As I see it, the number-one problem with religion is that it
allows people who don't have all the answers to believe that they do have all
the answers. The second main problem with religion is that it creates hate.
If you are feeling up to reading this post, remember this: You are
not your beliefs. You are a complex person with many beliefs. Therefore, even
if you disagree with something I say or find it offensive, it is not a direct
insult to you. It may be the exact opposite of what you believe, but intellectual
discourse should challenge your thinking. If everyone in the world thought the
same thing, we might as well be robots. Furthermore, I do not think I am better
than any believer of any religion, and I know that I certainly don't have all
the answers... but then again, no one does.
"The tendency to turn human judgments
into divine commands makes religion one of the most dangerous forces in the
world." - Georgia Harkness
For years now, religion has been a big topic of contemplation for
me. Even into my sophomore year of college (2006-2007) I still had a sliver
of hope that religion could be something more powerful than myself. Then, one
day I was dragged to a lame Sunday morning service in a weird,
makeshift church near Boulder that clearly used to be a sporting goods store or
department store of some kind. Anyways, it started out normally enough, with
terrible Christian faux-rock and an overly hyped introduction. Then they rolled
out one of their large, flat-screen TVs (which couldn't possibly have been
purchased using the collection money, right?) and began to play a video made by
the church. It was of a man who was "fixed" by the church. How was he
fixed, you ask? Well, he was gay before but the church saved him! Miracle! So,
after that I was pretty much done.
"I am against religion because it
teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world." - Richard
Dawkins
Being a music student in Boulder I was surrounded by a wide and
eclectic variety of people every day, a significant number of whom were
homosexual, and I liked them the same as everybody else. This event at church,
combined with a fellow music student saying, "Man, it's too bad all our
gay friends are going to hell," put me over the edge. Done. Actually, this
person was a girlfriend -- needless to say it ended quickly after this
disgraceful comment.
So, starting well before my college years and then intensifying
during and thereafter, my ongoing quest to learn about religion and
subsequently understand my feelings and reactions to it continues.
Where am I now in my education, with more extensive and ongoing
studies in world history and cultural studies, and having taken ethnic studies,
human geography, sociology, ethnomusicology, and every world music course CU
Boulder offered, I have been exposed to many people, places, things, and events
that made me question the legitimacy of religion and its purpose. To make this
relatively brief, I can summarize my discoveries by saying this: Historically,
religion has done significantly more harm than good, and it is no different
today. That is my argument. I would love for someone to prove me wrong.
"Religion is something left over from
the infancy of our intelligence. It will fade away as we adopt reason and
science as our guidelines." - Bertrand Russell
Finally, before I share an old writing of mine with you, I'd like
to point out one more thing. I have noticed the incredible accuracy of this
simple formula: Less education, more religious; more education, less religious.
As the kids these days say: "Just sayin'." Okay, I wrote this back in
2010 when I lived in Cincinnati, but I thought it was worth bringing out again
and adding a couple new insights.
[There are about 19 major world religious groupings, which are
then subdivided into about 11,000 distinct religions. I don't think this even
includes Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Mayan, Aztec, etc. religions that
existed before the common era. Man needed explanations to phenomena, so they
decided, naturally, on the most
logical conclusion they could come up with: some kind of supernatural being or
beings (polytheism) is/are responsible. Humans today also seek the most logical
conclusion to life's biggest questions, and indeed we have many answers, but
here in the year 2010, do we not expect to come to a different conclusion than
man of thousands of years ago?
"Of all religions, Christianity is
without a doubt the one that should inspire tolerance most, although, up to
now, the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men." - Voltaire
In the 9th grade, my English class studied Ancient Greek
Mythology. I loved it and I was fascinated; I could picture all the characters
in my head and enjoyed hearing the great epics of heroes and the gods. We were
told, of course, that it was all fictional. The Greeks, who were absolutely one
of the most influential, prolific, groundbreaking, and brilliant cultures the
world has ever known, believed in these gods, though. How could such smart
people believe in such silly, mythical things? Each new generation of Greeks
believed in the gods, too. This is because it was part of their culture and it
was simply passed down from generation to generation. There is more I could say
about many different cultures and religions, but I want to get to my point: I
have spent my whole life exposed to Christianity. I mean c'mon, my family is
Italian. It is my belief that Christianity today is still the major religion in
America (but NOT the world, don't forget) because it is what Americans are used
to and it's what we are taught from the time we can talk. Why would we question
it? Why would we spend time and energy pondering other faiths, or faith in
general? So we just go through life believing it.
"People who want to share their
religious views with you almost never want you to share yours with them."
- Dave Barry
Going back to the opening paragraph, there are over 11,000
religions in the world. Not one of them has more than 1/3 of the world's
population as followers. The very fact that so many different religions exist
basically proves that it is simply made up by man, just like the Greeks made up
Zeus, Poseidon, and Apollo. Ever since I was a kid going to Catholic Sunday
school, I questioned everything. I have a hard time understanding how so many
kids DIDN'T question like I did, and how so many adults still DON'T. Even if
you end up deciding that you do in fact still believe in God, at least think
about it!
Any attempts at research will reveal much about Jesus and the
striking similarities he shares with "messiahs" of other religions.
Nazareth wasn't even a town until way after the year 33 CE (AD)! How could
there exist so many religions already (Greek, Egyptian, Sumerian, etc.) and
then all of a sudden, a guy shows up and claims that his is the
"right" one? Christianity is just another story, written by men...
just like all religions.
“We have just enough religion to make us
hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” - Jonathan Swift
The issue of morality comes up a lot. Where do we get the guidelines
for morality if it's not from the Bible? How about common sense and human
decency? Do I need a grossly outdated collection of stories and superstitions
to tell me that physically harming another living thing, or stealing, or lying
is wrong? No, I don't. We don't need the Bible to tell us what we ought to do.
Plus, most Christians ignore some of it anyways (which is not always a bad
thing, since there is some scary stuff in there -- read Leviticus sometime).
Yes, there are good things that can come from religion, but also many, many bad
things. History has shown this quite clearly.
I don't want to drag this out, but like I said, I've spent my
whole life listening to the brainwashing blabber of Christianity (and
thankfully decided to use my intellect, advice of people I care about, and the
experiences of life to guide me instead), so it's fair for me to be able to
talk a little bit about this. I would like it if people took some time to
rethink their ideas, but ultimately, it doesn't affect me one way or another.
People should do what makes them happy as long as it isn't harming others. The
sad thing to me though, is that it seems like religious people are taught to,
and do, live in constant fear. Fear of going to hell for sinning, fear of being
unforgivable, fear of knowing God sees all the bad things you do. Fear, fear,
fear. Why choose to go through life like this? Some believe that Jesus accepts
all and forgives no matter what, so there is nothing to fear. But why can't one
just be a good person for the sake of being good?]
"The whole thing is so patently infantile, so foreign to
reality, that to anyone with a friendly attitude to humanity it is painful to
think that the great majority of mortals will never be able to rise above this
view of life." — Sigmund Freud
That's what I wrote in 2010, and it's not really in need of major
changes in terms of what I think about religion now. After my recent readings
about the history of Spain and an extensive, graphic history of the United
States (the version textbooks ignore), more and more examples of religion's
negative effects keep surfacing. Even more unsettling, though, are the
instances of religious harm in our modern world. The conservative Christian in
Norway who killed 77 or so people, the constant extremist Muslim attacks in the
Middle East and Europe, the Israel/Palestine conflict, Westboro Baptist Church
rallies, Jehovah's Witnesses bothering me at my front door, and so on.
Now, I know religion is a very important, positive force in many
people's lives, and such people do not use religion in harmful ways. Moreover,
I don't necessarily want the whole world to believe what I believe (because
that would make me just like a crazy religious person), but what I do want is
for people to think and become accepting and tolerant. As I stated in my
argument above, religion has done more harm than good. One of my goals is to
write a thorough, historically informed post about the harm Christianity and
Islam has done in the Western world since before the common era, so that will
support my argument more. For now, however, I have said enough to effectively
provoke some of your inner ruminations and to genuinely infuriate others.
Question: If the Bible is the true word of God, why are there so
many versions of it, and why do today's Christians ignore so much of it?
Bottom Line: Your religion is not the "correct" religion. There is no such thing as a "correct" religion.
