About religion · Monday August 28, 2006
I am not a religious person, but I thought I’d express my point of view towards religions and religious people. My intention is not to annoy certain people (although that will probably take place) than arouse thoughts and questions concerning the topic. Try to see my thoughts from a neutral viewpoint, but if that’s not possible, then who am I to blame?
About god
There are tens, hundreds and maybe even thousands of different religions in the World (I don’t have any statistics or facts, sorry). These different religions have either one or many gods. Everyone does have the right to pray the god one wants to, but this arouses a few fundamental questions, such as:
- What god is?
- Is there one or many gods?
- If there is only one god, whose god it is? The god of Christians’, Islamics’ or someone else’s?
- What if you’ve been praying the wrong god all the time?
- Does god even exist?
I could come up with lots of more questions, but I’m going to review some of the aforementioned now. An interesting matter is that the amount and character of god(s) differ depending on the religion. According to monotheistic religions there is only one god, while polytheistic religions have multiple gods. I won’t take any position about which comprehension is better, but I just want to mention that this difference already shows how people create and alter religions and make them more ‘fit’ and ‘appealing’.
Let’s assume for a moment that there would be only one god. Whose god would that be? In other words, if there is a afterlife and possibly a ‘Heaven’, would only the ones who believed in the ‘right god’ get there? Wouldn’t it be rather harsh to believe in one god for one’s whole life and then at the moment of death realize that it was a wrong god? Makes you wonder…
The last question I brought up is the eternal question about god’s existence. Answering that one is impossible in my opinion, ‘cause how would one proof that god really exists? Yes, I know things and phenoms exist that even science (at least yet) can’t explain. However, I don’t see any proof that this affecting factor would be a god. Why couldn’t it be some unknown cosmic energy or something comparable?
‘Holy’ wars
It is hard for me to understand what religion can make people do. It is like a drug. Wars between different religions, crusades and other equivalent events downright shock me. And what are people fighting for? A thing that in my opinion is everyone’s personal issue. A thing that doesn’t even physically exist. Where is tolerance? Why should everyone believe in what you believe and worship your god?
Freedom of religion
For me freedom of religion is very important. I see religion as a personal matter. It shouldn’t be a thing that is imposed to other people. Everyone should have the right to believe what they want or not to believe. If we don’t take the time to think about things but instead believe everything we hear, we will be doomed. Religion is used so much to cause injustice and other evil things that I’ve personally started to see it in a very negative light. And one really annoying thing is missionaries. If I’m interested in something, I will know how to get information about that particular matter. I don’t need anyone to come to my doorstep telling me about salvation. Sigh…
What is religion needed for?
Personally I don’t need religion at all. I can still see why so many people believe in something. Basically religion is a salvation for weak people. People, who need some extra power to keep on living. Personally I get this strength from within myself, practically I believe in myself. I don’t need an image of god to worship or any guiding principles, because I know that my inborn moral comprehence will tell me what is right and what is wrong. For me the importance of religion is non-existent.
What do you believe in?
In conclusion I could ask you, my dear reader, a few questions. If you believe in something, could you tell me:
- Why do you believe in what you believe?
- How did you choose the belief/religion you believe in?
- What do you get from your belief?
- Could you live without religion and how you think it would change your life?
I hope my writing has awaken at least some thoughts in some of you. Any comments are welcome.
Tags: life | general blaablaa
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