Religion.
There are things which I don’t understand and it is a rather long list.
E=MC2, Quantum Physics, Theory of Relativity, why the hell Germans in love are screaming sweet nothings on Valentine ’s Day, what kind of morons would see American Idol and Dancing with the Stars, you get the drift. What might have also have been shining through above is my love for humanity and my natural gift for endearing my fellow human beings. Tongue firmly in cheek.
Well anyways, if you weighed things I did understand and things I did not, well, it would be just too lopsided. And let’s not even get started about things I think I understand, but actually do not because even as I write this I am constantly under the delusion that I am smarter than I actually am.
Dimwit I maybe, but I do realize that none of the other things that I do not understand have not caused such untold human suffering as my favorite pet peeve - Religion. Or to be precise organized religion. Sure, maybe E=MC2 (and the atom bomb, get it?) falls in that category, but there are important distinctions, and I must not digress.
I also must make perfectly clear is that I am not comfortable with the label of atheists or a long winded discussion on whether god exists or not. For me that is a rather simple question. I do not know and I am not going to spend my paltry grey matter on something that no one can possibly know. So even if someone wants to argue with me till they are blue in the face, it’s going to be a one sided debate, because I simply have no arguments about the matter. Especially since my ignorance is due to not having met the Gentleman (or to be politically correct - Lady, and because we have to avoid lawsuits from PETA - Animal), yet. “Yet” because I don’t want to be accused of having a closed mind either.
Same goes for the other big bugaboo - ’soul’. I once met a gentleman once (retired recently from NASA) who kept a group of us up till 3 Am in the morning trying to drill into us that the important part of our body is the soul, from which he deduced the befuddling concept that we must not have sex till we are 18, among other noble notions.
Also I do not wish to include spirituality, faith or belief in this brief tete-a-tete. Even though my thick skull cannot fathom those profound concepts, I do not think they do very much harm in isolation. So let me put it as succinctly as I can, I do not grudge, argue with, or make fun of, ridicule another person’s faith, beliefs or spirituality.
So all we are talking about here is organized religion. I am sure there are countless lengthy theoretical treatises dealing with the subject and copious amount of dribble written to counter that as well. This is not my point by point damning evidence to prove my point (sic), but simply my belief, as I am frequently told that I must believe in something. So this is simply my belief. And not totally unsubstantiated either. Let us briefly look at the havoc organized religion has caused over centuries, if not millenniums. It has divided people, caused wars, justified planned genocide, led to hundreds of years of disputes and bloodshed over tiny tracts of ‘holy’ land. It has justified murder of non believers, discrimination against different classes and races of people (including women, widows, lower castes, gays, non whites), been used a means of controlling power, money and influence in multiple instances, over centuries.
This is not to say wars do not happen otherwise and there would not be discrimination and persecution without organized religion. But those instances are demonized (like Nazism) like they should be. But everyone is afraid to touch the lightening rod of religion. But for those who believe in a higher power, a God, is it not for them to realize these atrocities are being done in God’s name, the god they love. That their collective silence or cooperation or coercion is being used to perpetrate these crimes on humanity.
I also realize that various religions do undertake various charitable and philanthropic activities and I do not mean to discount those. It is important however to note the main reason for much of these activities are the spread of the concerned organized religion.
I do realize that my words would hurt my friends and family who might think this is a personal attack on their religion, on their god or on their belief. This is not intended to be an attack. It’s my interpretation, things that I believe and also that things that are baffling to me that I cannot understand what so many billions of people seemingly understand and live their lives by it.
Some might say it is not merely enough to tear down these social walls built and reinforced through the ages, but one must proffer their solution. What must be done? I must submit I don’t have any answers that apply to all. Nor can there be ONE answer. But if I might share my view, perhaps one could look at it this way. Spirituality, beliefs and faith are very personal. Could it not remain that way? Is it absolutely essential that must we build a pack like wolves with everyone from our belief’? Must we build these packs and attack another pack with another belief. I know as long as human kind roam this earth wars, discrimination against fellow human beings, injustice towards the weak and poor will go on. But can we take god out of the equation and not blame God for what causes us to act this way - Our own basic primal animal (sorry again PETA) instincts.
So this is what I believe and you are welcome to yours.
