|
faith
2001-04-25-12:38 p.m.
Man I've been slacking on adding entries. Of course I know of only three people who read my entries, but someday when it is visited by hundreds, they'll go back and read the archives and wonder why I was so lazy! ;-) Yeah right... Anyway like I said, I'm going to paste in some shit I wrote a while back just for kicks, in lieu of actually thinking of anything cool to write. So here goes... Faith. 1)Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, an idea, or a thing. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. (From Webster's Dictionary baby) By it�s very definition it is a belief rooted in irrationality. And while I can�t speak for the entire human race, I at least make a concerted effort in my life to be, above all, and despite all, a rational being. I would go so far as to say that our ability to observe, understand, and learn outshines the opposable thumb in deserving credit for our position in the hierarchy of this planet. When the very world around me shows incalculable evidence contrary to the justification of a belief in the precepts and dogmas of faith, and my understanding and interpretation of that evidence leads me to a certain conclusion, what choice do I have? When the answer is obvious should I ignore it because it doesn�t make me feel warm and fuzzy? Every religion has it�s own explanation for evil and it�s existence. Actually there are few things that they don�t have a neat and tidy explanation for. The early institution of Christianity would have us believe that there is a little horned man who lives under the ground and tries to tempt and sway people toward his way of doing things. That people don�t do bad things because they are ignorant or misguided, but that there is literally a humanoid like creature down in the center of the earth who plants hypnotic or subliminal suggestions into our brains, to make us do things. And that we as humans are powerless to stop this, but God will help us. If God is all powerful, why not just blink the devil out of existence? If someone was competing with me, and we both had differing opinions about the way things should go, wouldn�t you want him to go away? Especially if my mere thought would be enough to eradicate the problem completely and forever. Years ago, people believed that demons are what made people crazy, not chemical imbalances or brain malfunctions. At the same time doctors believed that sickness came from toadstools living in a stomach and that a good bloodletting would cure all ills. Now we dismiss this as ignorance, as understandable mistakes in a profession in its infancy. Why is it in every other field of human endeavor and achievement, we have made progress over the years, throwing out what we once thought as ridiculous, and improving our understanding through time and thought. Yet in religion we are supposedly going the wrong direction to apply what we see as true in everyday life? With religion, you are expected to uphold tradition, never question authority or the facts. If you do, you aren�t just wrong, you are doomed to be hurt or tortured or whatever for all eternity. It sounds like something an 7 year old came up with to scare away his sister from taking his candy. Oddly enough he whole system is set up to perpetuate itself, and to discourage trial and error, because trial and error and a logical approach would disprove the whole system. As the frontiers of science and human understanding press forward, the definitions and beliefs of modern Christians are pushed back and made more flexible. The once common occurrences of possession and miracles are now less and less frequent due to our understanding of the human brain and of mother nature. Every day we can see farther and deeper and closer into our world than ever before, yet we don�t see more proof of God or miracles, we see less and less. Should we suppose it is a bizarre coincidence that the percentage of religious persons is low among the wealthy and educated and high among the poor and uneducated? Are we to assume that education and learning leads us on a path to evil? Hardly so. It is only the true evils of ignorance and cowardice that feed the hideous monsters that are injustice and suffering. And it is only through their elimination that we can counter the blights upon the history and future of the human race. I truly believe that. And I�m ready to make and to stand by this observation: Ignorance causes evil. Religion is ignorance. Religion causes evil. That�s a bold statement? Have a problem with it? Let me know� -- Ronnie
Prev - Next
|