I was once a hardcore christian, not a fundie but dedicated.
Up until I got into a conversation about religion with an older man.
And, despite all religions faults and problems, it gives people a sense of purpose and a set of morals and ethics to follow. It gives people friends, an external family, and a goal on how to live their lives. I would not be surprised if religious people died more content than non-religious people simply due to the fact that they feel they have accomplished something, whether that something is fake or real.
Besides religion has pretty much got me through my childhood, in which I was constantly moving countries or cities, constantly alone and dealing with **** that my father dealt out to me.
When I gave up religion, one of the few things I realized was that life is pointless; you get born, live a short life (which consists of a childhood were you are controlled by your parents then 12 years of schooling, maybe higher learning followed by 40-50 years of working for our two bitches, money and society before finally becoming too old to be of any use to anyone, except verbally) and then die. Another thing I realized is that religion makes peoples lives easier and safer. The Western world is built on christianity and is a fairly accepting and safe society, imagine if instead it was built on the Aztec religion or Islam?
Religion plays its part in the world and the majority of believers do make the world a better place for us all (not saying non-believers don't either).
But in the end, once you know religion is a facade then you might as well move on and create a life worth living for yourself.
That is my goal in life, to live a life were I can die content, knowing that I did what I wanted to do in life and through my actions, I changed the world. (I believe that everyone is connected somehow. I am speculating that there is a sort of collective 'will' or 'desire' that binds the universe together, every person is somehow connected through this 'will'. Perhaps it is a desire to exist on a higher level that holds the universe together, and perhaps the next level for us is a spiritual level. My opinion, feel free to add your 5 cents.)
I also believe in the Chaos Theory or Butterfly Effect, were a tiny action can cause a chain of reactions that results in the entire world being effected. If I had not bothered to post this then perhaps you would never of heard about it and lived an alternate life, thus changing all your actions and eventually changing the people around you.
Food for thought =]
Peace,
PurpleWolf
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