Religion, Faith and The Bible...

Well, this is going to be possibly the longest and most difficult blog I've ever written. So let me start off by saying that the reason I'm writing this isn't to try and destroy faith, or enforce it, but to share my personal views on the subject, along with sourcing of my quotes, attempted reasoning behind my opinions and some of my personal favourite quotes regarding religion (from songs, authors, entertainers, philosophers, priests etc...)

I have religious friends, and I have atheist friends. All of them are good people in my books, and none of them I will name (unless I have their permission, of course).

Firstly, I'd like to establish the level of my religiousness, and quote Richard Dawkin's "Spectrum of theistic probability" as a guide:

1. Strong theist. 100 per cent probability of God. In the words of C.G. Jung: "I do not believe, I know."
2. De facto theist. Very high probability but short of 100 per cent. "I don't know for certain, but I strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there."
3. Leaning towards theism. Higher than 50 per cent but not very high. "I am very uncertain, but I am inclined to believe in God."
4. Completely impartial. Exactly 50 per cent. "God's existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable."
5. Leaning towards atheism. Lower than 50 per cent but not very low. "I do not know whether God exists but I'm inclined to be skeptical."
6. De facto atheist. Very low probability, but short of zero. "I don't know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there."
7. Strong atheist. "I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung knows there is one."

Looking at that, I'd like to point out that I'm of the opinion that number one, and number seven are of sheer ignorance. There is no way of knowing with complete certainty that God is, or is not real. And for that reason, I would hold myself as a level 6.

Oh, and one more thing. I've been Christened. I went to Sunday school. I used to believe in God. HOWEVER, I'm to this day not 100% certain on my mother's religion, and I know I was only christened because my grandmother forced it. I also used to have to pray in school and sing hymns. I guess religion was enforced on me more than I realised before writing this, but never at home. I had the option to decide for myself, and because of that, I think I chose atheism over theism because it seemed more probable. At least to me.

For anyone who's not read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins, whether you're religious or otherwise, I would strongly recommend reading it. I will admit though, Richard Dawkins is VERY passionate about his beliefs, to the point of being somewhat intrusive, offensive and insensitive to other people's beliefs. This in no way differs to a lot of famous religious activists, but it stands out a  lot more due to Dawkins being one of two (that I know of) anti-religious activists.

The problem, of course, with anti-religious activists is that there is a negative repercussion of trying to enforce atheism onto theist believers, and that is the fact that not all religious people are as bad as they can be made out to be. My Grandmother, for example, is a christian. She's been one her entire life, most likely due to her parents being religious. Now the thing with her is that she causes no harm, and she tries to live her life with no judgement on people, with no pre-meditated anger and no quoting of the bible. She sees it as a way of believing that she was bought into the world to do good, and so she does. But without her faith, she would still be that same good person, but she wouldn't be as happy. Faith gives happiness to those who need it; it's a way to overcome the fear of death. At least in my opinion. That's why you see so many people seeking miracle cures for cancer, or turning to god when they've been diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Religion is a wonderful thing to people who need it. Personally, I find it quite satisfying to think that after my death, there is nothing. Literally nothing at all. How do I find it satisfying? Because after I die, I won't be able to feel upset by it; bored by it; scared of it, will I? I will simply cease to be. My consciousness will dissolve into nothingness and my body will disintegrate and eventually be as non-existent as my consciousness.

One of the arguments that religion, and the bible came into play is that it's an AMAZING way to control the masses. I mean, come on; it's too much. To quote George Carlin:

"Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!"

Now, something George Carlin DIDN'T touch on, which I think he could have done, was that if you DO follow this list of ten things, and you stick by it, you'll go to Heaven. The happiest place imaginable, where you can re-unite yourself with all the people you love and stick by them for all of eternity (I've just thought... are there relationships in heaven? Surely there must be? You can still fall in love, right? 'cos relationships end, you know. They come and go all the time. Heaven just sounds like a more permanent life. I don't think I'd like that, now I think about it. Seriously.). So given the choice, 2000 years ago when there was no education system, no libraries, no internet and no method of effectively gathering information and the word of the government was all you had. If they told you something like that, then threatened that you didn't believe it you would be killed, what would you do? Seriously. What would you do? I know what I'd do. I'd fucking believe it. Or at least pretend to, and teach my kids to actually believe it from fear of them going to hell.

But again, the heaven concept is nice. It's lovely. But think about it. I mean *really* think about it. Would you want that? I mean sure, it's DEFINITELY better than that hell place, but I don't know. I think I'd get pretty bored. Go insane. Want something else to do... I don't know, can I choose "neither", if both are real? :/

One thing that does really bother me about religion, is that it seems to enforce prejudice on good people. One particular example of this is people of homosexuality. The Catholic church preaches that homosexuality is a sin, and will lead people to (deservedly, apparently) go to Hell. Does this not upset you? I mean, really, really upset you? It gets to me more than anything else about religion. It's unfair, unfounded and in my personal opinion, moreso an evil than homosexuality itself. Stephen Fry comes to mind. This is a man who is incomprehensibly good, and has bought only joy to my life. He's a (as I understand it) "non practicing homosexual". He says that it's hard for him to hear that "over a billion" people are taught that he is "guilty of a moral evil" simply by "fulfilling [his] sexual destiny as [he] see[s] it", as he feels he is "filled with love". This part of the speech really got to me.


Here's Stephen's speech on religion, which has left a lasting impression on me:






Anyway, moving on from being anti-religious for a moment.

Religion is also a force for good in this world. There are many people, working on their religious beliefs as a very inspiring way of helping other people. Look at Mother Teresa, look at the religious people helping the homeless, look at the religious people who raise money for starving children, for people dying of terminal illnesses... I could go on. These are GOOD people, and they do so in belief that God wants us all to be good people.  And it's a horrible shame that these people are being persecuted by anti-religious rallies, such as those who support Richard Dawkins, or Sam Harris. It's horrible. Everyone one this planet has every right to believe what they wish to believe, I respect that and by no means would I want to take that away from them. I only ask that they try to restrain their premeditated disposition towards other religions, or homosexuality.

The real shame lies not in Christianity, but more the Muslim faith. 9/11. You know what I'm getting at. A VERY select few Muslim EXTREMISTS committed a heinous crime. A truly (for lack of a better word) EVIL act. And what happened? A war. A full blown war happened. countless more people died as a result. But that wasn't the real tragedy; racism has now become a real problem in Christian countries, and I have to say England particularly (as I obviously have the most experience with it here). People are scared of Muslims now, not extremists. Muslims. And it's down to the media. The Sun, the Star, The Mail... They fear monger. I need only mention the EDL and "Muslamic Ray Guns". It's disgusting. It makes me feel truly ashamed to live in this country.

Another thing that bothers me, is that there are so many different faiths and all of them detest each other. Why? It makes no sense to me. They all follow similar guidelines (do good things, get rewarded, do bad things, get punished). So why all the hate? Why not believe in your own belief system and then just follow it? I mean come on... It's hypocritical. It's stupid and it's just plain not nice.

"Do not kill, do not rape, do not steal, these are principles which every man of every faith can embrace. " - The Boondock Saints

Again, religious readers: I am not trying to take your faith away from it, I only aim to make you understand that religions all have more in common than you might think. Try to be more understanding of other religions and perhaps in the process, you'll be setting an even better example for your own. You're a good person; act like one.

One quote which has *really* put things into perspective for me, was a quote from someone I've recently been talking to quite a lot (I won't say her name, I'm sure she'd be okay with it, but I'd want to check and she's asleep. Hopefully she'll know who she is if/when she reads this). She's a Catholic. And I remember a few months ago I was texting her about something to do with her religion. I believe it was in regards to premarital sex and the use of contraception. She pointed out that just because her church is for/against something, doesn't mean she is too. She pointed out that people have their own beliefs and don't just blindly follow the word of the church to which they attend. - This really made me think long and hard about my own predispositions. Not ALL Catholics are against gay rights, not ALL Christians would commit genocide (Ref: Hitler was a Christian), not ALL Muslims would kill thousands of people, and hate western society, not ALL Atheists (And yes, Atheism is somewhat ironically classed as a religion) would see the undoing of every other religion. There is personal choice in all religions. That is why I will not purposefully work to destroy someone's faith.

I have so much to say on the matter, so much to comment on, so many quotes to post and so many opinions to voice, but if I'm being completely honest, I don't know how to structure it, where to start and where to end. So what I want to do is post this as a kind of introduction. I want to get people asking for my opinion and ask me questions. I want to write another blog regarding this and try and express myself openly and honestly.

So please, post any questions you have for me here, and when I get enough, I'll post a new blog.

This is something I'm really interested in talking about, as I want to learn a lot as well as express myself too. So please, post something?

Thanks for reading.