Aasimar
Atheist
No he didn't, but why did you punch him? You're own personal anger at him being late, or your belief in your bosses policy? Are there varying stories in your bosses policy? Does one chapter of your bosses policy say "If an employee shows up late, thou shalt punch him in the face, that he may not do it again, that *******." But another says, "Don't hit people, it's bad." Which leaves you room to interpret whichever you wish?
The point is, while many religious people don't incite violence, by basing a belief on anything without proof, violence is incredibly easy to justify. Faith (Religious faith) does not leave room for other factors, such as the guy was stuck in traffic so he couldn't get here on time, his wife was in labor." No no, if he disobeys "X," Enact punishment "Y," for I am the lord of everything, and my word is indisputable.
I guess my major gripe with god is that he's basically got all the characteristics of a human tyrant without the benefit of being challenged. I mean, Hitler was a ******* by any moral standard, we don't have to dodge around his philosophies to say, Hitler was an idiot, his policies have no morality, he has no leg to stand on. But God, god you have to attempt to prove that which is unprovable in order to question his doctrine.
The bible as a "Choose your own adventure book"
Page 1 -
You caught a wretched non-believer worshiping Krishna today.
To smite him as god teaches you, turn to page 89
To treat him kindly as you believe you should, turn to page 118
Page 90 -
You stone the Krishna worshipper to death, god welcomes you into heaven. Krishna worshipper goes to hell, wretched non-believer.
Page 118 -
You gently inform the Krishna worshipper that you don't believe in Krishna. After a few kind words and exchanging of culture, you walk away. God kinda says that we should be nice, but he said I should kill that dude, but I decided you follow the nice idea. Since you followed God's law, kinda, you go to heaven. Krishna worshipper still goes to hell, wretched non-believer.
Let me put it in a very simple example. I have a magical flower in my back yard. This fact cannot be disputed, because it told me so via a few books it created by telling my greatx56 grandfather on a mountain all alone where no one else could see him, and 70,000,000,000 people over 2000 years have attested to this fact, though not one of them were there. this flower is magical. This flower can also talk to people, but it hasn't in recent history, but it did tell my greatx56 grandfather that thou shalt love everyone. But should they ever wear Tommy Hilfiger jeans, or make an "L" symbol on their forehead with their thumb and forefinger, or worship anything other then it, you should kill them, without mercy, in the streets. Scientific evidence points to the fact that Tommy Hilfiger jeans are in fact just jeans, and in no way taint the soul, and the L symbol does nothing harmful to passerby in reality. But that doesn't matter, the flower told my greatx56 grandfather that these were evil, so they are. period, no debate. I dont' care what evidence points grossly to the opposite, Tommy hilfiger jeans are evil. L symbol users are blasphemers, worth of death. I however, feel my morals won't allow me to kill people who use the L symbol, or wear TH jeans. However, I'm gonna teach my kid this book is divine, inspired by the flower, though it may be wrong a bit. He's like, hmm dad says I shouldn't kill people, but this book that he says is holy says I should. Now I'm confused. Should I believe daddy, or the book that he says the flower wrote? The flower is infallible, so I guess it must be true. I'm gonna go kill people who don't believe me. What, where is my proof this flower is magical, who needs proof to justify my homicidal method, I have faith in my flower. You can't argue with my faith, and how dare you question it. That's rude. My faith is sacred, you can't disclaim it as ridiculous just because I have no grounds to support it, no evidence. In fact, I believe that castration is a healthy practice for little boys, it's in the tenents of my faith that all young boys be castrated at age 23. We've decided to not do this, even though the book says I should, but you can't question my faith in this book, even though I have chosen specific parts to follow and ones not too.
My suggestion to religion.
Teach the good ideas, that me as society have believed are good ideas, leave the bad ones out, and absolutely do not ever request blind faith of someone. Critical thinking makes people make good decisions, learn from mistakes. Blind faith gives you a set of ideas to follow without your own judgement, and that is bad. The bible was not written by god, or inspired by god, it was written by men, in a time of turmoil, with an agenda. It has good ideas, it has bad ideas. It has no proof of any of it's claims. Take the good lessons and learn from them, take the bad lessons and throw them away. And be your own judge, never assume some higher being thinks it's a good idea. If it seems like a stupid idea, it probably is. Do a little research on your own, using your own mind, with input from others. Leave the magical, divine, holy, whatever made up crap out of it. If there is life after death, we will find out soon enough.
As was absolutely beautfully quoted in the movie "The Kingdom of Heaven."
Hospitaller: I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What god desires is here
[points to head]
Hospitaller: and here
[points to heart]
Hospitaller: and what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man - or not.
If you think that by using that quote I think you should please god, I do not. The proper God is just a word for our ideal. Make your ideal moral in every way, realistically. Use your own head, use evidence and logic and reason. When you think, "Oh my god, that man has had sex with a horse!" He's evil! Think about why you think this is evil. Yes it's gross, I agree. But did any harm come of it to anyone other than possibly the man? Even if he got a horrid disease, and passed it on to his next human sex partner, what was the actual evil act, getting the disease or having sex with another human knowing that you could hurt them with the act? And always, always, always make your opinions justifiable and debatable. Who knows, you might actually be wrong, lord knows I have been many a time in my life. So learn the lesson of experience and move on. Do not ask an invisible man for guidance, ask the tangible world around you, if you don't have the answer, look for it.
Claiming knowledge without proof is irresponsible.
