Comments on: Disgust Against Religion (not faith)

By: Aron

Aron — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 16:13:13 +0000

I am bewildered at how similar what you write is compared to what I think, although admittedly I teeter on the edge of belief and non-belief. But were I to believe, I am sure that it would be in dismay and anger at the way humans have used any tool available – religion, even – in their endless campaigns to conquer.
I went to a Chinese temple a while ago – I think it was Confucian, but I can’t be sure. It may have been a form of Buddhism. At any rate we burned incense, and pulled little sheets of paper on which were, if I remember correctly, numbers. Then, referring to a larger sheet that had been shoddily laminated and was peeling apart, bit by bit, we interpreted what they meant.
Be good, respect your elders, don’t argue, don’t be too greedy, work diligently… there was nothing particularly distinguishing – merely repetitions of morals and values. I felt at the time that this was ridiculous, and that the entire temple system was a systematic attempt to control people and make them do the “right” things, not because it was right but because divine intervention asked this of you.

I can hardly imagine a worse fate. By the way, have you explored Scientology? While it neither seeks to confirm or deny the existence of a god, it has a lot of concepts that may sound interesting. It’s also very controversial… tell me what you think!

I didn’t mean to make this comment very long either… :-\

By: sk

sk — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 21:03:13 +0000

i have a big problem with relgious institutions.

1. i don’t believe in heaven vs. hell. when we die, that’s it. we just cease to exist. but i’m not being pessimistc because i think we should live our lives to the fullest despite the lack of heaven because if we do something to brighten the world, we would continue to exist in name and, as awfully cheesy as it sounds, in the hearts of others.

2. i also think it’s unfair how god says unbelievers will go to hell. okaaay. so if a murderer suddenly turns into a christian before his execution, he/she goes to heaven while an atheist who did charity all his/her life goes to hell? it’s terribly illogical.

3. ok. maybe there is god, maybe there isn’t. but honestly, what does it matter? there’s no point of wasting away life, trying to understand god when there’s something more important to do.

4. i don’t like god, or at least the way he’s sometimes depicted in the bible. he expects us to be not human, to be in that state in the garden of eden. but humans should have access to knowledge, should be able to committ mistakes and learn from them. also, i think he himself is quite unreasonable. for instance, when he wipes out the whole human race during Noa’s time. and when he demanded that prophet to sacrfice his own son. it seems like often times god promotes that death = solution.

5. quite frankly, the bible says the universe is about 4,000 years old. people used to believe in that. now, since it’s proven that the universe is much more older than that, christians are saying that bible is metaphorical. ha. what an excuse.

6. religion is also very blurry. for instance, which religion is “true”? buddhism? hinduism? islam? christianity? surely, they can’t all be the “true” worshiper of god/gods. and what happened to the greek/roman gods? no one believes in them anymore. so the roman gods just simply don’t exist anymore? i suspect that religion is something that humans invented to give hope to themseleves, to try to act as if they understand the “unknown”

i agree with you. religion just results in, not peace/love, but often in wars. and that’s just wrong.

wow. this got a lot longer than i expected. i guess what i’m trying to say is, i’m agnostic? perhaps there is a “god” but not the god who makes judgments but just a being/consciousness that looms over us; but there’s no point of us trying to decipher that consicousness–we should just live and love life until the inevitable ending.

By: Kyle

Kyle — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 07:36:39 +0000

I think you address a valid point in noting the audience of this writing. People have to believe that what they are doing is right. Often the history we read in written by those who win the battles. It is interesting what you note regarding how this text is specially crafted for the intended audience. It is alway important to remember the purpose of the author and whom the author intends to read the passage.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 17:37:07 +0000

Thanks for the information on religion. We recently wrote an article on religion at Brain Blogger. How do we really view religion? Could it be the very source of belief comes from our brain? We would like to read your comments on our article. Thank you. Sincerely, Kelly