What To Do About Religion.

[padhyde]

If you reject the idea of a personal god and any religion as a figment of man’s imagination it presents you with a number of problems. You realise that countless lives have been lost prematurely because other people have had false beliefs. You know that people past and present have allowed their lives to be led according to a mythical set of rules that have often caused them great anguish. You witness massive religious institutions that deploy vast resources in buildings and workers to maintain their message. Every day through the newspapers, TV and radio you observe lives lost, arguments about biblical interpretation, public policy debates and a myriad of other religious stories. And it’s all about something that you believe that billions of people have got wrong. What do you feel about all this?

Words that spring to my mind are incredulity, frustration, anger, sadness, bewilderment, horror, madness, waste, tragedy, disaster……………… And then one has to reflect on what one should do. How open should one be about their lack of belief? What should one do to persuade individuals and the wider world about the mythology of religion?

At the end of one spectrum lies silence and inaction. In other words you just block the negative thoughts and just get on with your life. After all there are plenty of awful things going on unconnected with religion which you might not give a second thought to. And then at the other extreme you can devote the rest of your life fighting religion and its effects by being an activist, speaking, writing and campaigning as best you can. This website is the product of the latter option. The sheer number of posts of some members shows how much religion has taken over their lives even though they now reject belief.

These are issues that I am now reflecting on. Part of me wishes to add my voice and energy to undermining current beliefs in religion. But part of me wants to just walk away to my own private heaven and enjoy the years I have left totally ignoring religion and its effects. One of the delights about this dilemma is that I know that I need only to consult my own conscience. And as always it is not a black and white situation. I will no doubt have spells in my own personal heaven and will return occasionally to the hell that is this world still under the domination of this virus called religion.

Any thoughts?

[KT45]

well you have 3 choices.

 

1. go out and free the world of it's delusions of religion. The pro and cons are you are might be either helping or hurting people

 

2. Just enjoy life free of religion. the pro is a life you can live without to much stress of religion. The con is that you might feel some sort of personal guilt because you are not freeing the world of it's hold on religion.

 

Your main issue seems to be that you, like many others, want to go out into the world and reveal your own personal Truth™. There is no shame in wanting to do this, almost everyone does it. We all at one point in time try to impose our views onto people.

 

Now for the last choice

3. Not to think much about it. If I suddenly feel a desire to tell the world about the freedom from religion I can. If I suddenly feel like saying screw it I'm going to enjoy life then I can do that.

 

My advice is the latter. Don't over think this. Just go through life, do what you feel is right and let the chips fall where they may.

[Lycorth]

Yes, just living your life is the best thing you can do. Nothing says you haven't left it all behind like making a crusade out of it.

 

Especially since most religious people are just fine with their beliefs, and their beliefs aren't harmful. Again, "religion" doesn't exclusively equal "Xianity" so opposing all religion when it is only one or two religions (and extremist wings of those religions, moreover) with which you actually have a problem is nigh on bigotry.

[wideawake42]

This bothers me a lot, too.

 

My mother, for example, has demanded that I explain to her exactly why I am no longer a Christian. I have been putting it off, because if I put some real logic in her hands, she will probably be very hurt and confused, and despite it all I doubt that she would ever leave the faith, even when presented with a good argument. I think she's happier the way she is, despite how sad it makes me.

 

When she pushes the issue again, I'm going to tell her that I don't want to defend my beliefs, and she shouldn't have to defend hers, either.

[MrMalone]

Do what you gotta do.

 

I personally feel that I want to help my Christian friends get over the hump. Some of them can see the validity of my arguements, but they still doubt me, because they knew me as a Christian. They seem to keep seeing me as if I'm just backsliding or giving into "hollow philosophy". It's insulting of course because they actually DO know me and they know I'm not like that. But it may be the only way they can justify that someone can deny the faith.

 

I still hang out with them, and they know the comments I'll make when there is some sort of Christian idea in discussion or something to talk about regarding God/Christianity. So they know where I stand, they just can't make the leap themselves to join me. But they haven't seen what I've seen about Christian history and origins. They haven't seen the data that really speaks unfavorably to the authenticity of the Bible like I have, so they still doubt me as if I was another "professor of such and such that once again disproved the Bible".

 

I think the only thing that really rattles them is the fact that I am extremely confident in my possition. Not in an arrogant, close-minded way, but the confidence and conviction I have when I bash certain Christian ideas. They don't agree, but they have a hard time admitting what I say doesn't make sense. They can see how one could see it my way, but they personally don't.

 

I feel some of them are close, but my point to you would be, not everyone is like that. Some of my friends are just peachy with their faith and obviously happy with it. Religion is generally what people of the world need. People like you and I, maybe not. I say let them be happy. Let them continue in the world they know and understand and need.

[Amethyst]

Most Christians will automatically reject you for saying that their religion is just a cult. If you say that in the workplace, many companies will fire you for not being politically correct. They do the equivalent of sticking their fingers in their ears and singing "la la la la, I can't hear you!" If they want their heads to remain in the sand so badly, let them, unless it's obvious that they're questioning their religion and looking for evidence not to believe in it.