milk_manYES, thank you.
This poll is a lot closer than I thought it would be. The people who believe there is one God and the people who believe there is no god are about even.
Look just because he says it and you agree doesn't make it real kimosabe.
I suppose it's as real as you make it in any case. People are incredibly stupid, self-important and gullible though, and most will go through any amount of mental gymnastics in order to feel like what they have dedicated their life to is 'right'. Whether you're talking about Islam, Christianity, Judaism or Polytheistic religions everybody claims to be the one true religion. The Bible itself was written by committee 500 years after Jesus died- now just let any single story spin around your school for 3 hours and see how many different versions you hear- you think his message came across undiluted 5 centuries after it was passed on largely by word-of-mouth??? Honestly. Think about it. The fish grows every time you tell the fish story and that alone should be raising flags.
The honest truth is that religion has always been a tertiary, transcendent kind of government. In a time when kingdoms fell like dominoes, religion stood across multiple kingdoms and was more of a way by which to rule absolutely than anything.
Religion has never done anything but hold humanity back though when it's given too much room to operate freely, as much as I'd like to give it credit for making solid individuals which it certainly can help do. The Dark Ages are a prime example of my problem with religion- the renaissance was a great awakening in which science, philosophy and mathematics grew and innovation was held in high regard. Cities and empires flourished and the world was at peace for the longest period in mankind's history. Once the dark ages came about and religious rule was on top, science that conflicted with religion was punishable by death- literally religion served to keep humanity largely stagnant across several centuries, pulled insane amounts of cash and land in doing so, and escaped collapse dozens of times simply by not clinging to anything but ideology. Crusades happened. Religions clashed endlessly, and also served as political tools when countries changed regimes.
Flash forward to today and we see the same effects- the heavily Christian-led right is pushing hard against science in this country. It's unfortunate that they still- nearly a millennium later still can't wrap their head around their failed past logic and how it continues to infiltrate our progress as people. Churches pay no taxes nor do their subsidiaries, all while they influence politics in ways that were literally intentionally banned by the forefathers for that exact reason. Historically speaking, the Pilgrims came here for the specific purpose of telling the government to fuck off in terms of telling them when and how to believe in God- and her we are, morons left and right thinking this is a "christian nation" when in fact it is the opposite. It's a nation of no religion- and all religions- in one. All that christian rhetoric you see like "in God we trust" etc? Yeah, 1950s era anti-communism rhetoric you're still falling for. Way to go.
I do feel that there are some principles in religion that help instill values in children, but let's be honest if you need a reason to not be shitty as an adult, you're pretty much fucked anyways. God in concept is basically just Santa for adults- a make believe entity that is supposedly watching us from afar, and will bring us goodies to reward us if we're good enough- and coal if we're substandard.
Basically I fully support anyone's ability to believe anything they want as long as you aren't trying to outlaw something because you think it's immoral because of your religion. I'm looking at you, gay marriage haters. Marriage isn't yours and christians didn't invent it by a long shot- why you think you should get to decide for everyone is beyond me. I do find it incredibly disingenuous that you will look right past gluttony, sloth, greed, lust, wrath and the rest of the deadly sins you yourself are probably committing regularly just to flip to page 3,296 to latch onto some obscure reference about gays being bad though. Pathetic even. It's a wonder you feel anyone should follow suit when the basic carrying out of the religion in a public sense is so unwilling to "turn the other cheek" as you're taught in favor of trying to subvert everyone to your will- which you likely condemn Islam for in the same breath. It's just embarrassing to watch.
Anyways. God is only good if you don't get carried away with it. The more obsessed with God you are, the more you're missing the point... Or you're becoming the point that is the problem with religion. Believe in your own way, live and let live. Rant... Over.
