First Rant: Religion and other stupid things… Like religion (part one)
I’ve been told before that I’m “Not a religious person, but most definitely a spiritual person” before. In some respect, I consider that true. With that said, I also consider organised religion (though interesting for the most part) a very large hoax. But hey, if it works for you, I’m really glad. Seriously, if you believe in something, then keep going with it. You will just have to put up with this, for now.
The thing is, religion, however you look at it, always relies on the person themselves commiting to the way SOMEONE ELSE has interpreited life, or any kind of vision, or whatever. Even religion that is somewhat dependant on personal ritual/beliefs it still relies on the focal point that everyone else shares. That is why personalised religion can’t exist, ever.
Religion needs structure and foundation.
Religion needs to tell you what is right and wrong.
Religion is totally awesome
Religion needs to tell you that whatever you think can’t work because it’s been around for longer than you have.
Religion has tradition.
Religion is a collective.
There is also always uncertainty in religion - although some cleverly disguise this as ‘faith’.
Someone who sees a vision of say, noah’s ark for example, might interpret it as a calling to study Christianity. Some other fanatical religious type might see it as a Armageddon warning. The Bible, or the Torah or the Qur’an, or any kind of holy text underlies some kind of symbolism. What if they’re all wrong? Or rather, right but not exactly. People are dedicating their lives to something that is less real than this:
…But I wasn’t here to rant about that particular part of religion today, but considering I did, I’ll just put this here:
Being Roman Catholic born and (for the most of my childhood) raised,
Catholic primary school is where I spent most of my days;
Learnin’, Brainwashin’, And other religious miscellania
I never gave up the idea that I wasn’t being told the truth.
Then some research made some trouble in my beliefs.
Word to the big man upstairs.
GET THE HELL OUT OF MY ROOF.
Whilst attending my Nonna’s funeral a few days ago, I was heightened to a new level of understanding. The priest said several innapropriate things, such as “We’re all going to die soon” and then followed by far the stupidest thing a priest (in fact ANYONE) said ever - “Death is unnatural”.
So, I’ll leave you guys with that first rant, and maybe you can think of what I would say to the abouve part, if this hasn’t already drained the life out of you.
Comment on your opinion or if you just think I’m an ass.
Love you like a priest loves doing innapropriate things when he thinks that no-one is looking.
Aaron
on January 9th, 2009
As a christian, I’ll respond to these statements:
Religion needs structure and foundation.
False. Religion doesn’t *need* structure. However it *does* require foundation, needs to based on something, or it is pointless.
Religion needs to tell you what is right and wrong.
Wrong. Some religions tell you what is right and wrong. Atheism is a religion. I’m not sure it has “right and wrong”. However, *some* religions, like Christianity attempt to give people a framework by which to live. Christianity is based on the fact that no human is perfect and Jesus (the only perfect human) had to die for all our human screw-ups. Just because you do something bad doesn’t mean you’re not going to heaven.
Religion is totally awesome
Maybe…
Religion needs to tell you that whatever you think can’t work because it’s been around for longer than you have.
Ok, this one is a bit nonsensical. But, a religion doesn’t have to contradict what you believe, and shouldn’t use the reason it’s been around for a long time as a proof.
Religion has tradition.
True. But that should *not* be what the religion is *about*.
Religion is a collective.
A collective? of people? a collective noun?
The priest said several innapropriate things
I agree that what he said was inappropriate from an non-christian perspective.
“Death is unnatural”.
Some christians believe that human death is a result of “The Fall” (the first ever sin).
“We’re all going to die soon”
This one depends on your perspective of “soon”. I like the definition Aslan gives “soon” in Voyage of the Dawn Treader: “I call all times soon”
This *does not* change the fact that these things were the wrong thing to say at a funeral.
There is also always uncertainty in religion - although some cleverly disguise this as ‘faith’.
Uncertainty is what religion is often based on. Faith for many religious people is about as difficult as believing that the sun will rise tomorrow.
jacinta
on January 9th, 2009
Very well thought out, but Athiesm only goes as far as a belief system opposed to something dedicated as well as having ritual, like a religion.
On other levels, thank you for your input Aaron ^__^
Goatface
on January 10th, 2009
“Death is unnatural”
What could possibly be more natural? What is the one thing that we will all experience? What is one of the two pillars of life, existence, and the human psyche?
Aaron
on January 13th, 2009
Goatface, if you read my post and aren’t trolling, you would have seen what I think the priest was referring to. I’ll assume that you aren’t trolling and explain more fully why priest said that and what I think he meant.
According to the Bible, in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve (the first two humans) lived and God walked with them. He gave them only 1 rule for living in the garden: “Do not eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. If you do, you will die” The serpent tricked Eve (and Eve convinced Adam) into eating the fruit. God found out and delivered his punishment: Adam and Eve (who until then were immortal) became mortal. They died. But not immediately; first they started the human race as we know it.
The idea that “death is unnatural” comes from this: We were created immortal and made mortal because of our sin. Or so most Christians believe.
I still think that it was a completely inappropriate topic for a funeral. Funerals should be about a person’s life, not about death. Worse, to say “we die because of sin” at a person’s funeral is the same as saying “this person was a sinner” and that is a *completely* inappropriate thing to say about someone at their funeral.
[/defensive rant]