Religion Is Evil
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking over the last few weeks; some recent events have made me look quite hard at the things I believe and the opinions I hold. After all my introspection, I have come to the conclusion that not only am I an Atheist, but that I am an anti-theist as well. I think that religion is the most evil invention ever thought up by humanity. The following quote from Mark Twain sums it up best, he said…
There is no better Denial, than deferring to a Deity, it absolves the adherent of complicity and provides a scapegoat and justification for any behaviour, and also gives the adherent a taboo that should not be questioned.
Then I received a comment on my “Why I am an Atheist” page that asked me this question……
“So why exactly do you believe in the evolution theories and what questions do you have that has no answers?”
He was referring to a point I had made about religion not offering any satisfactory answers to the questions I had. I replied to his question with the usual questions about his god and one or two questions about the bible. But I have another question that I want answered, and I’d like to see what people offer up as an explanation to my question.
First of all there is no doubt that I support the Theory of Evolution. So that part of his question has been answered.
Here is a brief story leading up to my question….
Anne is a deeply religious woman, she has obeyed and served her god in accordance with his demands. She prays every day, she attends church regularly,and even goes as far as studying at a bible academy for years in the hope of spreading her god’s message to everyone else. She serves her community and helps those in need despite having problems of her own. She does all this with courage, determination, love, grace, humour and piety; one of those few people who could truly be called an angel.
How does the god she worships and serves reward her devotion?
Her god gives her a husband who can no longer work because he’s been injured in a car accident. She finally manages to fall pregnant and miscarries at 8 weeks. Not satisfied with that little test of her faith, her god allows her to fall pregnant again but this time the baby girl dies just a few weeks before she is born. Then, as if that is not enough suffering, He makes Anne ill and she dies 3 weeks after the birth of her dead baby at the age of 36. Through all this, her god is deaf the prayers said on Annes behalf. He ignores her familys pleas for his mercy. Oh yes, her god is all powerful.
So here’s my question – Why?
You are not allowed to use the following answers:-
It was god’s will.
Only the good die young.
God moves in mysterious ways.
Anne had served her purpose.
Her job here on Earth was done.
That story demands answers to other questions; what kind of god punishes those who do exactly as he commands? Why didn’t he punish an evil Atheist like me?
I’ll tell you why,…..it’s because Anne’s god doesn’t exist.
6 Responses to “Religion Is Evil”
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The world is packed full of Anne’s, who have suffered a similar or worse fate.
Life is about survival; if you manage to survive you need to learn how to make the most of it, by really living.
Not only does Anne’s god not exist, the god of everyone else, most probably doesn’t either. Wasting time on worship therefore is plainly pointless, when you really need it (time) to truly live
Not only does Anne’s god not exist, the god of everyone else, most probably doesn’t either. Wasting time on worship therefore is plainly pointless, when you really need it (time) to truly live
+1
I am curious as to if you have ever read the Bible. It is a book rife with suffering (I mean, look at Job). Anyone who has studied God’s word should never use those lines you suggested, although they are popular expectations from people who don’t have an understanding of what Christianity really means. Anne suffers because Anne is human and she lives in the world, a globe that cannot escape it’s own tendency to vice, and unfortunately it’s own naturally occurring pain. She may not see reward now, but she will, and that gives her a hope beyond what you will ever know. I wish you could know it. And that is sincere, not just some religious tract-passing bullshit. And you’re not evil. You’re human. Unfortunately, God also says that for those who lead his children away, it would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and dropped into to the ocean. Posts like this are fulfilling that warning and even as Anne will see the fruits of her pain in heaven, even as I assure you she feels them within herself, there is the hefty possibility of a bummer ending for you. But hey, Christianity and God don’t hate you, so why hate?
Faith gives people hope and more evil than providing false hope (if that is tuly what it is) is taking hope away from someone.
I respect your belief and certainly don’t plan on convincing you otherwise. I mean, I ask myself the same questions every day. But you could use some perspective before you start slamming on the entire structure of religion. As for evolution? Does it make any more sense to believe in the infinite number of chances that came together to create the universe (mathematical impossibility) than it does to believe it was created?
Just felt like adding something. Actually Anne may believe that there is something greater after death and that she will be rewarded but in fact. She doesnt really know. The chances are 50/50 there may just be nothing but death which would make her suffering pointless. Of course she would never know because well she will be dead.
Other thing is, it is not a mathematic impossibility that an infinite number of chances came together to create the universe. To quote a well known example if all the spare parts of a boeing 747 lay strewn in a scrap yard and a tornado ripped through there. Chances of a assembled plane by tornado is virtually 0. Now if say millions of tornadoes rip through there every day well then chances of a assembled plane by tornado becomes significantly higher. Just a thought…..
“Why?” is such a common question. For any situation, the answer is Shit Happens. God doesn’t ALLOW any of that to happen. It just does. Free Will is a bitch, and with it comes responsibility. How we grow and learn and help others as human beings are what matter. Love and compassion are what matter. My mother died of cancer. Many prayer circles did their thing for her, but she still passed. She wasn’t forsaken, or punished. It’s life. But, guess what? I still believe in MY God. There is something bigger, but it can’t be explained. It just is. ORGANIZED RELIGION is the evil. Not faith.
Either way, I look forward to your blog, and think you’re tweets are great!
dear @JMJKDulce,
Well said! I do however have some food for thought:
Don’t know who YOUR God is, but I suspect that he’s
the same as mine, and I belong to an organised religion that perpetrates our Faith.In fact my organised religion, collated the Bible that you now read.
We can’t pick and choose to suit ourselves, just because ir’s relative to our way of living. We need boundaries as human beings…we need to be pulled back regularly to examine ourselves, precisely because we have free choice.