My favorite topic Religion.
Somewhere in our family history we all had one. A lot of people still do. Me however, i strongly believe it is what separates/divides people. And its true. Lets start small.
Places of worship: You go to school with lots of different people. And you make lots of friends with different backgrounds. Your Jewish your friends are Christian And Muslim. You all go to religion classes. BUT because of different religions you go to a synagog, i go to a church and the other goes to a mosque. You basically learn the same thing in each place. There is certain aspects of each religion that are "different".
Is religion a good thing? Many debate this issue, because there are good and bad ideas that come from religion, so it depends on what area people are thinking about. But I would like to say that in general, I believe religion is highly detrimental to our society. My grandfather once implied that I should leave this issue alone. Believing in God makes people happy and why take that away from them? I'm all for happiness, but at what cost?
It seems to me that religion separates people from each other and causes rifts. When you think about how people in general don't talk about religion with each other in fear of judgement, there is something wrong with that. I think that if everyone believed in one religion, then these problems wouldn't exist, but humankind is funny in that people like to choose their own path. The Christians tried to convert everyone, but failed. If God is so strong, why did he not allow the Christians to convert everyone?
The problem is that each religion judges others who do not follow what they believe. If you say you don't, you're not exploring this deep enough. I even judge people who are religious, because I feel they judge me and because I think it's a bad idea to believe in God.
If we want to bring people together to make our world a better place, then we need to start thinking that we are all equal, period. Everyone has faults and everyone has strengths and when you put it all together, overall we are equal. No one is "better" or "worse" than another person. People say this, but I don't think most people in the world really feel this in their hearts.
The problem is that each religion judges others who do not follow what they believe. If you say you don't, you're not exploring this deep enough. I even judge people who are religious, because I feel they judge me and because I think it's a bad idea to believe in God.
If we want to bring people together to make our world a better place, then we need to start thinking that we are all equal, period. Everyone has faults and everyone has strengths and when you put it all together, overall we are equal. No one is "better" or "worse" than another person. People say this, but I don't think most people in the world really feel this in their hearts.
If we want to bring people together to make our world a better place, then religious doctrine must say that it is okay not to believe in God and that good people who don't believe in God will go to heaven, but this is not going to happen and the alienation will continue. Religious doctrine can't change, so people need to stop believing in it. The whole premise is horrible and ugly and wrong. Religion, to those who believe, is like the most beautiful picture in the world that surrounds you. You love to look at it and it makes you feel good and you invite others who believe in what you do, into it and you enjoy it. But it's not real and you don't like to talk to others who don't believe in it, because they may make the picture go away. But guess what? The real world is beautiful too and you would be amazed at how wonderful it feels to be in the real world. How do you think it would make you feel if everyone got along and we could go around talking to everyone without feeling so separated?
I would like to invite you to take a few minutes to envision what the world would be like without religion, taking into account that there really is no God and that non-profit organizations would still help the poor without religion. How would people interact with each other? Would there be less fear of judgement? Would there be more acceptance and love? Would there be more community centers that people could use to help each other and more people who spend less time preaching and more time helping each other and the Earth?
Religion has caused the deaths of uncounted millions through wars. Religion has prevented people who need to learn to live with each other from learning to do so (e.g. the Middle East). Religion fosters an us/them mentality where "they" are always the responsible party.
f religious war is ever to become unthinkable for us, in the way that slavery and cannibalism seem poised to, it will be a matter of our having dispensed with the dogma of faith.
--Sam Harris
I, for one, fear that if we don't subject religion to such scrutiny now, and work out together whatever revisions and reforms are called for, we will pass on a legacy of ever more toxic forms of religion to our descendants.
--Daniel C. Dennett
Innocent children are being saddled with demonstrable falsehoods," he says. "It's time to question the abuse of childhood innocence with superstitious ideas of hellfire and damnation. Isn't it weird the way we automatically label a tiny child with its parents' religion?
--Richard Dawkins
Remember to be gentle and kind to others, but especially
with yourself. Remember that money and possessions are
not everything. Remember that kindness and love are
everything.
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