Just some thoughts...
If you are not in the mood for deep thoughts, don't click on the link. If you are: In my opinion, humanity, as a race, does not deserve the gifts that God has given us. He gave us the land to live off of and make our homes on; we cut down trees to build housing complexes; we kill animals for sport; we pollute the air with our machines and make it dangerous to breathe. He gave us opposable thumbs to create tools to make our lives easier; we make guns and knives to kill each other with and weapons of mass destruction. He gave us fire to warm ourselves and cook our food; we have arsonists that burn down people’s homes and we burned people alive at the stake.
Most of all, he gave us faith to carry us through the difficult times; we created religions to faction ourselves from each other. We created rules to repress ourselves. We inflicted our beliefs on other religions and when they did not comply, we declared “Jihad” or holy war and killed them. Jihad is not just a Muslim concept. The idea of a holy war is in all religions.
It’s not that I don’t have faith in God; it’s that I don’t have faith in people. I don’t believe in religion because I do not believe that this is what God wanted of us. If we followed all the rules set out in all the religions, not a single person would make it to Heaven, Nirvana or Valhalla. We have rules dictating what we eat and when. Jews are not allowed to eat pork because pigs are considered filthy animals. Buddhists are not allowed to eat cows because they are considered sacred. Catholics are not allowed to eat meat on Fridays for the forty days of Lent. We have rules on what we can and cannot do to our bodies. Jews are not allowed to get tattooed. Catholics are not allowed to have abortions or be homosexual. No dirty thoughts. No coveting thy neighbor’s possessions (especially his wife). No pre-marital sex. No this. No that. By all the rules, we’re all going to Hell in a Hand-basket as the saying goes.
Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. That is what freedom is all about. We should not inflict our beliefs on others, though. That is not fair to either of us. We all have faith which means we all have something in common. Some people don’t believe this. There have been events throughout history that prove this time and time again. First, there were the Crusades. In 1096, Pope Urban II launched an attack on the Turks to the East of Constantinople. It started out as a war to protect Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land but became a war on the “Infidels” or non-believers. The Christian army set out “in the name of God” to kill all those that weren’t Catholic and in the Holy Land.
Then, there was the Inquisition. Starting in Southern France and eventually encompassing most of Europe, the Catholic Church set up an institution with the sole job of rooting out and punishing those who deviated from the orthodoxy set out by the councils of the Church. Many lost property and/or lives to the Church. Torture was not unheard of to get a confession out of suspects.
Skipping through the centuries, we come to a much more recent event. Everyone remembers the events of September 11, 2001. The reasons behind them are mainly because the United States is trying to interfere and play world police with the problems in the Middle East. Because of this, we became a target for terrorists vowing to kill the infidels. According to statements made by Osama Bin Laden, it is all about freedom from religious and cultural persecution. He claimed that the only reason he attacked the United States was because we interfered in his culture. Who are we to judge the customs and religions of other cultures? Who are we to demand changes to be made?
Most of all, he gave us faith to carry us through the difficult times; we created religions to faction ourselves from each other. We created rules to repress ourselves. We inflicted our beliefs on other religions and when they did not comply, we declared “Jihad” or holy war and killed them. Jihad is not just a Muslim concept. The idea of a holy war is in all religions.
It’s not that I don’t have faith in God; it’s that I don’t have faith in people. I don’t believe in religion because I do not believe that this is what God wanted of us. If we followed all the rules set out in all the religions, not a single person would make it to Heaven, Nirvana or Valhalla. We have rules dictating what we eat and when. Jews are not allowed to eat pork because pigs are considered filthy animals. Buddhists are not allowed to eat cows because they are considered sacred. Catholics are not allowed to eat meat on Fridays for the forty days of Lent. We have rules on what we can and cannot do to our bodies. Jews are not allowed to get tattooed. Catholics are not allowed to have abortions or be homosexual. No dirty thoughts. No coveting thy neighbor’s possessions (especially his wife). No pre-marital sex. No this. No that. By all the rules, we’re all going to Hell in a Hand-basket as the saying goes.
Everyone is entitled to their own beliefs. That is what freedom is all about. We should not inflict our beliefs on others, though. That is not fair to either of us. We all have faith which means we all have something in common. Some people don’t believe this. There have been events throughout history that prove this time and time again. First, there were the Crusades. In 1096, Pope Urban II launched an attack on the Turks to the East of Constantinople. It started out as a war to protect Christian pilgrims on their way to the Holy Land but became a war on the “Infidels” or non-believers. The Christian army set out “in the name of God” to kill all those that weren’t Catholic and in the Holy Land.
Then, there was the Inquisition. Starting in Southern France and eventually encompassing most of Europe, the Catholic Church set up an institution with the sole job of rooting out and punishing those who deviated from the orthodoxy set out by the councils of the Church. Many lost property and/or lives to the Church. Torture was not unheard of to get a confession out of suspects.
Skipping through the centuries, we come to a much more recent event. Everyone remembers the events of September 11, 2001. The reasons behind them are mainly because the United States is trying to interfere and play world police with the problems in the Middle East. Because of this, we became a target for terrorists vowing to kill the infidels. According to statements made by Osama Bin Laden, it is all about freedom from religious and cultural persecution. He claimed that the only reason he attacked the United States was because we interfered in his culture. Who are we to judge the customs and religions of other cultures? Who are we to demand changes to be made?