Religion is a psycological cancer. Here is why...
Before any further confusion, lets get one thing straight. I am an atheist. In fact I would more consider myself as an ANTItheist since I solidly believe that religion is not only worthless but also harmful to humanity. Therefore the less religious influence the better for all of us as a species. Most of the time (due to ignorance, or simply a bad text) articles like this have apsolutely no influence. But there exists a minute chance that it may trigger a gram of doubt in a religious mind. Just the thought of this makes it worthwhile to write.
I also want to clarify that my entire optinion about religion being humanities greatest lie, is a result of my own accumulated life experience, reading through materials on faith, which were to me ambiguous as well as trying to shed light on simple questions like, if faith is supposed to be good, then why is there so much suffering as a result of it ? Questions like these beg a very open minded and careful study into how exactly is it that faith manifests itself and in turn affects our judgement. There are tons of very very good non biased studies about this on the internet. Having looked at a lot of it I decided to contribute my thought as well.
It all begins as a mistep in childhood, which is a direct result of our parents, society or both. The very idea of faith in religious context carries the intrinsic notion of yielding to human authority. To allow the anomylous class of supernatural entities into our belief system we have to accept another humans hearsay as reality. With the proposed entities inaccessible to our senses, there is no other way to approach the issue. Of course if they were accessible to our senses they would by definition no longer be a matter of faith to believe they existed.
Some people still point to 'holy' books as evidence, which is something similar to me saying for instance:
"dragons that breathe fire really do exist, cuz i just played with one on DOTA (a game i play quite a bit)".
Now let's analyze that statement for a second. What exactly am i doing there?
I am proposing the existence of a impossibly non-aerodynamic, fire breathing tyrannosaurus rex, without the ability to submit any form of evidence. This type of statement would automatically without any real scrutiny fall under category "jokes" or "he is batshit crazy", depending on how much I would insist on its truth or the look on my face when I make the statement.
Now let's assume I read that same proposition from a very old book, written by someone who actually existed and claimed to have seen these events, which by the way also propose probable things like:
"...and in the world where dragons live it rains a lot!"
would that qualify as more probable? No, it wouldn't. Hence, books describing supernatural events, creatures and processes for which there is again no evidence amounts to the same thing - hearsay (or popularly referred to in my community as REKLA KAZALA).
Hearsay - is information received from other people that cannot be substantiated. This is also one of the reasons why hearsay is not admissable as evidence in any legal court. since people can:
But, what is most important is that people give conflicting accounts. As adults, we know that these flaws make hearsay an apsolutely unworkable basis for the determination of truth or reality.
But many people choose to disregard all this awareness, eventhough every single problem I just mentioned is apparent in religious context. Especially the problem with conflicting accounts. Conflicts not only between religions but also within the same religion.
Why do people disregard awareness when religious statements are in question (even the most improbable ones)? The answer is:
Indoctrination!
Its no coincidence that religious indoctrination tends to take place in childhood. It is a fragile time in our lifes, where not only our critical faculties are not yet developed, but also egocentricity in children is at a maximum.
The honorable thing to do would be to respect your childs amazing brain by giving it FACTS. If you're going to teach your child about religion, teach it about all religions without bias. Preserve all the inconsistencies without excuse or rationalization. Don't go cherry-picking the more socially acceptable parts and leave out the barbaric, inhumane and appalling passages.
Make it clear that these are beliefs, NOT facts!
Irrational internal conflics are actually the basis of religions. This is a topic which I am writing about for one of my next blogs.
Truth of the matter is that religion teaches beliefs as fact. We tend to transfer (knowingly or unknowingly) this knowledge to our children also as fact! Inconsistencies are denied, awkward questions are discouraged and other religions are dismissed or even demonized. To justify our weaknesses, we will try convincing any sceptic or even ourselves that 'my child is free to think whatever he/she likes', while at the same time accepting as apsolute truth conflicting religious scripture.
This form of psychologic manipulation is called doublethink.
Doublethink in effect shuts down a childs ability for congitive dissonance - where conflictivg ideas should naturally arouse conscious tension - and force critical thinking. In effect, you are incapacitating the cilds ability to excel at what we humans are best at - critical thinking!
Later in life, children like this will have a very hard time recovering from the systematic abuse of their fragile minds in early life. As adults, this abuse continues in the form of preachers. Of course when it comes to dogma their strategies are limited. Dogma relies on authority. So a normal adult to adult exchange of ideas is out of the question. This is why preachers talk to adults like school children (usually from a higher point like stage or altar). The trouble preachers have with adults is that is that in order to get compliance, the targeted adults must accept them as a legitimate AUTHORITY for superstitious ideas, this is where the brainwashing from childhood comes into play!
I could go on writing about this forever. Actually i sort of feel tempted to, but i would like to leave some for other blogs too. My general point was to introduce to you why I have such an utter hate for religion! It is simply poison, and begins from childhood.
Having lived most of my life in Macedonia, I am still happily surprised that I turned out differently from the majority. In fact, it's a very simple way of looking at it. NOTHING NEEDS TO BE WORSHIPPED - thats my motivational thought! Worshipping is basically fulfilling a need which DOESNT EXIST!
We are good because we want to be! We can be even better if we want to be. We don't need gods or any other forms of deception for that.
Thats all for now! I promise there will be more on religion!
Before any further confusion, lets get one thing straight. I am an atheist. In fact I would more consider myself as an ANTItheist since I solidly believe that religion is not only worthless but also harmful to humanity. Therefore the less religious influence the better for all of us as a species. Most of the time (due to ignorance, or simply a bad text) articles like this have apsolutely no influence. But there exists a minute chance that it may trigger a gram of doubt in a religious mind. Just the thought of this makes it worthwhile to write.
I also want to clarify that my entire optinion about religion being humanities greatest lie, is a result of my own accumulated life experience, reading through materials on faith, which were to me ambiguous as well as trying to shed light on simple questions like, if faith is supposed to be good, then why is there so much suffering as a result of it ? Questions like these beg a very open minded and careful study into how exactly is it that faith manifests itself and in turn affects our judgement. There are tons of very very good non biased studies about this on the internet. Having looked at a lot of it I decided to contribute my thought as well.
It all begins as a mistep in childhood, which is a direct result of our parents, society or both. The very idea of faith in religious context carries the intrinsic notion of yielding to human authority. To allow the anomylous class of supernatural entities into our belief system we have to accept another humans hearsay as reality. With the proposed entities inaccessible to our senses, there is no other way to approach the issue. Of course if they were accessible to our senses they would by definition no longer be a matter of faith to believe they existed.
Some people still point to 'holy' books as evidence, which is something similar to me saying for instance:
"dragons that breathe fire really do exist, cuz i just played with one on DOTA (a game i play quite a bit)".
Now let's analyze that statement for a second. What exactly am i doing there?
I am proposing the existence of a impossibly non-aerodynamic, fire breathing tyrannosaurus rex, without the ability to submit any form of evidence. This type of statement would automatically without any real scrutiny fall under category "jokes" or "he is batshit crazy", depending on how much I would insist on its truth or the look on my face when I make the statement.
Now let's assume I read that same proposition from a very old book, written by someone who actually existed and claimed to have seen these events, which by the way also propose probable things like:
"...and in the world where dragons live it rains a lot!"
would that qualify as more probable? No, it wouldn't. Hence, books describing supernatural events, creatures and processes for which there is again no evidence amounts to the same thing - hearsay (or popularly referred to in my community as REKLA KAZALA).
Hearsay - is information received from other people that cannot be substantiated. This is also one of the reasons why hearsay is not admissable as evidence in any legal court. since people can:
- Misremember
- Unwittingly repeat lies they have been told or
- Deliberately lie for any/all of the following reasons:
- To blend into the situation
- Out of malice
- To protect themselves or others
But, what is most important is that people give conflicting accounts. As adults, we know that these flaws make hearsay an apsolutely unworkable basis for the determination of truth or reality.
But many people choose to disregard all this awareness, eventhough every single problem I just mentioned is apparent in religious context. Especially the problem with conflicting accounts. Conflicts not only between religions but also within the same religion.
Why do people disregard awareness when religious statements are in question (even the most improbable ones)? The answer is:
Indoctrination!
Its no coincidence that religious indoctrination tends to take place in childhood. It is a fragile time in our lifes, where not only our critical faculties are not yet developed, but also egocentricity in children is at a maximum.
The honorable thing to do would be to respect your childs amazing brain by giving it FACTS. If you're going to teach your child about religion, teach it about all religions without bias. Preserve all the inconsistencies without excuse or rationalization. Don't go cherry-picking the more socially acceptable parts and leave out the barbaric, inhumane and appalling passages.
Make it clear that these are beliefs, NOT facts!
Irrational internal conflics are actually the basis of religions. This is a topic which I am writing about for one of my next blogs.
Truth of the matter is that religion teaches beliefs as fact. We tend to transfer (knowingly or unknowingly) this knowledge to our children also as fact! Inconsistencies are denied, awkward questions are discouraged and other religions are dismissed or even demonized. To justify our weaknesses, we will try convincing any sceptic or even ourselves that 'my child is free to think whatever he/she likes', while at the same time accepting as apsolute truth conflicting religious scripture.
This form of psychologic manipulation is called doublethink.
Doublethink in effect shuts down a childs ability for congitive dissonance - where conflictivg ideas should naturally arouse conscious tension - and force critical thinking. In effect, you are incapacitating the cilds ability to excel at what we humans are best at - critical thinking!
Later in life, children like this will have a very hard time recovering from the systematic abuse of their fragile minds in early life. As adults, this abuse continues in the form of preachers. Of course when it comes to dogma their strategies are limited. Dogma relies on authority. So a normal adult to adult exchange of ideas is out of the question. This is why preachers talk to adults like school children (usually from a higher point like stage or altar). The trouble preachers have with adults is that is that in order to get compliance, the targeted adults must accept them as a legitimate AUTHORITY for superstitious ideas, this is where the brainwashing from childhood comes into play!
I could go on writing about this forever. Actually i sort of feel tempted to, but i would like to leave some for other blogs too. My general point was to introduce to you why I have such an utter hate for religion! It is simply poison, and begins from childhood.
Having lived most of my life in Macedonia, I am still happily surprised that I turned out differently from the majority. In fact, it's a very simple way of looking at it. NOTHING NEEDS TO BE WORSHIPPED - thats my motivational thought! Worshipping is basically fulfilling a need which DOESNT EXIST!
We are good because we want to be! We can be even better if we want to be. We don't need gods or any other forms of deception for that.
Thats all for now! I promise there will be more on religion!
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