By Punkerslut
Abandon Religion
By Punkerslut
Why Abandon Religion?
It is so commonly believed today that religion is a source ofgoodness and charity for so many people. It is also believedthat to oppose religion is also to oppose the goodness andcharity stipulated to be with it. When I ask others to abandonreligion, they will reply, "Why would you want to abandonsomething that has produced so many helpful things?" But I amnot asking people to give up the affectionate and tender ways,laced with gentleness and humanity. I am not asking that theygive up mercy or justice, things which are just as easilyattainable without religion, if not easier. I am asking peopleto give up their fear of hell and daemons, their belief in asoul and ghosts, their hope of an afterlife and a god, thecreeds founded on the credulous superstitions of theirancestors. I am not asking the human species to relinquish thethings that are good and accompany every warm heart -- I amasking the human species to ameliorate the ideology that a godexists that will punish nonbelievers and reward believers, thatwill smile at the sufferings of the damned and fortunes of thesaved. I am asking others to abandon religion, which has been anever-ending source of intolerance for those who have harnessedany sort of bigotry.
There may be those who persist in the assertion that religionis inseperable from goodness, and goodness from religion. Wouldany religionist be honest to state that without god, they wouldallow themselves to be heartless and brutal -- to become theepitome of savage behavior, of unspirited meanness and sincerehatred? Would anyone who called themselves close to god, andwith good intentions, if this individual were to suddenlydiscover that there was no god, would they find themselves to beless considerate, less hopeful, less charitable? If anyreligious person can honestly say yes to this, then it wouldonly be right to be suspicious of the claim that they arehopeful, kind, or charitable now. God, this mythical being wholives apart from the physical world, and his existence are onlyquestions of science: he either exists or he does not. If he didnot exist, it would hardly deprive anyone of ethical or moralbehavior. If a city, a road, a mountain, a lake, or a naturalformation did not exist that we had believed to exist, atdiscovering this, would we abandon all humaneness and all formsof goodness? Only those who had reveled in hypocrisy and deceitcan truly say so. There is nothing innately special of themythical beings called gods that means their existence givesprivilege to moral behavior.
There are, though, the genuine claims that we should notabandon religion on the grounds that religion has portrayed atruthful and honest view of the world. Though this claim made bemade on the foundation that we ought to pursue the truth, itoften fails short of that, because religion has universally beenthe opponent to investigation and inquiry. There have been timesand eras where the church had disallowed the public from readingor writing, and had made it punishable by death to be found witha Bible written in local languages. In 391, Christians burneddown one of the world's greatest libraries in Alexandra, said tohave housed 700,000 scrolls. [The New Columbia Encyclopedia, 61,and Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade.] The tale of Galileoshould not need repeating, but perhaps the tale of GiordanoBruno or Francisco Ferrer need repeating. Though Galileo wasonly threatened with death for his claims, Giordano Bruno wasburned to death for his ideas in 1600 and Francisco Ferrer wasshot to death for his beliefs in 1909 -- both executed by theRoman Catholic Church. Giordano Bruno, the great thinker, andFrancisco Ferrer, the great educator; a day does not go by wheretheir grave loss is mourned by Rationalists and Humanitariansworld wide. Gregory the Great had the library of Palatine Apolloburned "lest its secular literature distract the faithful menfrom the contemplation of heaven." [Barbara G. Walker, TheWoman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper& Row, 1983) 208.] The history of Christianity and organizedreligion runs parallel to the history of oppression and slavery.Examination and inquiry have been restrained, and this can befound in the evidences that every historian ought to be wellaware of. Even today, we find the same radical fanatics, burningHarry Potter books, and on the same exact claim that it willdeprive children of the religion of Christianity. We also findChristian fanatics working to ban books in public libraries,including works by Mark Twain, J. D. Salinger., and MayaAngelou, sometimes on the exact claim that these works are"unChristian."
But asside from the fact that religion tends to disallowFreethought and investigation, inquiry and science, can it atall be permitted to call itself truth? As well as having a longhistory of suppressing honest and sincere attempts at sciennceand truth, religion is also founded on superstition and myth.When man did not understand the origin of the rainbow, hepostulated that it had divine origin. When man did notunderstand the origin of the human female, he made the sameclaim. When man did not understand anything that was of naturalphenomena, he often times ran to the easy and simple belief thatit was created from a god or a spirit or a ghost. Even beyondthat, though, the evidences and claims of religion aresynonymous with many cultural myths. As I have discussed inother works, Santa Claus and god both have a remarkable amountof similarities: both are mystical beings, both live far away,both have no evidence, both are only believed because they aretaught by community and elders, both have not been demonstrated,both have supernatural powers, among an enormous amount of othersimilarities. But if one is not content to believe that a manexists who delivers billions of presents to children on onenight of the year, then why would one be content to believe thata man exists who delivers billions of souls to heaven or hell?
Upon the hundreds and hundreds of fallacies and errors, we findthat religion itself is something deprived of both merit andscience. It has, for ages, worked against the instruments oftruth, often times denying the population the right to think andbelieve as they wish. We also find that the foundation for thebelief in religion is identical to the foundation for the beliefin many cultural myths which have also been abandoned. There islittle truth to be found in religion, once an open-mindedinvestigation has been allowed to examine its institutes.Instead of finding a realistic and open-minded viewpoint of theworld, we find flaws, oppression, ignorance, and a sizableamount of cruelty.
Only a small investigation into the real world would allow usto discover that many individuals put much stock into theinstitute of religion. If we were a free and intelligent people,without the tyranny of a Capitalist class and governmentdefending them, people would put less concentration into thethings unseen and put such focus onto the real, materialisticworld. Instead of investing in prayers, people would be offeringtheir kindest and warmest affections to those around them. Wewould not build churches, but homes -- we would not ask the godsfor forgiveness for our actions, but those we harmed -- we wouldnot pray for things to happen, but make them happen -- we wouldnot rely on the superstitious myths that have guided so many tobigotry, or rely on the unseen to do what we must do forourselves, or praise anything that was nothing more than an idolrepresenting cruelty and misguided violence. If a man reserveshis love for a god and for angels, he simultaneously depriveslove from those around him. By giving our kindness andaffection, our sincerest dreams and hopes, desires andaspirations, to this being without evidence, we are losing focusof the one thing that we do know: our lives. And by losing focuson our lives, and those around us, we are ignoring the one thingthat we know for sure: that we, as material beings, do exist,and that we are capable of feeling joy and suffering. To ignorethis is the greatest of ignorances, and the most grave of allfollies.
Tolerance and Acceptance
If there was a god, I would make only one prayer to him: Thathis followers would follow truth over scripture, benevolenceover cruelty, science over myth; to ask his followers to be morefocused and concentrated on the things that exist -- theirlovers, their family, their children, their friends -- to upholdtruth as beautiful, and kindness as sincerity. There is no otherprayer I could give to such a deity ruling over our Universe. IfI were to make such a prayer, though, it may very well be thatsuch a god would ask him followers to turn against him. Thatwould only be so, however, only if the god that exists was theone of a popular Monotheistic religion. Such gods tend to bedescribed by their scripture as vicious and unrelenting in theirpursuits to control mankind to devious ends.
Religion and its followers have embraced intolerance and havecalled it duty and reverence to their lord. Though the disciplesof the cross have managed to do everything in their power todestroy liberty and happiness, I would be the last man on thisEarth to say that nobody should be allowed to be a disciple ofthe cross, or a follower of any religion. It has been the customof religion to oppose freedom of thought, but I certainly cannotoppose this freedom in any form. Whether a man desires to be aChristian or an Atheist, a Buddhist or a Hindu, it is their owndecision. It is their actions, and not their beliefs, that oughtto be monitored. My belief that everyone should be entitled totheir belief (as well as beliefs about beliefs) is not derivedfrom the idea that we should not be like those we oppose.Rather, it is formed from the idea that everyone deserves theright to believe as they wish, to consider and investigate forthemselves, that power lies within the individual, and even moredeeper, because I believe in humane and fair treatment, Ibelieve in justice and compassion. Those are the reasons thatare behind my belief in the right to think and believe as onewishes.
There are some Christians who I have heard say, "I will notspeak to that man or deal with that man unless he is aChristian." There are also many Christians who speak of myselfas though I am the first Atheist to walk this planet. But aswell as speaking of me with that harsh, grave tone, they havesystematically made up lies about myself, claiming that I hateall who claim to be Christians. It seems impossible to some ofthe followers of the divine for Atheists or Agnostics, or anyinfidel or heretic, to hold charity and mercy as good values. Itmay sometimes even be considered unfulfilling to aid annonbeliever in any way, to offer them any sort of affection orkindness, to give them the fruits of a warm heart. But whethersomeone believes that a god exists or not, or in any religion,there will be one fact about that person that will not waver myhumane treatment of them: that they are a conscious being, thatthey can feel pain and suffering or joy and happiness, thattouching their skin gently will produce feelings and emotions ofsecurity and happiness. This is something that will not beerased, no matter what creeds an individual professes tobelieve, no matter what ideologies an individual follows.
The Purpose of a Rationalist Humanitarian
My purpose is not to turn every man an woman into an Atheist oran Agnostic. Such a proposal would be impractical and difficultto obtain, at best. My purpose is to offer humane and rationalsolutions in comparison to the brutal and dogmatic solutionsoffered by others. I would like to convince the clergy and theministry to teach their youth how to respect each other, and nothow to respect god. I would like to convince those who believein religion that there is no hell. I would like to convincereligionists that there is no need to cry in fear of god'spunishment, that if there is a god, he is merciful and just.Offering all of the kindness and affection that can be musteredfrom a sincere heart, I would like to offer the world all I canto make it a better place for everyone to live. To maximizehappiness, to teach people how to treat each other warmly andthoughtfully, to teach them how to think rationally andlogically, to teach them tolerance and acceptance, beauty andlove, duty and kindness... This is my purpose as a Rationalistand a Humanitarian.
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