Why I Despise Religion

[Geoff-Allen]

"Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned."

How to Deal with Anger (According to the Dalai Lama)

All the best!

 

[psychoslice]

Yes I feel religion is a wast of time, but many need it like a baby needs milk, hopefully one day they will mature and go off the milk on to the meat, this is called enlightenment, where we finally realize that we are all one with all there is, no god, just all there is.

 

[Glaurung]

The sole reason that I despise religion is that it creates the greatest and most destructive delusion known to humankind, namely, the delusion that we will be around forever.

Your hypocritical certitude is well noted.

Hence, most people never get a chance to live as if they will actually cease to exist one day; instead; religion has turned people into cowards, afraid to take chances; procrastinating on living the lives that they actually want to live.

You're projecting.

I don't see atheists living richer lives than their religious counterparts on the whole.

"I'll do that when I get to heaven" is a phrase commonly uttered by religious folk who have deluded themselves into believing that they will somehow be alive after they are dead.

I don't consider the belief in the immortality of the soul to be a delusion. Perhaps the ones who are truly deluded are those who have convinced themselves that death is the end so as to assuage their fear of their judgement before God. (You see? Two can play at that game).

Interestingly, nearly everyone believes that when animals die; they die, and do not possess magical souls. Why, then, do these same individuals believe that human animals will somehow persist after death?

The Bible states something along the lines of man being in the image of God.

You may not accept that as worth anything, but humans beings are clearly distinct from any other species. Just because we share much in common with animals, does not mean we aren't unique. But I know... You have a dogmatic, emotionally invested belief in the insignificance of humanity. Because you do have a religion. I call it soft existential nihilism.

Folks, I am writing this thread as a service to you. There are no pearly gates. You are not immortal. None of us are.

Testify!

In 100 years we will all be rotting in the ground. In 5 billion years the sun will reach its red giant stage and devour the earth, leaving no trace of any evidence that humankind ever existed. Eventually, eons after this, the universe will expand and decay utter nothingness. Is this depressing to you? It shouldn't be. Instead, it should be liberating. Get busy living the life you want to live while you still can.

Why? What difference would it make assuming you're correct?

 

[psychoslice]

I despise much of religion because of its arrogance of believing it has all the answers, like how many religions are there, all with the truth. Of course each one believes they are the truth, that they and them only have the answers, and of course all the others haven't lol.,No matter what religion and how peaceful it seems, they themselves truly in their hearts believe they are the call of god, this is also a form of violence, them being right and the others being wrong, and all this is wrapped up in so called compassion, compassion my A**.

 

[Glaurung]

I despise much of religion because of its arrogance of believing it has all the answers, like how many religions are there, all with the truth.

Much like the OP right?

 

[psychoslice]

Much like the OP right?

Maybe.

 

[Glaurung]

Maybe.

Maybe? He's making very definite claims to the truth.

He is preaching a gospel, and he's as every bit as dogmatic as the religious you deride.

 

[psychoslice]

Maybe? He's making very definite claims to the truth.

He is preaching a gospel, and he's as every bit as dogmatic as the religious you deride.

I don't preach any so called gospel, I have my own truth that I experienced myself, I really don't care about anyone else's truth, as long as it doesn't hurt others, if it does I'll be there to destroy it.

 

[SomeRandom]

Yes I do.

If the religion is based on a god or gods, then its required to prove these gods exist. Every moral and ethics are based on these all mighty beings.

What about Jainism? It specifically rejects the notion of a creator God. I don't even know if they have a God within their religion. Oddly they still have Temples.

Also completely unrelated but was I the only one who instinctively read "good news everyone" because of the OPs name?

 

[psychoslice]

Who really cares about religion. if you need it them its your's, if you don't then its not your's, all in between is nothing more than bullsh++.

 

[Notanumber]

The living world is extremely overcrowded so just imagine what it must be like in heaven in the unlikely event that there is one.

It must be standing room only and getting worse by the millisecond!

 

[psychoslice]

The living world is extremely overcrowded so just imagine what it must be like in heaven.

It must be standing room only and getting worse by the millisecond!

What heaven, are you playing with me?.

 

[Notanumber]

What heaven, are you playing with me?.

I have just edited my post in the hope that it makes more sense.

BTW, I do NOT believe that there is a heaven or a hell.

People should live their lives as best they can in this world rather than hoping for something better when they die.

 

[suncowiam]

What about Jainism? It specifically rejects the notion of a creator God. I don't even know if they have a God within their religion. Oddly they still have Temples.

Also completely unrelated but was I the only one who instinctively read "good news everyone" because of the OPs name?

Are your morals from scripture? Taught from someone who has long passed away?

How do you verify your morals?

 

[viole]

The sole reason that I despise religion is that it creates the greatest and most destructive delusion known to humankind, namely, the delusion that we will be around forever. Hence, most people never get a chance to live as if they will actually cease to exist one day; instead; religion has turned people into cowards, afraid to take chances; procrastinating on living the lives that they actually want to live. "I'll do that when I get to heaven" is a phrase commonly uttered by religious folk who have deluded themselves into believing that they will somehow be alive after they are dead. Interestingly, nearly everyone believes that when animals die; they die, and do not possess magical souls. Why, then, do these same individuals believe that human animals will somehow persist after death? Humans are no different from any other species of animal; they are just more evolved (in some aspects). Otherwise, humans share all bodily functions with other mammals, and there is no reason to think that humans possess some magical trait of immortality that other mammals do not. Folks, I am writing this thread as a service to you. There are no pearly gates. You are not immortal. None of us are. In 100 years we will all be rotting in the ground. In 5 billion years the sun will reach its red giant stage and devour the earth, leaving no trace of any evidence that humankind ever existed. Eventually, eons after this, the universe will expand and decay utter nothingness. Is this depressing to you? It shouldn't be. Instead, it should be liberating. Get busy living the life you want to live while you still can.

Mmh, according to my experience, if a Christian gets diagnosed with cancer then she usually does every thing to stop it. I fail to see enthusiast Christians listening to the oncologist who basically tells them they will soon meet their beloved Jesus in glory and bliss, if they do not this and that.

You get much more with a prayer and medicines, then with a prayer alone. So to speak. But why pray, to start with, then? Heaven can wait, I guess.

So, prima facie, Christians seem attached to this life like everybody else. Maybe Mark Twain is right: religion is belief in things you know they ain't so.

Who can say?

Ciao

- viole

 

[psychoslice]

I have just edited my post in the hope that it makes more sense.

BTW, I do NOT believe that there is a heaven or a hell.

People should live their lives as best they can in this world rather than hoping for something better when they die.

Yes I don't believe in them also, well not as the Christian do.

 

[SomeRandom]

Are your morals from scripture? Taught from someone who has long passed away?

How do you verify your morals?

Well I'm not a Jain but still.


Both and neither. Morals or "Dharma" comes about from duties. To one's family, friends, work and community. So it's different for every person and every situation. Life is messy and living morally is a nuanced and ongoing process. If I do something that hurts someone else then I have not been moral. Unless that action helped someone. Like if I shot a guy attempting to murder someone for example. If I interfere in someone's life and they suffer for it then I have not been moral. I am still learning how to traverse life's complications and live morally with them. My ethical values come from a mixture of Eastern and Western philosophy. And I find are constantly developing as I "grow up." If something in scripture proves to be incompatible with today's world then it should be ignored as something from a less enlightened era.

 

[suncowiam]

Well I'm not a Jain but still.


Both and neither. Morals or "Dharma" comes about from duties. To one's family, friends, work and community. So it's different for every person and every situation. Life is messy and living morally is a nuanced and ongoing process. If I do something that hurts someone else then I have not been moral. Unless that action helped someone. Like if I shot a guy attempting to murder someone for example. If I interfere in someone's life and they suffer for it then I have not been moral. I am still learning how to traverse life's complications and live morally with them. My ethical values come from a mixture of Eastern and Western philosophy. And I find are constantly developing as I "grow up." If something in scripture proves to be incompatible with today's world then it should be ignored as something from a less enlightened era.

Actually, I invite everyone to think for themselves and not let a doctrine set their beliefs.

I cant justify specific religious beliefs without further evidence.

I read some of jainism from Wikipedia and it is based on scripture. The problem with scripture is that it rarely changes to adapt to a changing world.

We see advances in many areas to prove various aspects of religion to be one but because of faith and indoctrination religioners simply won't accept the evidence.

This is dangerous in many cases.

 

[Guy Threepwood]

The sole reason that I despise religion is that it creates the greatest and most destructive delusion known to humankind, namely, the delusion that we will be around forever. Hence, most people never get a chance to live as if they will actually cease to exist one day; instead; religion has turned people into cowards, afraid to take chances; procrastinating on living the lives that they actually want to live. "I'll do that when I get to heaven" is a phrase commonly uttered by religious folk who have deluded themselves into believing that they will somehow be alive after they are dead. Interestingly, nearly everyone believes that when animals die; they die, and do not possess magical souls. Why, then, do these same individuals believe that human animals will somehow persist after death? Humans are no different from any other species of animal; they are just more evolved (in some aspects). Otherwise, humans share all bodily functions with other mammals, and there is no reason to think that humans possess some magical trait of immortality that other mammals do not. Folks, I am writing this thread as a service to you. There are no pearly gates. You are not immortal. None of us are. In 100 years we will all be rotting in the ground. In 5 billion years the sun will reach its red giant stage and devour the earth, leaving no trace of any evidence that humankind ever existed. Eventually, eons after this, the universe will expand and decay utter nothingness. Is this depressing to you? It shouldn't be. Instead, it should be liberating. Get busy living the life you want to live while you still can.

All the information, our thoughts here on this forum, are invisibly transported and stored, and live on in a collective ephemeral cloud, long after the physical devices we temporarily use to interact, are switched off. (or smashed with hammers in some cases!)

Why would God chose to design things differently, why discard all the individual experience, growth, learning, love that each soul gains? When they could be collectively retained?

 

[1robin]

The sole reason that I despise religion is that it creates the greatest and most destructive delusion known to humankind, namely, the delusion that we will be around forever. Hence, most people never get a chance to live as if they will actually cease to exist one day; instead; religion has turned people into cowards, afraid to take chances; procrastinating on living the lives that they actually want to live. "I'll do that when I get to heaven" is a phrase commonly uttered by religious folk who have deluded themselves into believing that they will somehow be alive after they are dead.

What the heck?

1. You have no idea whether there is life after death.
2. To claim you know what you can't possibly know (even if true) is the delusion.
3. To despise the only possible hope for mankind despite not having the slightest idea whether that source of hope exists or not is about the most irrational position I can think of.
4. Its like we are all dying of small pox yet you deny that a vaccine for it even exists, and you despise anyone's belief in inoculation.
5. Christians do not waste their physical lives because we believe in a possible eternal life. Christians make up 78% of Nobel Laureates, brought about the modern abstract scientific revolution, are the most generous demographic on earth, and operate more charitable organizations than any similar group in history, etc........
6. I have been around Christians for over 40 years, have been a Christian for 20 years, have been a prayer councilor for years, and have read a small libraries' worth of Christian literature. Not once have I ever heard a Christian suggest they were waiting until they get to heaven to do anything that could be done in this life.
7. Christians are not cowards. For better or worse the majority of conquests made in the "new world" were by Christian conquistadors, we waged was for generations in the crusades, tens of thousand of Christian fought to gain independence for the united states, hundreds of thousands of Christians died to end slavery in the US and other places, and they Christian west saved the entire free world from tyranny more than once. You should have blamed Christians for fighting too much instead of being cowards.

Since your claims are all false it appears you merely do not like people of faith. You may despise all faiths but I am a Christian and so I will debate you in a Christian context.