Phemanderac wrote on Feb 13
th, 2015 at 2:32pm:
Organised religion is the true enemy of humanity, nature and all species living on the planet.
That is an extreme view. You may find "religion" annoying, but it is not the worst thing the human race has to fear. There is something far worse than whatever discomfort religion may cause you and that is nuclear weapons.
Nuclear weapons have the ability to wipe out large numbers of humans in one blow and whoever decides to build them obviously has a death wish and is suicidal. Their invention has given the human race the ability for self-annihilation. Nuclear weapons are the ultimate weapon of war. They can destroy your enemy once and for all.
War is far more destructive than the mild discomfort you may receive from religion and the human race has never stopped engaging in and making weapons for war. That means that the worst enemy the human race has is itself and the true enemy of humanity is ourselves.
Phemanderac wrote on Feb 13
th, 2015 at 2:32pm:
Don't get me wrong, plenty of "nice" messages come out of various sects of organised religion - trouble is, those messages are only as good as the people who try daily to enact them - not many.
For the main part, the bureaucratic nature of organised religions is its own undoing - human weakness and temptation to clutch at moments of exercising power and control over others being what they are. Since getting rid of people though isn't necessarily in the human races best interests, it would seem the logical move would be to do away with our various crutches in the guise of organised religion.
Perhaps one day, when the species matures - at least, if we make it through the current adolescent phase.
Religion is not the problem. The problem is people not understanding the true purpose of religion, which is to serve as literature that guides us toward "the better angels of our nature" as Abraham Lincoln put it.
It is not a religion's fault if its adherents behave in a rude, obnoxious or even violent manner. It is the fault of the humans who don't understand it. Every human being is solely responsible for their own actions and "religion" cannot be blamed for it or used as an excuse for their actions.
Religion is just literature, just a collection of ideas. It's how people use those ideas that is the problem.
The author of a book is not responsible for the behaviour of its readers, and nor is the content itself. J. D. Salinger was not responsible for John Lennon's death and nor was the book he wrote:
The Catcher in the Rye. Not everyone who reads that book goes on a murderous frenzy. It was the reader, not the book that was the problem.
It is the narcissism of people who read the Bible that causes them to do abhorrent things, not the Bible itself. It is people thinking, upon reading the Bible, that somehow they are agents of God's will. The Bible does not, in fact, say that "you" or anyone personally is to carry out God's will. It is a collection of stories, messages, poems and songs and isn't addressed to anyone.
If you think religion is the worst thing humanity has had to deal with, just look at what is happening in Asia today, where defence budgets are growing. They say the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. Well, now it's starting up again. This time it isn't Russia. It's China.
The Second World War was far more destructive than "religion," and the Third World War is likely to be just as destructive, maybe even worse.
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