| sleepy jack |
12-20-2008 04:42 PM |
To me religion can has two faces; which are ultimately positive and negative. There's the light side of faith which is a charitable spirit and inner-peace, which is juxtaposed with the dark half; holy wars and bigotry. But ultimately the negative side outdoes the positive because the people who are incredibly zealous about their views tend to force it on the people who are more complacent who on their own probably wouldn't have cared. I mean if they really followed the bible I wouldn't have a problem with them in fact I'd encourage that sort of behavior. It always amazes me how Jesus had way more to say about poverty than abortion and gay marriage and yet you never hear Pat Robertson talk about giving to the poor.
I do however have a major problem with religious institutions and organized religions. I've grown up around churches and to argue they peace preach is ridiculous. I've seen evolution condemned as well as politicians on the far right praised. I once endured a sermon with a friend that can be summed up by this: "Give George W. Bush a break." I'm not a fan of ancient religions or ideas because I feel as a society we've progressed beyond that. We know what an atom is, we know where babies come from, we know about evolution, we don't need fictionalized tails told by men who were just trying to explain things they didn't know or the tales of schizophrenic men either. The bible is historically inaccurate, Jesus never existed and this argument that the tenacity of the idea gives them credibility is absurd.
I'm also strongly opposed to educating children to believe in these ideals. Externalizing blame is a bad thing, kids should learn young to accept and deal with blame and take responsibility. They shouldn't feel ashamed over natural things either and teaching them to judge things as either right or wrong is ridiculous; the world isn't that simple. I do think religious education is very interesting but I think it should be taught purely as a study of beliefs not as fact because that's like teaching people the world is flat. Religion is such a huge party of history and life though it should be taught and understood but I think it's more important critical thinking, logic and philosophy are introduced than fairytales.
There's this notion, particularly in America, that Atheism is bad and immoral and that's wrong and scary. Atheism is as natural as sex. I mean it's nice to know a lot about the bible and religion if you discuss it and argue with it as much as I do but atheism is the natural zero point so it's not their job to justify their stance or be knowledgeable about religion. Intellectual justification only belongs to people who believe they can survive their own death because a magical book about a space deity told them so.
I've gotten fairly boring with religious friends on this subject and while I'm ranting I'll go on about another thing. There's also this idea - usually presented by far right politicians like Sarah Palin or Mike Huckabee - that we've always been a very Christian country; that's not true. While it's true religion has deep roots in American history we've never been particular about the religion. Mormonism, Millerites, Spiritualism, Shakers, Oneida Society, etc...are all important to our history but they're not Christianity. Neither are more recent phenomena; like Heaven's Gate. Religious fanaticism as as American as apple pie but Christian religiosity and evangelicalism but it's only recently that's it become forced as it is now. Under God was only added to the pledge of allegiance in 1951 for instance. I just hate this society we live in...where Christianity is expected of you by the general populace. I just hate the arguments they pose; they think because I'm cynical and skeptical that I don't see any beauty in the world. Which is absurd, I just prefer logical ideas that have been proven. Evolution fascinates me; creationism baffles me and biblical history sounds like an absurdest fairytale.
The arguments I hear are incredibly stupid. "If you don't convert; you'll burn in hell forever" that's scaremongering. The inner-peace argument - how can you be happy or comforted without God in your life - baffles me even more. I don't understand how something that exists purely in your mind can comfort you more then you can yourself. I don't understand how you can claim your belief by citing the benefits of that belief either; it's like Pascal's Wager; completely useless. Just believing doesn't get you anywhere. I'd love to believe that tomorrow I'll be pretty, with a beautiful girlfriend and very rich but that doesn't mean I can believe in it. My mind prohibits such irrational and illogical thoughts and I don't think they're healthy. Atheism and Agnosticism are the only possible schools of thought that one can stand on when it comes to the unknown without dismissing logical thought.
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