Religion vs. Atheism

[Shadowhunter]

I've researched different religions over the years, and after some periods of devout faith and trying what everyone insisted I should, I noticed more and more inconsistencies with each religion and became agnostic. As of some years ago though, I grew more certain of my atheism and stopped hiding it.

Here is what I have stood for. My own beliefs may differ from others.


I have and still do respect the beliefs of others. I do not force anyone to do anything or condemn anyone for what they have been taught or truly believe. I have and still do avoid radicals, disrespectful people, and those that excuse abusive behavior in the name of religion (eg brainwashing, manipulating, threats of punishment, exiling or belittling others, physically or emotionally hurting others etc).

I have and still do believe that religion is a man-made money making organization that separates humanity into different classifications of belief. I believe there should not be a price on faith, purity, and holiness, or that any of those things should be found specifically under any four walls and a roof.

I believe genuine spirituality is selfless, priceless, and harmless.

I believe that people are responsible for their own actions and for the way they treat others. How we react to that is also our own responsibility.

I believe that if you want something badly you should work for it and ask for help where possible, if necessary. I believe we are only as helpless as we think are at any moment and we have the power to impact our own lives, the lives of those around us, greatly.

I believe that we should accept what comes our way, take what good from it we can, and give what good we can back. I believe the more good we put out into the world, the more of a difference we can make and the better the world can be, even just one random act of kindness at a time.

I believe in boundless positive energy. I believe a realistic, but positive outlook, determination, and action can do a lot more than we think.

I believe that abuse is intolerable. Forcing something to say, do, or believe things they would not naturally through mental or physical harm or threat, is not genuine and is wrong.

I believe in science, logical explanations, and I constantly question everything.

I respect people who use religion to live healthily, positively, and helpfully. I respect those who do not follow bigotry.




From my research, most, if not all religions have contradictory information. At the end of the day, they are written by humans and interpreted by humans. Ten different people can take one passage and preach ten conflicting messages from God, and this is what people tend to do. Many will highlight a sentence or two from a few paragraphs and turn that into their message, although there may be information directly condemning or contradicting that information just a few sentences away, which they will not point out.

I've found that a lot of people do not actually follow any religious disciplines etc but tell people they are part of their family's or friends' religion to avoid lectures, discrimination, to help them fit in, because they have never known anything else, or because they believe they are "supposed" to belong to a religion. Some people are forced or bullied into things, many of them without realizing it.

Many people do find peace with religion and believe that it gives them some structure and meaning to life, a sense of family or community, helps discipline them or keeps them on the "right" path doing the "right" things, helps them through dark times, accepts them for who they are, helps them become who they want to be, etc.

What do you believe in? What are your thoughts on religion and atheism?

 

[nirtime]

I gonna light some fire: Religion is a tool used in the conquest of the Americas, Africa and Austrailia.

With the advent of secularization we have seen science respond to the "mysterious" and provide repetitive evidence for unbiased answers to questions that were answered with "mystery" and "hear say" previously.

 

[Shadowhunter]

I gonna light some fire: Religion is a tool used in the conquest of the Americas, Africa and Austrailia.

With the advent of secularization we have seen science respond to the "mysterious" and provide repetitive evidence for unbiased answers to questions that were answered with "mystery" and "hear say" previously.

I agree with this as well. Many foreign settlers deemed natives uncivilized and ungodly heathens as if they meant the same things. They deemed themselves superior, hence their beliefs were considered superior. A lot of those "superior" beliefs have strong pagan roots and influences. Many Christian holidays, for instance, were originally pagan holidays and festivals that Christians strongly opposed and used as a basis to commit many hate crimes against pagans. As time has gone by, the meanings of these very same holidays have been changed and adopted as their own. Many senseless mass murders were carried out and fought for because of religion (Reconquista, the Crusades, the Holocaust, etc), which continues to be a big factor in war even to this day.

I think back in the day, anything people did not understand was explained as the will of God(s) and supernatural forces for/against God. This way of thinking has been passed down and is responsible for many superstitions that are widely accepted without question.

 

[nirtime]

Rightly so! Religion is something I respect in terms of honest people genuinely worshiping a being. However, for my own self I was born a Hindu but I don't believe in religious practices. I celebrate pretty much anything religious that people believe in out of paying respect but I'm not a believer.

 

[admin]

I'm a Agnostic theism
, To me religion is a set of teachings, practices and orthodox that man made to govern people's behavior. Religion because its man made during the years pass many things were added and taken out because of decorated religious leaders who seek power. I believe in god but not religion because of simply man is full of sin and greed and only seeks to elevate one self only.

 

[Shadowhunter]

I do respect religious holidays and will try to educate myself on why they are celebrated to pay my respects without causing offense. I think sometimes people just want some structure or something to follow. For one religion I closely followed, I prayed 2-3 times a day and fasted almost daily. Regardless of what I believed at the time, this routine did indeed help me have stronger willpower and self-discipline. However, I also judged myself extremely harshly following the religious writings, well, religiously (haha). As I became involved with groups and spoke to others in the religion, I learned that it was quite rare to find people that read the writings or even took them seriously. Many lived like they had no religious rules and just followed certain procedures at certain times a year and considered themselves a religious follower at those times. Religion and religious following depends on each person I think, and what they have been taught by others and what they choose to believe.

 

[LadyDeath]

I am a christian. Plain and Simple. I do not believe in Religion as it is man-made. I believe that there is One God and i pray to god in my own way. I respect others' religions and attend events. I have family members who are different christians , Hindus, Muslims and Baptists and we celebrate together for all religious occasions. That's their belief and i would never try to impose my beliefs on them or others. I even wear the outfits as i am of East Indian descent.

What i don't like is when religious people or atheists feel it is necessary to impose their beliefs on others and call that "doing their duty" whether others like it or not . It is plain out . UNCALLED FOR. UNCOMFORTABLE. RUDE & OUT OF PLACE. We are all humans at the end of the day and we should promote peace and get along instead of using religion to seperate us further. Religions start war ! We should all have respect for one another and move forward but i cannot see that happening anytime soon.

 

[Shadowhunter]

As long as there are people that continue to use religion as an excuse to mistreat others I don't think that day will come TBH.

 

[nirtime]

What i don't like is when religious people or atheists feel it is necessary to impose their beliefs on others and call that "doing their duty" whether others like it or not . It is plain out . UNCALLED FOR. UNCOMFORTABLE. RUDE & OUT OF PLACE. We are all humans at the end of the day and we should promote peace and get along instead of using religion to seperate us further. Religions start war ! We should all have respect for one another and move forward but i cannot see that happening anytime soon.

This is why it will forever have a religious divide. I've always wondered if I was only the one to speak about this topic. Why convert other people? Why try to make them feel that their religion is inferior to what you have? That's like selling a material product, its no different imho.

 

[LadyDeath]

Some people say "it was written in their books to spread the word " ..I understand that totally. But don't force it upon others and make your God seem superior to others and tell people what we should and should not do, how we should dress or what we should eat .Some people grow old and die , never grasping the concept of life, and i feel sorry for them. Sometimes people get so caught up in religion that it blinds them from experiencing the simplest things in life and meeting the right people.


On the other hand, having a belief in a greater power is comforting. The world and universe didn't just make itself. I love experiencing how God works in different ways and how he have helped me in my life.

 

[nirtime]

Greater power from my perspective refers to the forces that make life possible. Religion itself cannot explain this in any factual ways, its a system of beliefs and I am totally cool with it but there are a lot of people who discriminate against others for religious reasons and there isnt any good reason imo why that should happen.

 

[Shadowhunter]

Power for me is science, especially energy. There are a lot of things that science has been able to answer for me that religion wrapped in stories and superstitions or avoided altogether.

I think once people decide to hate, they will use anything as an excuse, including religion. Some people scrutinize religious works looking for reasons to justify war and hate and use those specific passages (found in just about every religion) to recruit others that follow in their hatred, as was displayed quite accurately in My Name is Khan. If you take religion away from those kinds of people, I think they will just find something else to use as their excuse. Religion is just easily available as a strong influential force that can reach a lot of people = easy pickings for extremists.

(IMO extremists aren't limited to those media terrorists beheading others, but those that threaten and hurt others in the name of God right in our communities and deem themselves messengers from God of those actions as well.)