2 posts tagged “religion”
I was brought up in a christian household, for which many years this voodoo was fausted on me until my mid to late teens. It rarely ever made sense to me and even though for a brief period between 15 & 17 in which I fully embraced this myth I believe it was merely a survival mechnism until such time as I was able to leave the parental home.
my biggest concern with religion is its primary ownership of all that is moral and ethical. As a result my ethics were owned by my parents and religion of course. In other words I mean, in my mind, they OWNED morality. I was of course completely unaware of this for many years. Of course morality neither belongs to me, them or anyone for that matter.
As secularists or perhaps more accurately as agnostics, we give religion a distinct amount of breadth and authority when it comes to morality. In fact I would say that for most people whom religion is not an important part of their lives, would indeed equate religion with morality. They would even feel that religion plays an important part in the world at dampening down what in their minds could otherwise be outright immorality by the masses. Unfortunately for the most part agnostics are completely unaware of the contradictions that exist within religious texts, these include many hypocrisies within them as well. Religion has a history of brutality that has used violence as a means to controlling their subjects. Even Kings, Queens and governments rarely dared to criticise them, for fear of vicious retribution. Of course this has to a large extent changed in these more modern times, with the exception of Muslim countries for which retrograde religiosity is regretfully the current flavour.
We have of course secularism and rational thought to thank for the modern day western peaceful Christian demeanour. However religion is still viewed as the purveyor of all that is moral and as a result stultifies the growth of the human mind and experience. This is why the debating of Christians is generally a categoric disaster for them that use the scientfic method. Once you remove the agnostic view that possesses no answers, thus providing the Christian with an easy escape route, the debate becomes decidely rocky. Using empirical evidence to erode their mythologies, they will soon flounder and inevitably either close down the debate immediately, or, they become extremely angry. There is a third reaction of course, that of them completely agreeing with you. However this is most rare, having invested so much time and resources into such a myth, they are unlikely to change their view without a struggle.
As banal as these religious beliefs may appear to you and me, they do indeed influence the next generation negatively. If we allow our thoughts to be possessed by any mythology, rather than the evidence of science, how are we to ever know the truth? Nihilism is I’m sure a reaction to mythology, religion being a major part of that for most people, even for agnostics. Nihilism allows us to have no belief in anything because religion makes no sense in reality and offers no tangible morality. We thus become moral relativists, which in reality is a state of confusion for which there is no right or wrong, thus allowing the more extreme of mystics to have moral authority above us. This is why I feel strongly that good, honest, reciprocal and voluntary relationships with people are fundamental to our wellbeing.
I was listening to an excellent podcast today given by a Stefan Molyneux of Freedomain Radio... It was a discussion primarily about having BIG philosophical thoughts.
Podcast (right click mouse and save as to download)
He brought up an interesting point in regard to concepts we all have when dealing with reality. When we talk of religious faith, parents, the law, nationhood and more importantly government. We often discuss these concepts as real, when in reality there is nothing real about them. These are ideas created from language and given credibility by us, and in particular by those that seek to mould us, but in reality they don't actually exist.
Some of us like to think that we have reached our rational zenith, particularly in regards to religion. Atheism is more popular than ever in its history. People are clearly lapping up the reason behind such truths as, 'there are no gods'.
However, it is clear that we still live with MANY other mythologies that are so ingrained in us, that we are almost completely blind to them. Reality of course, are the senses such as smell, taste, hearing, seeing, touch and perhaps the 6th sense could be considered the intellect. All these senses allow us to move around in this world in a safe and personally beneficial manner. But we are so taken by the myths as outlined above, that we forget the REAL senses that we use, almost without thinking, to clearly find our way within this world.
None of these mythologies can be considered as tangible or physically present, we cannot measure them empiracally. They are concepts that are forced onto us by others. By whom, you may ask? Well people who seek to have power over you of course.
Anyway, I thought I would list the real meaning of these words we show conformity too:
- Religious faith
Myth - A form of righteous piety that fosters contentment & makes all mankind equal.
A form of justifying bad behavior (via forgivenesss from a non entity).
- Parents
Myth - Virtuous people that sacrificed themselves for their children’s endeavour.
Biological coupling of two individuals.
- Law
Myth - Protector of the innocent.
Obey my ideas with threat of force
- Nationhood
Myth - Personal identity that offers a comforting idea of the self.
Geographical borders created and enforced by those that control the guns
- Government (democracy)
Myth - A system of power that allows us to have some say in who governs us
Holding power over the majority by a powerful minority that monoplolise violence.
__________________________________________________
As Stefan says, 'no concepts exist outside of your mind'. These are just expressions that do not exist in any kind of physical state, they are made up. In other words, they are not a statement of truth, a non sequitor.
Indeed, it is true as a friend of mine said, that these concepts have real outcomes and effects on our lives. Take the police for example, in real terms these are just people like you and me. However, because they wear a uniform we attribute power to them that we would'nt attribute to just anyone else, just them.
Of course, this all comes down to whether we believe that these mythologies provide any benefits for us in our daily lives. My impression is that they have been at best a hinderance and at worse the manufacturer of disaster in most peoples lives, aided and abeted by a paid police force, that in practice, ONLY protects their political masters. We all know the reality of reporting a crime, that this generally involves a slight chuckle from the officer and a filling out of insurance forms. The police will only use real force when either they need to be seen to be doing a good job, such as solving the murder of children or serial rapists etc. Or because they are protecting their masters, of whom you can be sure, are not us the general tax paying gulaggers.
There are many more meanings that these words actually indear. But overwelmingly they are words that force us to conform, to be controlled as well. They are made up by wicked people that seek to have power over us..
Never has Jean-Jacques Rousseau's words been echoed more.
"Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. ..."
