Your religion is stupid.
Mar. 22nd, 2006 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pasitheaAs the title implies, this is directed at everyone, not just 'those christians' or something. Maybe I'll lose some friends over it but I need to say it.
Your religion is stupid. They're all stupid. They're a waste of time and they benefit the world NOTHING.
Blahblahblah god saved me from drinking/got me through some rough times/etc.
I know you're going to say it, I've heard it before. It's BULLSHIT. God didn't get you through jack. Maybe having a fantasy got you through it but it was your own inner strength that got you through it.
There aren't any fucking miracles. There's the skill of surgeons, the many years of study and education of people who make the world better, and there's random chance. It wasn't God that removed a tumor. It was a doctor. It was a nurse, an anesthesiologist, hundreds of years of study, etc. It's not a 'miracle we thank god for every day' that you survived. If you want to believe in God, who the fuck put the tumor there, huh? Was that just bad luck and then God came along and saved you? Riiiight.
Pissed off yet? Why? I guess there's some embarassment if you're the last kid of the block to realize there's no Santa Claus but that's life, and you grow up an learn that the spirit of giving is more important that your childish greed.
And that gets me to my proof that religion is stupid.
The universe is a HUGE place. We're tiny little specs on a single planet. Our planet is a tiny spec in our solar system. Our Sun is in a galaxy which contains more stars than all the people on Earth, and even our galaxy is just a spec in the universe and that's just what we can see with our limited senses. There could be millions of dimensions. We are so tiny that you can't even begin to understand it. It's utterly beyond us.
That puts us in quite a quandry for talk of God. You have two options if you REALLY want to believe in God. God is infinite and holds the entire universe or God is finite and limited.
If God is infinite, religion is supremely arrogant. To think for even a second that God made use masters of the universe, or cares in the slightest that we obey some absurdist set of rules is completely juvenille. It's akin to a 2-year-old who thinks they are the center of mommy's universe. The religious are but toddlers throwing a tantrum and banging some pots together. Furthermore: All the religious leaders say you must worship God in THEIR way. Books capture only a piece of a moment. They tell you only what the author sees. Two people experience a situation differently. If God is this vast and uncomprehendible, ANY attempt to describe it are utterly pointless. No book, no story, no set of rules will ever possibly be adequate. I know a hundred million times more about God than any religious person. There's no way you can disprove that. Just cling childishly to nonsensical texts, stamp your feet and say you MUST be right because someone wrote a book on it. It's stupid.
If God is finite, you're even more stupid. Now you've got the possibility for multiple Gods. Which one is the right one? There's no way to chose. Taking the religion your parents took is a damn poor ignorant way to chose. If you put any thought into it, you're just going to chose the one that's convenient. The one that you like the best. Determining your vision of the ruler of the world by a popularity contest based on the opinions of others. SHEER GENIUS. And what of the choices? Fucking rotten lot there. All of them have their bad parts. The best you could do is maybe buddism but that's more like atheism with some religious decorations on the outside. Most of the other Gods are petty and selfish, chilidish. Why would you WANT to worship a God that says you must suffer? If you're gay or eat pork or drink wine or whatever it is against your religion and God is going to punish you for all eternity because you weren't an obedient child, why would you WANT to worship that God? That's not love or caring. That's abuse and domination. If a stranger corner you in an alley and said, 'GET ON YOUR KNEES AND SUCK MY COCK OR I'LL BREAK YOUR KNEES', you probably wouldn't be talking about how great he was in the morning. You'd feel violated, hateful, resentful, vengeful. The finite God that makes demands is nothing but a petty thug. Who needs him? And if your God doesn't care what you do, what's the point in worshipping them?
I know you want to 'justify' your beliefs. You want to say 'God gives me comfort' or 'cultural heritage' or something else like that. It's all a bunch of excuses so you don't have to think about it. If you're angry, or trying to come up with a justification for your religion. Rather than bothering me with it and wasting my time debating your childish rage. Why don't you just think about why you're angry? I mean sure, it's because of what I said, but what specifically about it makes you angry. If you think you're smarter than me, I'd love to hear you prove to me beyond any shadow of doubt that YOUR religion is THE right one and that all of those other religions are wrong. Your proof must be rational enough that anyone will accept it. Even the most devout baptist, muslim, or hindu. And don't bother with the 'I just have a special feeling.' thing. That's not only unprovable, it's a lie. Maybe one that you believe but a lie none-the less. If you need proof, you need only look at the divorce rates. How many people have said, 'forever' and lost that conviction in less than a year.
When you work through your anger or contempt or whatever, please consider this: YOU have a lot of power within you. You can work to MAKE the world a better place. YOU have your own inner strength. All those bad times you got through was because YOU are strong. God, like Santa Claus. Nothing more than a lie to pacify children. You're a better person since you came to understand Santa was an idea instead of a person. You can grow even more if you let go of God. Learn to believe in yourself and the strength and beauty of all the other people around you. If you think the stories about God made you a better person. Fine, keep that. Use it. Just use it wisely. You can understand even more from the story once you accept that it's only fiction.
If you want to repost this, you may.
If you agree with me but you're afraid to take the heat for it, go ahead and reference this.
If you want to unfriend me. That's fine. I'm really that sick of religion and there are plenty of other people out there, and you can probably find someone else who doesn't challenge you as much.
If you want to scream and throw a tantrum, I'll ban you from my journal.
If you want to quietly suck it in an pretend I didn't say it, that's your choice. I'm sad you don't want to think about it.
If you think you can prove your religion is the right one and that your God is real beyond any shadow of a doubt, I'd love to hear it. Just make sure you've got a good tangible argument.
If you think you're clever and you're going to point out that I'm one of those nasty liberals who talks about freedom of thought but doesn't REALLY mean it. Save it. First off, that's a personal attack and has NOTHING to do with my arguments. Second: I would WELCOME an intelligent counter. Saying something ignorant like that is just a feeble attempt to change the topic. Lastly, it's not even a valid argument. This is my journal. I can ban anyone I want. I am NOT trying to prevent you from making a fool of yourself in public. I just don't feel like wasting my time on your ignorance.
Finally, if you're one of those ignorant pieces of produce who says, 'well, I guess we'll find out who's right in the end.' with the implication that God is gonna punish me for my attitude, not only are you a stupid fuck who hasn't listened at all but you're also a coward. I'd RATHER die on my feet in opposition to an abusive twisted little fuck than spend eternity stroking his ego. Don't say you'll pray for me anyhow or whatever. That's just disrespectful, and I'd just spit in your God's face.
That's it for now. I may add some more to this later.
Your religion is stupid. They're all stupid. They're a waste of time and they benefit the world NOTHING.
Blahblahblah god saved me from drinking/got me through some rough times/etc.
I know you're going to say it, I've heard it before. It's BULLSHIT. God didn't get you through jack. Maybe having a fantasy got you through it but it was your own inner strength that got you through it.
There aren't any fucking miracles. There's the skill of surgeons, the many years of study and education of people who make the world better, and there's random chance. It wasn't God that removed a tumor. It was a doctor. It was a nurse, an anesthesiologist, hundreds of years of study, etc. It's not a 'miracle we thank god for every day' that you survived. If you want to believe in God, who the fuck put the tumor there, huh? Was that just bad luck and then God came along and saved you? Riiiight.
Pissed off yet? Why? I guess there's some embarassment if you're the last kid of the block to realize there's no Santa Claus but that's life, and you grow up an learn that the spirit of giving is more important that your childish greed.
And that gets me to my proof that religion is stupid.
The universe is a HUGE place. We're tiny little specs on a single planet. Our planet is a tiny spec in our solar system. Our Sun is in a galaxy which contains more stars than all the people on Earth, and even our galaxy is just a spec in the universe and that's just what we can see with our limited senses. There could be millions of dimensions. We are so tiny that you can't even begin to understand it. It's utterly beyond us.
That puts us in quite a quandry for talk of God. You have two options if you REALLY want to believe in God. God is infinite and holds the entire universe or God is finite and limited.
If God is infinite, religion is supremely arrogant. To think for even a second that God made use masters of the universe, or cares in the slightest that we obey some absurdist set of rules is completely juvenille. It's akin to a 2-year-old who thinks they are the center of mommy's universe. The religious are but toddlers throwing a tantrum and banging some pots together. Furthermore: All the religious leaders say you must worship God in THEIR way. Books capture only a piece of a moment. They tell you only what the author sees. Two people experience a situation differently. If God is this vast and uncomprehendible, ANY attempt to describe it are utterly pointless. No book, no story, no set of rules will ever possibly be adequate. I know a hundred million times more about God than any religious person. There's no way you can disprove that. Just cling childishly to nonsensical texts, stamp your feet and say you MUST be right because someone wrote a book on it. It's stupid.
If God is finite, you're even more stupid. Now you've got the possibility for multiple Gods. Which one is the right one? There's no way to chose. Taking the religion your parents took is a damn poor ignorant way to chose. If you put any thought into it, you're just going to chose the one that's convenient. The one that you like the best. Determining your vision of the ruler of the world by a popularity contest based on the opinions of others. SHEER GENIUS. And what of the choices? Fucking rotten lot there. All of them have their bad parts. The best you could do is maybe buddism but that's more like atheism with some religious decorations on the outside. Most of the other Gods are petty and selfish, chilidish. Why would you WANT to worship a God that says you must suffer? If you're gay or eat pork or drink wine or whatever it is against your religion and God is going to punish you for all eternity because you weren't an obedient child, why would you WANT to worship that God? That's not love or caring. That's abuse and domination. If a stranger corner you in an alley and said, 'GET ON YOUR KNEES AND SUCK MY COCK OR I'LL BREAK YOUR KNEES', you probably wouldn't be talking about how great he was in the morning. You'd feel violated, hateful, resentful, vengeful. The finite God that makes demands is nothing but a petty thug. Who needs him? And if your God doesn't care what you do, what's the point in worshipping them?
I know you want to 'justify' your beliefs. You want to say 'God gives me comfort' or 'cultural heritage' or something else like that. It's all a bunch of excuses so you don't have to think about it. If you're angry, or trying to come up with a justification for your religion. Rather than bothering me with it and wasting my time debating your childish rage. Why don't you just think about why you're angry? I mean sure, it's because of what I said, but what specifically about it makes you angry. If you think you're smarter than me, I'd love to hear you prove to me beyond any shadow of doubt that YOUR religion is THE right one and that all of those other religions are wrong. Your proof must be rational enough that anyone will accept it. Even the most devout baptist, muslim, or hindu. And don't bother with the 'I just have a special feeling.' thing. That's not only unprovable, it's a lie. Maybe one that you believe but a lie none-the less. If you need proof, you need only look at the divorce rates. How many people have said, 'forever' and lost that conviction in less than a year.
When you work through your anger or contempt or whatever, please consider this: YOU have a lot of power within you. You can work to MAKE the world a better place. YOU have your own inner strength. All those bad times you got through was because YOU are strong. God, like Santa Claus. Nothing more than a lie to pacify children. You're a better person since you came to understand Santa was an idea instead of a person. You can grow even more if you let go of God. Learn to believe in yourself and the strength and beauty of all the other people around you. If you think the stories about God made you a better person. Fine, keep that. Use it. Just use it wisely. You can understand even more from the story once you accept that it's only fiction.
If you want to repost this, you may.
If you agree with me but you're afraid to take the heat for it, go ahead and reference this.
If you want to unfriend me. That's fine. I'm really that sick of religion and there are plenty of other people out there, and you can probably find someone else who doesn't challenge you as much.
If you want to scream and throw a tantrum, I'll ban you from my journal.
If you want to quietly suck it in an pretend I didn't say it, that's your choice. I'm sad you don't want to think about it.
If you think you can prove your religion is the right one and that your God is real beyond any shadow of a doubt, I'd love to hear it. Just make sure you've got a good tangible argument.
If you think you're clever and you're going to point out that I'm one of those nasty liberals who talks about freedom of thought but doesn't REALLY mean it. Save it. First off, that's a personal attack and has NOTHING to do with my arguments. Second: I would WELCOME an intelligent counter. Saying something ignorant like that is just a feeble attempt to change the topic. Lastly, it's not even a valid argument. This is my journal. I can ban anyone I want. I am NOT trying to prevent you from making a fool of yourself in public. I just don't feel like wasting my time on your ignorance.
Finally, if you're one of those ignorant pieces of produce who says, 'well, I guess we'll find out who's right in the end.' with the implication that God is gonna punish me for my attitude, not only are you a stupid fuck who hasn't listened at all but you're also a coward. I'd RATHER die on my feet in opposition to an abusive twisted little fuck than spend eternity stroking his ego. Don't say you'll pray for me anyhow or whatever. That's just disrespectful, and I'd just spit in your God's face.
That's it for now. I may add some more to this later.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-03-23 08:07 am (UTC)On the other hand, I am glad that you personally have it all figured out. Good on you! (That was kinda a snark, but hey...)
That said, I can understand some issue with people who use religion as a tool, but c'mon, do you really mean all this stuff? If you want to discuss this in a serious way, I'd be happy to take this... whatever it is... point by point and attempt to defend religion as a whole. I know I hardly know you, but you were nice to my husband and I do know a thing or two about theology, so it might be a good time.
Or you can ban me. Either way.
Kevin Smith is God ;-)
Date: 2006-03-23 08:48 am (UTC)I think her main angst is against organized religion, which I don't believe you're all that supportive of, though we haven't had a religion discussion really.
Catholics have the coolest stuff, and I'm man enough to admit it.
Date: 2006-03-23 09:13 am (UTC)Respectful disagreement on two points.
1) I think she was pretty clear about being down on all religion. I'm not trying to make this personal, but I am actually quite religious, although not of any religion that has any power, popularity, or credibility outside of our (very, very) small community. That will not be the thrust of my argument, however. I have not nor will I ever publicly discuss the specifics of my faith (in private, sure, but not on goddamn livejournal), so using it as a counter argument would be a little silly. Blanket statements about made 'all religion' generally are, by nature, false. I will attempt to illuminate my opposition through example.
2) There is nothing specific about organized religion that I do not support. I may not be part of the club, but hey, there are too many people of an intellect that far eclipses mine who belong to organized religions for me to make a statement about the intellectual validity of their personal faith.
An interesting thought I once had concerning the distinction between 'personal religions' and 'organized religion'...
If my faith were to become popular, gain millions of followers worldwide, establish an infrastructure in order to serve the community in a more efficient fashion, and eventually have enough sway that major political figures considered us an established voting block, would I stop believing in what I believe in now?
I hope I wouldn't.
...and boy howdy, can organized religion perform some seriously good works for people who really need it. Sure, I don't believe in their theology, but those churchy folk can sure feed a whole lotta hungry people when they put their minds to it.