Religious conflicts - utterly meaningless
Find below, a very intriguing excerpt from the book "The Last Templar" by Raymond Khoury. It surely makes one think and question the validity of the superstitions that we're surrounded by, as well as the whole point of religious conflicts. Are we a backward race? Have we really learned something in past few thousand years, since the inception of the concept "religion"?
We are still in the realm of fantasy, here, today, in the twenty-first century. We're really no more advanced than those ancient people, who lived 2000 years ago. The whole planet is gripped by mass delusion. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism....people are ready to fight to the death to defend everything in these books they hold sacred, but what are they really based on? Legends and myths going back thousands of years? Abraham, a man who, if you believe the Old Testement, fathered a child at the tender age of one hundred and lived to be one hundred and seventy-five years old? Does it make sense that people's lives should still be ruled by a collection of laughable hokum? (such utterly laughable myths are prevalent in all the religions).
It is easy to blame all the conflicts in our history on politics and greed; and, of course, they play a role...but beneath it all, religion has always been the fuel that keeps the furnaces of intolerance and hatred burning. And it holds us back from better things, but mostly, from coming to terms with the truth about who we've become, from embracing everything science has taught us and continues to teach us, from forcing us to make ourselves accountable for our own actions. These primitive tribesmen and women, thousands of years ago - they were scared, they needed religion to try and understand the mysteries of life and death, to come to terms with the vagaries of disease, weather, unpredictable harvests and natural disasters. We don't need that anymore. We can pick up a cellphone and talk to someone on the other side of the planet. We can put a remote controlled car on Mars. We can create life in a test tube. And we could do a lot more. It's time we let go of our ancient superstitions and face who we really are, and accept that we have become what someone from just a hundred years ago would consider a God. We need to embrace what we're capable of and not rely on some arcane force from above that's going to come down from the sky and make things right for us.
The unnecessary pain and suffering religion has caused to people, over the centuries, is there to see and grieve. It served a great purpose when it was conceived. It gave people hope, it provided a social support system, it helped bring down tyranny. It served the needs of a community. What does it serve today, apart from blocking medical research and justifying wars? We laugh when we look at the preposterous gods that the Incas or the Egyptians used to worship. Are we any better? What will people think when they look back on us, in a thousand years? Will we be the subject of the same ridicule? We're still dancing to tunes created by men who thought that a thunderstorm was a sign of God's anger. That all needs to be changed!
Well, these arguments seem quite valid. The author is driving his point home with certainity. In my view too, we're being coaxed into conflicts that are uncalled for, based on certain religious issues that most of us don't even understand thoroughly! This is a pathetic state of affairs, and the only way from here is up - to be more rational. But then, it is rather hard for me to accept the author's views that religion is totally unnecessary. Yes, I completely understand that there are superstitions aplenty and yes, we should all try and get rid of them, but is it really possible to abolish the concept of religion altogether? It provides people comfort, peace of mind and it still is the only way through which the poor and the needy are being served. I am being torn between two states of mind: 1- religion is very important and it is a blessing to the human beings; 2 - religion is a necessary evil. It gives rise to problems, but also helps in solving some socio-economic problems. But I surely CANNOT adopt the third option, the one suggested by the abovementioned author that religion is an unnecessary evil. In fact, I am slowly becoming more inclined to the second state of mind - religion is evil but necessary. Additionally, it is my belief that all major religions are based on the existence of a supreme being - that supreme being is one and the same. In other words, God may either be the nature or the primeval atom, from which the universe came into being due to the big bang, or both. The nature and the primeval atom are so much more powerful than anything anywhere (even though the primeval atom doesn't physically exist anymore, it's influence will be around forever). They dictated and will continue to dictate the course of our lives. We can never completely control them. May be I should say that the nature and the primeval atom are the gods of gods, as we ourselves are 'gods' in a way, due to the fact that we are made up of the remnants of the primeval atom, coupled with the fact that we have the ability to think and differentiate between good and evil.
what do you think, folks?
We are still in the realm of fantasy, here, today, in the twenty-first century. We're really no more advanced than those ancient people, who lived 2000 years ago. The whole planet is gripped by mass delusion. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism....people are ready to fight to the death to defend everything in these books they hold sacred, but what are they really based on? Legends and myths going back thousands of years? Abraham, a man who, if you believe the Old Testement, fathered a child at the tender age of one hundred and lived to be one hundred and seventy-five years old? Does it make sense that people's lives should still be ruled by a collection of laughable hokum? (such utterly laughable myths are prevalent in all the religions).
It is easy to blame all the conflicts in our history on politics and greed; and, of course, they play a role...but beneath it all, religion has always been the fuel that keeps the furnaces of intolerance and hatred burning. And it holds us back from better things, but mostly, from coming to terms with the truth about who we've become, from embracing everything science has taught us and continues to teach us, from forcing us to make ourselves accountable for our own actions. These primitive tribesmen and women, thousands of years ago - they were scared, they needed religion to try and understand the mysteries of life and death, to come to terms with the vagaries of disease, weather, unpredictable harvests and natural disasters. We don't need that anymore. We can pick up a cellphone and talk to someone on the other side of the planet. We can put a remote controlled car on Mars. We can create life in a test tube. And we could do a lot more. It's time we let go of our ancient superstitions and face who we really are, and accept that we have become what someone from just a hundred years ago would consider a God. We need to embrace what we're capable of and not rely on some arcane force from above that's going to come down from the sky and make things right for us.
The unnecessary pain and suffering religion has caused to people, over the centuries, is there to see and grieve. It served a great purpose when it was conceived. It gave people hope, it provided a social support system, it helped bring down tyranny. It served the needs of a community. What does it serve today, apart from blocking medical research and justifying wars? We laugh when we look at the preposterous gods that the Incas or the Egyptians used to worship. Are we any better? What will people think when they look back on us, in a thousand years? Will we be the subject of the same ridicule? We're still dancing to tunes created by men who thought that a thunderstorm was a sign of God's anger. That all needs to be changed!
Well, these arguments seem quite valid. The author is driving his point home with certainity. In my view too, we're being coaxed into conflicts that are uncalled for, based on certain religious issues that most of us don't even understand thoroughly! This is a pathetic state of affairs, and the only way from here is up - to be more rational. But then, it is rather hard for me to accept the author's views that religion is totally unnecessary. Yes, I completely understand that there are superstitions aplenty and yes, we should all try and get rid of them, but is it really possible to abolish the concept of religion altogether? It provides people comfort, peace of mind and it still is the only way through which the poor and the needy are being served. I am being torn between two states of mind: 1- religion is very important and it is a blessing to the human beings; 2 - religion is a necessary evil. It gives rise to problems, but also helps in solving some socio-economic problems. But I surely CANNOT adopt the third option, the one suggested by the abovementioned author that religion is an unnecessary evil. In fact, I am slowly becoming more inclined to the second state of mind - religion is evil but necessary. Additionally, it is my belief that all major religions are based on the existence of a supreme being - that supreme being is one and the same. In other words, God may either be the nature or the primeval atom, from which the universe came into being due to the big bang, or both. The nature and the primeval atom are so much more powerful than anything anywhere (even though the primeval atom doesn't physically exist anymore, it's influence will be around forever). They dictated and will continue to dictate the course of our lives. We can never completely control them. May be I should say that the nature and the primeval atom are the gods of gods, as we ourselves are 'gods' in a way, due to the fact that we are made up of the remnants of the primeval atom, coupled with the fact that we have the ability to think and differentiate between good and evil.
what do you think, folks?
posted by AshokSridhar at 3:49 AM
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