The return of Reverend Bible Thumper
Everyone seems to have the religious posts dusted off and posted today, so I think I will follow suit. I like to discuss religion, because while I am fascinated with the historical aspects of religious texts, and things like the Holy Grail, the Arc of the Covenant, the Vatican, the Knights Templar... I don't believe in a God. I don't believe in a heaven or hell. It's hard for some people to grasp that. I'm sure many are even offended by it, but as you all know, I've rarely avoided the chance to offend.
I was not raised with any religious beliefs whatsoever. We occasionally went to church before I was about five years old, you know, on the typical church holidays like Christmas, Easter... yadda yadda yadda. But I never went to church camp or Sunday school or anything like that. My family never prayed. Heathens were we.
But I think I really came to my true beliefs about God when I was a sophmore in high school. In a World History class we were discussing wars and all the religious reasons that wars occur. And then my teacher uttered something that made so much sense, and it has become the whole basis for my non-belief. He said:
"More people have died in the name of God, than for any other reason."
To this day, it can't possibly make any more sense. And maybe it's not even entirely true, as it's hard to associate religion with some major incidents in this world. For example, when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge communists slaughtered millions in Cambodia, that wasn't because of religion. The World Wars were not exactly about religion, although indirectly there were some ties.
But let's imagine we woke up tomorrow and there was no religion. No Gods. What would the Middle East look like? Iraq? Iran? Lebanon? What about Africa? Or Afghanistan? What about Northern Ireland?
My point is, if you look at a lot of the major conflicts in the world today, or in centuries past, there is a religious aspect to them. Mostly one belief in God fighting another belief in God to show that their belief in God is the right belief in God. If there is no God or religion, do some of these conflicts not happen?
Would you abandon God if it meant conflicts based on religious beliefs would disappear?
Nick
I was not raised with any religious beliefs whatsoever. We occasionally went to church before I was about five years old, you know, on the typical church holidays like Christmas, Easter... yadda yadda yadda. But I never went to church camp or Sunday school or anything like that. My family never prayed. Heathens were we.
But I think I really came to my true beliefs about God when I was a sophmore in high school. In a World History class we were discussing wars and all the religious reasons that wars occur. And then my teacher uttered something that made so much sense, and it has become the whole basis for my non-belief. He said:
"More people have died in the name of God, than for any other reason."
To this day, it can't possibly make any more sense. And maybe it's not even entirely true, as it's hard to associate religion with some major incidents in this world. For example, when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge communists slaughtered millions in Cambodia, that wasn't because of religion. The World Wars were not exactly about religion, although indirectly there were some ties.
But let's imagine we woke up tomorrow and there was no religion. No Gods. What would the Middle East look like? Iraq? Iran? Lebanon? What about Africa? Or Afghanistan? What about Northern Ireland?
My point is, if you look at a lot of the major conflicts in the world today, or in centuries past, there is a religious aspect to them. Mostly one belief in God fighting another belief in God to show that their belief in God is the right belief in God. If there is no God or religion, do some of these conflicts not happen?
Would you abandon God if it meant conflicts based on religious beliefs would disappear?
Nick
Labels: '08 election, religion
posted by Nick at
12:23 PM
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