.
A few people in the vanilla and mint chip groups are purists also and demand things like dairy free ice cream, all natural ingredients and some other things that complicate it as a way of life in a modern world. There are even those that refuse to allow their ice cream to be made by machines as it dilutes the purity of the belief. I think that is extreme, but no one listens to me.
Again, fine. As long as you balance out your desserts with other parts of your life and diet, it's probably a good thing. Moderation seems to be a prevalent theme.
In the last 50 or so years there have been some strange pie factions. A few fruit cup factions and some things that are hard to classify as dessert. But I don't really get involved as long as there is balance and they cause no harm among consenting adults.
The problem being is when we get different people of different dessert preferences in the same place, they can't agree on the concept of dessert being valid, they have to fight, and in some cases to the death that their version is the only true dessert and to question that is asking to die.
I truly don't understand that at all.
Because of that level of inflexibility, we currently don't coexist well when mixing me matching our dessert talk. It will eventually be our downfall. I have a lot of thoughts on that.
The leaders, or self proclaimed leaders of the various ice cream movements are also not flexible at all. They love to preach there is but one and only one true dessert and only They know what it is, hence you are wrong. And for some reason, we sit back and let them hijack our after dinner sweet feast.
I don't think it's important to be so specific as to which dessert you believe it, be that ice cream or pie, I tend to think if you use it for positive thing, helping others and finding a way to better yourself and your world, then it is just overall a good thing.
You also can smile quietly with your belief and let the world turn as it does. All the time knowing that what awaits you after dessert is a good thing and not a horrible thing.