In my early 20s, I think a lot about how I want my life to be. I think a lot about what values I want to hold on to, what goals I want to achieve, and what I want to believe in my life. I'm writing about the last one.
Beliefs. Religions. We've seen how religions become a competition. Religious people compete to be the truest. Only in their religion people will find the eternal happiness, eternal peace.. heaven, they said. Religions then become confrontations. Jews and Muslims become enemies. Churches burned and bombed. People murdered for being atheists. As everyday unfolds, I see more.. and I just don't like what I see. The most lasting effect of religion on the human race is that it has been the cause of almost every war since the beginning of time. With one religion thinking it is the "true" religion over all others, what other result could there be?
Another side. Religion helps to keep people from feeling fear of the unknown. Many of those who are in despair, afraid, hopeless, and miserable revived and healed thanks to religion. There are those people who cling to religion of some kind because they cannot bear to think that this world was not made by a creator, or God. It shakes their world to think that they have been placed here without a safety net, so to speak. Well, maybe I'm one of those people, I believe in that safety net.
So.. I'm neither an atheist nor a secular humanist.
I believe in the existence of God.
How about clinging to organized religions?
My two cents, the only problem comes when you organize these beliefs into religions... then you get the conflicts that lead to violence and real evil. Imagine if we removed organized religion, there would be no "them" to fight against. People can believe whatever they want about gods and sons of gods, it just doesn't have to lead to violence because beliefs do not have to be organized into official monoliths and defended. Resist organized religion, and you resist one of the greatest forces of evil in history.
Actually to this day, religion for the most part is still based on fear. Religion tells people to do and don't do things or else there will be a 'retribution'. This God was never a very forgiving one. Well, as long as it leads people to do the right things I think it's fine. Personally for me, I don't want to do anything based on fear, I want to do things because of what I am. I want it to be based on sympathy, empathy, humanity. We don't need fear to do good deeds.
A friend said to me that it would do no good to eradicate religion. He said "then they'd just kill each other in the name of something else. Like which football team they support?". I still think we would be better. Football teams do not force upon people any particular intellectual framework, nor link it to moral theory. The fact that religions claim divinity, that they claim absolute truth and link morality, society, authority and philosophy all into one whole, makes people more likely to fight and die for them.
Religion causes crimes, mass murders, suicide cults.. I know it depends on the people, not on the religion, and the fact that not all religious people do bad things.. but isn't if there's no religion things would be better? Why should I believe in these things? Aren't these things are made by us human?
I believe in God, but I don't believe in organized religions. Sometimes I thought religions are bad for our intelligence.. haha. Newton and Einstein may have disagreed, but they refrained from violently attacking each other's followers. Atheists and scientists do not kill each other over their beliefs. :p
Beliefs. Religions. We've seen how religions become a competition. Religious people compete to be the truest. Only in their religion people will find the eternal happiness, eternal peace.. heaven, they said. Religions then become confrontations. Jews and Muslims become enemies. Churches burned and bombed. People murdered for being atheists. As everyday unfolds, I see more.. and I just don't like what I see. The most lasting effect of religion on the human race is that it has been the cause of almost every war since the beginning of time. With one religion thinking it is the "true" religion over all others, what other result could there be?
Another side. Religion helps to keep people from feeling fear of the unknown. Many of those who are in despair, afraid, hopeless, and miserable revived and healed thanks to religion. There are those people who cling to religion of some kind because they cannot bear to think that this world was not made by a creator, or God. It shakes their world to think that they have been placed here without a safety net, so to speak. Well, maybe I'm one of those people, I believe in that safety net.
So.. I'm neither an atheist nor a secular humanist.
I believe in the existence of God.
How about clinging to organized religions?
My two cents, the only problem comes when you organize these beliefs into religions... then you get the conflicts that lead to violence and real evil. Imagine if we removed organized religion, there would be no "them" to fight against. People can believe whatever they want about gods and sons of gods, it just doesn't have to lead to violence because beliefs do not have to be organized into official monoliths and defended. Resist organized religion, and you resist one of the greatest forces of evil in history.
Actually to this day, religion for the most part is still based on fear. Religion tells people to do and don't do things or else there will be a 'retribution'. This God was never a very forgiving one. Well, as long as it leads people to do the right things I think it's fine. Personally for me, I don't want to do anything based on fear, I want to do things because of what I am. I want it to be based on sympathy, empathy, humanity. We don't need fear to do good deeds.
A friend said to me that it would do no good to eradicate religion. He said "then they'd just kill each other in the name of something else. Like which football team they support?". I still think we would be better. Football teams do not force upon people any particular intellectual framework, nor link it to moral theory. The fact that religions claim divinity, that they claim absolute truth and link morality, society, authority and philosophy all into one whole, makes people more likely to fight and die for them.
Religion causes crimes, mass murders, suicide cults.. I know it depends on the people, not on the religion, and the fact that not all religious people do bad things.. but isn't if there's no religion things would be better? Why should I believe in these things? Aren't these things are made by us human?
I believe in God, but I don't believe in organized religions. Sometimes I thought religions are bad for our intelligence.. haha. Newton and Einstein may have disagreed, but they refrained from violently attacking each other's followers. Atheists and scientists do not kill each other over their beliefs. :p
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January 07, 2013
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