Tuesday, October 21, 2008
God?
So I guess this anger about dis-belief in Halloween may come from my religious beliefs which equal=0. I believe that religion is more of a hinder than a help in this world. So much bad comes from religion that I cannot even fathom why people involve themselves so heavily in something that no one even has proof of to begin with. Perhaps it is my scientific background that leads me to these opinions, but I believe in fact and truth and I find there is none to be found in religion. In my opinion religions may give a good moral code to live by, respect thy neighbor etc. But beyond providing ethical guidelines the belief in an unknown being seems more of an excuse than a truth. For example, when it comes to the creation of things, I think that explaining a spiritual being as being the creator is simply a cop out because there people don't want to or put effort into believing there is another explanation for it. Instead of putting the effort to figure out logical reasoning for things that happen people turn to god, or some other form to which there is no real proof of. Personally I am strong believer in evolutionary theory. I am a strong advocate of reproduction of the fittest derived from Darwin's survival of the fittest. It is a factual explanation for the evolution of our world. I am currently reading the God Delusion by Richard Dawkins and so far it has made me feel more comfortable about my position in life. Until I entered University I felt like a lonely sole with my views that I could never speak of because being an "atheist" was a bad word. Not only that but in the media hardly anyone expresses their anti-religious views which perpetuate the image of atheism as a wrong doing in our society. Sure there are tons of movies and TV shows about loving god, religious families, etc. But it is difficult for me to even think of one which portrays a healthy, respectable member of society as a non god believing atheist.
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2 comments:
Jenni, you have either a narrow view of religion, are meaning Christianity for the most part, or truely do not understand the meaning of atheist. As Buddhism is a religion, but Buddhists are atheist, as they do not belief in a creator or god. And Lisa Simpson is an atheist, and is the healthiest most respectable character on the show.
I feel there is a difference in mindset between people who belief in a creator and don't. People that belief in God have a blind faith, something that atheist and agnostic people don't, they both question things look for “real” answers, want something they can prove, usually using science. Blind faith entails that a person does not really question why they can't eat pork, hug a member of the opposite sex, have premarital sex or so on. These are God's commands, some would view them as a sacrifice or test of devotion, or something along those lines, some don't think about why not, just follow them. Whereas, atheists question why a being would say these things are off limits, they don't affect you as a good person and what not. It simply is that a person of faith will not question the text they follow, or that would not be really be faith, as many things you just have to belief.
The bad you speak of that religions cause, are not in the writings, they are misconceptions that they think they are based on their texts. Most Christians are against gay marriage, they will quote something from the bible, but forget that God also said that "do onto others as you have do onto you," so to deny one of a right you have is not very Christian like. The wars that many people say religion started were not religious based, the truth is that someone at the heart of the decision wanted power, money, land, something valuable, and saying its God's will is a great way to get people on board. The fact is that most people don't know their religious texts very will, and misconceive the ideas and ideals that the texts preach.
Atheists do get a bad wrap, as well agnostic people get it from both both sides at times. Agnostic is the middle ground between theism and atheism, not really believing in a set God, but then again not going to rule anything out. I consider myself agnostic, I don't think that a good would care to define what is for humans to eat or do, I don't have a blind faith, but I also think that some things are just unexplainable by science, and that to rule everything out is foolish. I think the bad wrap will always be there, as people fear what they don't understand, and since roughly 90% of the world are religious, the minority will get a bad wrap. The best way to deal with it to be as good a person you can, and so that a good person is not defined by a religion.
Mike, good call on the Lisa simpson example! I never considered her. As well i appreciate your comment and your opinion. And yes, im sure i do have narrow views of religion. To be honest I have not researched specific religions much and that is something that my arguments need to improve on. Perhaps it is hypocritical for me to criticize and yet be ignorant just the same as some religions are to others and to scientific explanations of happenings in our world.
However, I stand by my opinion on the problems that religion has and does cause in many facets of our lives, whether violent or not. An interesting blog I found that you may be interested in reading if you are interested in this debate is...
http://unreasonablefaith.com/
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