Another essay: religion
Posted 11-17-2008 at 09:57 PM by Sagath Dai Lagilus
Recently for my college English class we had to do a problem solution paper and my teacher enjoyed it so much that she requested to have a separate copy just to keep. Though it may not be politically correct to some people and you may or may not like what I have to say, but I am just simply trying to make a point. If you don't agree, well, so be it.
In Afghanistan a woman can be tortured or murdered for disrespecting her husband, not wearing the correct clothing, or sleeping with another man. In 1692 nineteen people were hanged for accusations of being witches in Salem and religion justified the deaths. The Inquisitions and the Crusades – although different in their religious views and eras in which they occurred – both the Inquisitions and the Crusades were guilty for killing many people while under the impression that God was on their side.
Looking at all the senseless bloodshed over the centuries it has become my solemn opinion that the world and mankind's greatest threat is not poverty, crime or disease, but blind faith in outdated and irrelevant systems of beliefs. Religion is something I have never understood because it is founded on fairytales that in today's science and technological age is redundant. Religion has no grounds in reality or logic as we understand it and often times contradicts the very things we know to be true. By no means is spirituality wrong, but following something blindly that cannot be known in life and fighting over it, is not the way to live because in that path lies ignorance.
There is one truth that even today people fail to acknowledge which is that religion is man made. This should be evident to anyone who understands the basics of how society works because if religion were not man made then there would be only one, true belief and not thousands. Everything about the societies that humans have created show that they make their own customs for their society and religion is no exception to what history proves.
To reiterate, the idea of God is a human concept and it was created centuries ago as a way of explaining how things in the world came to be. Through the years these multitude of gods, goddesses, and the religions that they inhabit became a system of governance for controlling society. These beliefs rooted themselves into the different cultures and societies until the morals from them were incorporated into real governments.
Religions all around the world have justified their actions through the concept of manifest destiny; that it was their right and duty to spread the word of their faith. This is the leading cause of all the holy wars through the years because many religions believed this concept. If this bloodshed had never occurred then more Native Americans would have survived European conquest because it would have never happened, at least not in the way that it did. The majority of people in the world are Christians, but this is not because many people decided it was the one, true religion. It is because thousands had their blood spilled for not accepting it. In religion, war comes with the territory.
Hurricanes, tornados, and earthquakes are all a few types of natural disasters that plague the earth. For centuries people have blamed the occurrence of these events on the gods. When such an event happened, some cultures would offer up people as sacrifices to appease their gods. Individuals had to pay the price for the collective's ignorance. Today such practices are considered uncivilized, but this still happens in small countries around the world.
Today science can tell us when someone is coming down with a disease and often how combat it. Today science can tell us what the weather is going to do whether it is as simple as a little rain or a hurricane headed toward a heavily populated area. Religion on the other hand would attribute all these occurrences as Gods' will and prefer to sit and pray when the problem could best be handled by human participation rather than inaction.
Religion has given people beings that can't be proved to exist in life, as well as prejudices against people of other cultures. With science, people have a system that continues to grow and change where things only thought to be true are tossed out, such as the earth being flat, and have replaced it with new found truths. Religion can't do that since each one sticks to claims that can not be tested by any known means and simply must be accepted based upon faith.
In the United States it is believed that there is a separation between church and state, but if this were really true then people would not have their rights infringed upon because of religious teachings. Take for instance the difference between what benefits are given to a married man and woman, and two women or two men in a civil union. Few states will recognize the civil union at all, only offering a fraction of the state benefits the married couples get while the federal benefits are reserved only for traditional married couples and not those in civil unions. If someone were to look at the arguments on this it can be seen that religious views are the main reason for the inequality.
Since religion is ingrained in the culture of the societies we have today and it would be impractical to think that it can be done away with when people are raised with it. One can not propose that people forget about their religions entirely because it would not happen. What people can do though is ask themselves what is the purpose of their faith and what is it that they truly want out of it.
Years of bloodshed have led people to this moment and I believe that in light of all the deaths religious conflicts have caused that people are more than willing to listen to reason when lives are on the line. Whether it be in schools, with parents or government, tolerance of people's faith needs to be encouraged. Otherwise the path will continue as it has for centuries and many people will lose their lives along the way.
Of course there are going to be people who refuse tolerance, either because they are too zealous in their beliefs or are so afraid of the possibility of hell. To them, the only solution I can offer is that they understand that it is not their duty to save other people who do not want what they have to offer. These people need understand that by forcing their beliefs on others that it threatens freedom. Also, they must be shown the reality of inequalities brought about by religion, as well as the deaths it has caused. If people are afraid of going to hell they must told, with evidence, that the continuance of pushing these beliefs on others will create a hell on earth for their children, and their children's children. In essence, combat their scare tactics with…scare tactics.
A person can be spiritual and not have to be tied down by the rules of a religion. Spirituality actually exists more from outside of religion than within because those not restricted by it are more open to thinking about the well being of all human beings and willing to use mankind's ability to understand and create to combat any problems that arise. The problem though, is that people today often hold to their religions so they can feel that they have a purpose in life. This is because people are worried that their lives have no meaning and therefore they try to create that meaning through religion. In adopting a spiritual world view people can instead find their purpose in the improvement of life here on earth for everyone on it. By doing this humans can become a species united, instead of one divided.
Society's Greatest Threat
Looking at all the senseless bloodshed over the centuries it has become my solemn opinion that the world and mankind's greatest threat is not poverty, crime or disease, but blind faith in outdated and irrelevant systems of beliefs. Religion is something I have never understood because it is founded on fairytales that in today's science and technological age is redundant. Religion has no grounds in reality or logic as we understand it and often times contradicts the very things we know to be true. By no means is spirituality wrong, but following something blindly that cannot be known in life and fighting over it, is not the way to live because in that path lies ignorance.
There is one truth that even today people fail to acknowledge which is that religion is man made. This should be evident to anyone who understands the basics of how society works because if religion were not man made then there would be only one, true belief and not thousands. Everything about the societies that humans have created show that they make their own customs for their society and religion is no exception to what history proves.
To reiterate, the idea of God is a human concept and it was created centuries ago as a way of explaining how things in the world came to be. Through the years these multitude of gods, goddesses, and the religions that they inhabit became a system of governance for controlling society. These beliefs rooted themselves into the different cultures and societies until the morals from them were incorporated into real governments.
Religions all around the world have justified their actions through the concept of manifest destiny; that it was their right and duty to spread the word of their faith. This is the leading cause of all the holy wars through the years because many religions believed this concept. If this bloodshed had never occurred then more Native Americans would have survived European conquest because it would have never happened, at least not in the way that it did. The majority of people in the world are Christians, but this is not because many people decided it was the one, true religion. It is because thousands had their blood spilled for not accepting it. In religion, war comes with the territory.
Hurricanes, tornados, and earthquakes are all a few types of natural disasters that plague the earth. For centuries people have blamed the occurrence of these events on the gods. When such an event happened, some cultures would offer up people as sacrifices to appease their gods. Individuals had to pay the price for the collective's ignorance. Today such practices are considered uncivilized, but this still happens in small countries around the world.
Today science can tell us when someone is coming down with a disease and often how combat it. Today science can tell us what the weather is going to do whether it is as simple as a little rain or a hurricane headed toward a heavily populated area. Religion on the other hand would attribute all these occurrences as Gods' will and prefer to sit and pray when the problem could best be handled by human participation rather than inaction.
Religion has given people beings that can't be proved to exist in life, as well as prejudices against people of other cultures. With science, people have a system that continues to grow and change where things only thought to be true are tossed out, such as the earth being flat, and have replaced it with new found truths. Religion can't do that since each one sticks to claims that can not be tested by any known means and simply must be accepted based upon faith.
In the United States it is believed that there is a separation between church and state, but if this were really true then people would not have their rights infringed upon because of religious teachings. Take for instance the difference between what benefits are given to a married man and woman, and two women or two men in a civil union. Few states will recognize the civil union at all, only offering a fraction of the state benefits the married couples get while the federal benefits are reserved only for traditional married couples and not those in civil unions. If someone were to look at the arguments on this it can be seen that religious views are the main reason for the inequality.
Since religion is ingrained in the culture of the societies we have today and it would be impractical to think that it can be done away with when people are raised with it. One can not propose that people forget about their religions entirely because it would not happen. What people can do though is ask themselves what is the purpose of their faith and what is it that they truly want out of it.
Years of bloodshed have led people to this moment and I believe that in light of all the deaths religious conflicts have caused that people are more than willing to listen to reason when lives are on the line. Whether it be in schools, with parents or government, tolerance of people's faith needs to be encouraged. Otherwise the path will continue as it has for centuries and many people will lose their lives along the way.
Of course there are going to be people who refuse tolerance, either because they are too zealous in their beliefs or are so afraid of the possibility of hell. To them, the only solution I can offer is that they understand that it is not their duty to save other people who do not want what they have to offer. These people need understand that by forcing their beliefs on others that it threatens freedom. Also, they must be shown the reality of inequalities brought about by religion, as well as the deaths it has caused. If people are afraid of going to hell they must told, with evidence, that the continuance of pushing these beliefs on others will create a hell on earth for their children, and their children's children. In essence, combat their scare tactics with…scare tactics.
A person can be spiritual and not have to be tied down by the rules of a religion. Spirituality actually exists more from outside of religion than within because those not restricted by it are more open to thinking about the well being of all human beings and willing to use mankind's ability to understand and create to combat any problems that arise. The problem though, is that people today often hold to their religions so they can feel that they have a purpose in life. This is because people are worried that their lives have no meaning and therefore they try to create that meaning through religion. In adopting a spiritual world view people can instead find their purpose in the improvement of life here on earth for everyone on it. By doing this humans can become a species united, instead of one divided.
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