Religion

I chose to talk about Religion because it is probably one of the things I am most passionate about. HOwever, it is NOT because I put any stock in a higher being or because I have some deep spiritual connection with a Divinity that cannot be explained. It is because I put my stock in science. In fact, I have so much thoughts going through my head that I want to say I don't even know where to begin. So, I am going to start with a quote from Karl Marx which goes like this, "Religion is the opiate to the masses." Although, I am in no way a fan of communism, Marx makes an excellent point. Religion is addicting and mind-numbing. It is a structure in which the elite have the ability to control the masses because they make promises that they cannot keep. They say by following God's rules, you will be given a reward. Whether it be heaven, reincarnation whatever, the point is, the people in charge make the rules.
I can understand the need for religion thousands of years ago when nothing could be explained. It filled the void that people could not understand. For example look at the Greek and Roman Gods, each god represented a phenomenon that couldnt otherwise be explained. Zeus throws lightening bolts, hence we have lightening. Yet, we now know what causes lightening and therefore, no longer need Zeus as an explanation for it. Yet, somehow religion still plays has an enormous influential effect on the people in this modern world.
I believe that, like everything else religion SHOULD evolve. Eventually, it should evolve into science. Once we explain everything, why is there a need for religion to begin with? While were on the subject, let's take human evolution as an example. It has been scientifically proven that today's homosapians were not the same 10 million years ago. Throughout time, the human race has and continues to evolve, physically, emotionally, mentally etc. It is insane to dispute evolution because we have cold, hard evidence. Yet, still there are people whose religions won't allow them to accept the "theory" of evolution. Some say the world is but 6,000 years old and that a man in the sky pointed his finger and magically the extremely complex humanoid appeared, essentially out of thin air. Now tell ME what sounds crazier? Over millions and millions of years humans, plants, animals have evolved from a tiny little protein in the sea to a diverse world of various species. OR that a man pointed his finger and suddenly there was life on this planet. Hm. Curious. But I digress.
Religion was also good when there was a time where morals and social structure didn't exist. It was a good way to set up a code on conduct to fraw the lines between what was right and wrong. A black and white sort of thing. Now, there is more grey than black and white. I know it is wrong to murder someone. But even this can be blurred:
--I know it is wrong to murder someone, unless they were trying to kill me, unless they were trying to rob me, unless they threatened my family, unless they raped me, unless they.... and the list goes on.
As the human race develops and our thoughts and ideas become more progressive and complex, it is harder for that black and white to stay black and white. Which is exactly what religion does. Now, various religious bodies try desperatley to "restore balance" where there is no unbalance. Lets take homosexuality as an example. According to the Christian Bible, Leviticus 18, when loosely interpreted says that homosexuality is wrong and immoral. Maybe it was back then, when they were trying to repopulate a tribe that's numbers had been severely lessened by years in the desert. Maybe, then it was ok to say that man and man, woman and woman shall not have sex because we will get no offspring from such relationships and right now, we need to repopulate. Now in a world where we have over 5 billion people, over 1 billion of them are christians, I don't think lack of offspring is an issue. Furthermore, how is homosexuality in anyway wrong? I can't seem to comprehend it. O yeah, that's right because the BIBLE says it isn't. Well, no offense big guy in the sky, but who the fuck are you to tell someone how to live their life? If you, God, are truly the creator of man, why even create homosexuality in the first place? I'm sorry, but I think your followers have gotten it a little confused. Especially when they go on about it being a choice. I have plenty of gay and lesbian friends. NOt one of them woke up one day and said Hey! I'm gonna be a lesbian. THey all say that they have always been a lesbian even if they denied it to themselves. And what kind of world do we live in where we discriminate against someone because of who they love. Love is such a rare and fragile thing, why try and take away what little there already is?
People are SO IGNORANT to think that because someone is in anyway different from you, it is bad. BEcause one person believes Jesus was magic and the other believe that their sorceror hasn't yet come does NOT make one better than the other. Ignorance sprouts from religion because the followers are taught that their way is the only way. There is no room for inquiry. Which I find to be one of the most aweful qualities I can find in a human being. The unwillingness to listen to another opinion because you thinks it isn't correct.
There are no words to describe how angry I get when people refuse to even listen to the other side. Just because I want you to know my opinion, in no way means that I am going to try and change yours. But I can educate you to what other people think.
Religion dulls that sense that, "gee maybe there IS more than one way to look at this."
If you can't already tell, I don't associate myself with any religion due to the fact that I only believe what can be proven. I do not believe in a "God" of any kind. I believe that science happened. As a result of science, our planet formed, and because we had the right conditions, proteins were able to form and build on one another and turn into creatures which eventually evolved into a diverse world of living creatures.
I will later blog on the hypocrisy in religion today, but that is for a later time. I just wanted to get a basic foundation on my thoughts about religion, considering there is so many of them.