The Enigma of Religion

Organized religion is rife with lies and superstitious

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The Enigma of Religion
by Mohammad Ala
09-Nov-2009
 

The purpose of this article is to share some ideas which involve religion in our daily lives. Religion promises great things after life. It offers incentives to do honorable and good deeds. Is there life after death?

As I mentioned in "Shades of God", religions are belief systems which started by thinkers, prophets, or clerics who were looking for people to follow them or their belief systems. Religion is such a dominant force that there are governments that are theocracies. Although the tenets of religion, such as eternal life, have never been proved, people must literally accept faith on faith.

Religious people contend that when one dies, he or she spends eternity in happiness if he or she believes in God. It is easy to talk about future when people are dead.

We have to like this world to want to make it better. The beauty of life impresses me, not the life after. Unfortunately, the idea of an afterlife is not separate from religion and the concept of a “God” or some supreme being. If there is an afterlife, great. If there is not, that is great too. What is it that people are scared about? The religious people are as much fearful of dying or life after death as nonbelievers. In fact, research has shown that deeply religious people are most likely to insist on extraordinary efforts to prolong their lives, even when there is no hope of recovery.

Everything that lives dies, but humans are the only creature that knows it is going to die. If there is life after death, who do you think it is likely to find it? Clerics or scientists?

Why funerals (especially religious ones) are not parties? Why people are not happy that their loved ones have gone to their eternal bliss?

Why Allah? Why not Zoroaster, Buddha, or Jesus? Or any other ancient myth? Why believe in something that might or might not exist? Why not share your beliefs without the help of religious clerics and let others judge them.

Members of each religious group promote theirs as the only true religion and invite others to join them and donate money to them. Such people do not consider other religions as worthwhile. However, just as advertisers do not necessarily convert all consumers about the superiority of their products, so self-promotion of a particular religion by its advocates often does not result in conversion of others. In fact, history has shown that even violence and persecution will not necessarily result in conversion of others.

If all the money that goes into religion went into education, eradicating poverty and many diseases, everyone will be better off.

People have opinions and beliefs just as one may believe there is no God. Perhaps one day, people can acknowledge religion is made up and advance to a rational way of thinking. It is true that fairy tales give hope and illusions of safety and happiness, but they are still fairy tales. People are capable of making heaven on earth.

We don’t have to leave earth to find heaven. We can choose to embrace this heaven, or choose to wait in the hope that there is something better somewhere. How could there be anything better than fresh fragrant of flowers? This life has so much potential to explore.

Choosing a religion is not only a reflection of one’s beliefs, it has been a pragmatic decision for career advancement.

It is argued that masses are ignorant, they follow the clerics. Some fundamentalists believe they are doing God’s work in forcing weak believers to practice their religion. In order for evil to triumph it is for people to stand by and do or say nothing. Salvation is found by seeking the truth, not with superstitious dogma.

People should be free to choose any path in conformance with their belief system. Even non-believers have made a choice regarding religion. No choice should be ridiculed because it is different from another.

Some clerics use religion as an instrument of control, not as a means to self understanding, and building a personal relationship with the creator. Organized religion is rife with lies and superstitious. Deciding there is life after death should be a personal matter and not to be exploited by clerics.

“When I die, I am content to fade away, into nothing. No show, no matter how good, could conceivably be good forever.” – H. L. Menchken

I agree with Menchken; it reflects my feelings on this subject.

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MeyBokhor_Manbarbesuzan

This from an earlier blog of mine

by MeyBokhor_Manbarbesuzan on

Recent duels among followers of Bahai, Babi, Muslim, etc., have reminded me again of why I don’t give a dime for any of the major or minor religions. What separates the “God-sent” prophet from your ordinary philosophers and moralists is one or all of the following:

1) People in his immediate surroundings are so primitive or savage that the only way he can guide them is by scaring them into obedience using avenging God -- kind of like “stick and carrot” expres-sion so loved by western media. A good example is the God of the Old Testament.

2) People in his immediate surroundings are rich people who contribute to his rise in order to calm the angry masses by promising them a better life after this one. This situation is valid for Christianity, Islam, and most other religions.

3) He is delusional to start with or becomes so during his preaching – so much so as he starts to actually believe that only one sent from God can be as smart as he is.

4) Or he is simply just an opportunist that sees it as his right to manipulate and exploit the “lesser” people.

I watched a sermon by an American TV evangelist the other day. His fine clothes were man-made. The high-tech microphone attached to his fat head was man-made. The broadcasting equipment is all man-made. The podium was man-made. The building and everything surrounding the jackal was man-made and he had the audacity to stand up there and attribute all these things to God. But people are waking up.

It is no wonder that the number of “prophets” has dramatically decreased in recent times. Let us rid ourselves from these archaic ideologies and watch out for new ones. As man becomes smarter, “the prophet” becomes smarter too – kind of like antivirus and virus. Now we have Bahai, Scientology, Moonies, and the like. These new religions, having recognized that people are not fooled so easily these days (U.S. an anomaly), have become soft. No more a saber-rattling God, no more burning in hell, but ascension, and transcending to a higher level of existence has become their motto. Same ass, different saddle!

If we, as human beings, start taking responsibility and open our eyes to consequences of our actions as individuals, we will not need another person’s God to become ours.

Let us from now on each have a god per person. With 8 billion gods, the chance of the any of the gods becoming too powerful will almost be null and voila no more religious conflicts.


javad agha esfahani

Organized religion is a business

by javad agha esfahani on

       Organized religion is a business , it sells a commodity called: " Salvation" .


Passing Through

Dear Mohammad Ala

by Passing Through on

Thank you very much for this interesting article

My personal view is that the vastness of the human mind, both at the Conscious, and the Subconscious levels,  requires the exploration of any and all possibilities

As you have correctly pointed out, the whole concept of God could only be fully understood through Faith

In my view, no particular religion has all the answers: Whether that is Judaism, Christianity, Islam, etc.  

The fact that a particular religion has come later in the history of mankind does not necessarily mean that it has superior revelations  

I have also realized that the people who claim to know the most, in actual fact, know the least

By that I mean, The More One Dwells In The Very Depths Of Spirituality, The More One Realizes How Little One Truly Knows

All You Need To Do Is Look At The Works Of Great Men Such As Mowlana (Rumi), And It Becomes Quite Self Evident

The Realm Of Spirituality Is An Ocean That The Deeper One Goes, The More One Becomes Aware Of Its Vastness

Again, Thank You Very Much For Your Efforts,

Sincerely,

PT

 

 


Anonymous8

I disagree respectfully

by Anonymous8 on

religion is a unique expression of love and loyalty, something as part of human culture as old as humanity itself. it is fascinating and beautiful. none of the "bad" aspects are religion are actually the fault of the religion. you can see that people without religion are having just as many problems and issues.

some people feel they need it. others want to enter into a perfect union with a perfect God.

i disagree with your personal point but i know not everyone feels what i feel.

 


pars35

Worst than that

by pars35 on

Religion is another form of Organized crime


Theosopher

The Enigma

by Theosopher on

 

Rational souls are existentially imperishable.

The current program of existence initiates and promotes distorted beliefs.

 

 

Theosopher

 


professorgoat

The Enigma of Religion

by professorgoat on

I was an atheist until I found out I was God :-D


faryarm

Is there life after death?

by faryarm on

Is there life after death?

The only kind of logic that can help us fathom and can guide us is the question,

Does the unborn child in the mother's womb know about its life after birth?

If there is any kind of existance after our physical death, what remains? and what is the purpose of that non physical reality?

Perhaps the development of the unborn child in the mother's womb can be some indication.

If we are to be content with the notion “When I die, I am content to fade away, into nothing. No show, no matter how good, could conceivably be good forever.” , is to somehow to believe that the development of life in the mother's womb has no purpose or future; that the development of the physical senses; SIGHTHEARING, SMELL, TASTE, FEEL, alongside other bodily functions that have no use in the womb, do not have any use or purpose after birth in this earthly life.

If that is the case, and sense we are to develop the necessary "tools" to function physically in this world, and since there might just be another plane of existence in the hereafter, how are we to prepare ourselves?

Is there a spiritual counterpart and purpose for the senses we developed in our mother's womb?

If there is such an entity as the human soul, an entity that can not be explained in physical terms, or comprehended by the human mind; how can one be aware of its existance, purpose and qualities?

If there is more to life than these "few days" on earth, then Who, What and Where can one get this Knowledge?

One must not confuse our spiritual reality with what is called "Religion" today. 

What you justly reject as dogmatic and corrupt, is nothing but the contamination of something once effective and inspiring by (clerics) people who for throughout the ages have for their own self preservation, changed, added, deleted, interpreted things to suit their own purpose.( as they have and doing in Iran right now).

This is something that every independent thinking person has to meditate upon, using both one's mental as well as spiritual faculties; because without one or the other, the result is a the statement made by H. L. Menchken

My grappling with this subject started by reading "Some Answered Question"; it was written back in the early 1900s by a visiting American Lady who asked these very questions from Abdul- Baha about everything , from the existance of God, Religion, Life Death, etc etc..Here is a segment:

The human spirit may be likened to the bounty of the sun shining on a mirror. The body of man, which is composed from the elements, is combined and mingled in the  most perfect form; it is the most solid construction, the noblest combination, the most perfect existence. It grows and develops through the animal spirit. This perfected body can be compared to a mirror, and the human spirit to the sun. Nevertheless, if the mirror breaks, the bounty of the sun continues; and if the mirror is destroyed or ceases to exist, no harm will happen to the bounty of the sun, which is everlasting. This spirit has the power of discovery; it encompasses all things.

All these wonderful signs, these scientific discoveries, great enterprises and important historical events which you know are due to it. From the realm of the invisible and hidden, through spiritual power, it brought them to the plane of the visible. So man is upon the earth, yet he makes discoveries in the heavens. From known realities—that is to say, from the things which are known and visible—he discovers unknown things. For example, man is in this hemisphere; but, like Columbus, through the power of his reason he discovers another hemisphere—that is, America—which was until then unknown. His body is heavy, but through the help of vehicles which he invents, he is able to fly.

He is slow of movement, but by vehicles which he invents he travels to the East and West with extreme rapidity. Briefly, this power embraces all things. 

//reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/SAQ/saq-36.html


cyclicforward

I am with you brother

by cyclicforward on

I hope some day this nonsense of religion ends. Believing in god is like believing in Santa Clause. It is a good story but at the end it is just a story.