I just viewed this video. It's part of what my blog will be about today, so take a moment and watch it.
Done? Okay, cool.
That video there? It's almost exactly my main complaint against religion. The ability of those people to blindly follow a "deity" that no one can prove exists is astounding and terrifying. In any situation not involving religion, hearing and listening to the word of someone no one has ever seen, and who doesn't have a physical body, and living your whole life by their word would be considered a MENTAL DISORDER. Now, I am fully aware that not all Christians, Catholics, etc. are bible thumping, tongues-speaking, brain-washing, Potter bashing nut jobs. But those people? They are definitely a little on the nutty side. And people like that scare the living shit out of me.
Okay. Here's a little background on my religious experience. I went to bible school with one of my best friends for three days when I was five. Being an impressionable child, I asked my mom if I could start going to church. My mother said no. My mother, who finds organized religion frightening, didn't want me to attend church until she thought I could judge what they were saying and make my own decisions. So, obviously I had a decidedly nonreligious childhood. And boy, am I glad. Now, I'm still friends with the girl I went to bible camp with. And she's still Christian. And I'm a devoted atheistic agnostic. (Meaning I don't believe in god, but if you proved God existed, I'd believe you). She's a logical human being. We get along fine. I have a few other friends who are Christian, and I get along fine with them too. What I mean by all this is I want to make it clear. I don't hate all religious people. I hate religion itself. I think it's an absurd concept. But as long as you're somewhat smart about it, and don't jam it down my throat, we're fine. Onto my issues with religion.
First of all, you should never follow anyone or anything THAT blindly. I don't care if it's God, Allah, Obama or your great aunt Tessie. You should analyze information you are given, dwell on instructions you receive no matter WHO they're from. If a homeless man, or even a well dressed business man, that you'd never seen before walked up to you on the street and gave you a slip of paper and told you if you followed the instructions on the paper, you'd live in paradise for eternity? No, you wouldn't. You would probably run screaming in the other direction. Because that is the smart and logical thing to do. Blindly following your "all powerful" leader is how cults get started. And religious people like this didn't just drink the kool aid, they fucking chugged it.
Second, those poor, poor children. Parents like that are literally FORCING their religions down their throats when they're far too young to even attempt to judge what they're being told. It gets to the point where, as this video tells you, it's brainwashing. Those kids don't have a chance to choose their own beliefs. They're born and immediately indoctrinated into the religion of their parents. The Christians think us queers our indoctrinating people into our lifestyle? They need to look in a damn mirror. When was the last time you saw a homosexual leave a "Join the gay lifestyle!" pamphlet on the doorstep? Never. But chances are you've been visited by a Jehovah's witness.
That brings me to another point: HYPOCRISY. Religion is wrought with hypocrisy. Many Christians disdain homosexuals because it says in the Bible it's an abomination. Know what else it says? Never work on Sundays, don't eat shellfish, don't cut your hair, never think about another man's wife, if your children or your wife misbehave STONE THEM TO DEATH. Last time I checked, Christians paid no mind to most of those things. And we're restricting THEIR freedom by disallowing prayer in school, but THEY can infringe on OURS by wanting to require it? What if a student doesn't WANT to pray, GOD FORBID. And we aren't preventing anyone who wants to pray from praying! We're only keeping it from being required. If your kids want to pray, they can pray. It is fully within their rights as citizens. But you know what? It's fully within mine to NOT pray. Surprisingly enough, AMERICA IS NOT A THEOCRACY. YOUR RELIGION HAS NO PLACE IN THE GOVERNMENT. And whatever happened to "Love thy neighbor"? Or did it get rewritten when I wasn't looking to read "Love thy neighbor, but only if thy neighbor is heterosexual and god believing"?
Yet another problem I have with religion is how it basically removes all personal responsibility. Everything is done because it was "God's will" And "Love the sinner, hate the sin". So, a man murders my best friend, and I'm supposed to hate the sin, and not hate him? Fuck that shit. And the idea that when horrible things happen to good people, they're just being "tested". When an innocent child is raped, god is just TESTING them. So, God gave innocent 15 month old me retinoblastoma (retinal cancer) and took away my sight in my right eye to TEST me? Oh wait, maybe that's because he foresaw I'd become a godless queer when I grew up. And homosexuality is just a test too, by the way. To see if we can resist "temptation".
The basic point of all this? Religion is dangerous in the hands of the human race. We are fanatical by nature, we want to know everything about everything, and we want to be happy. Give people something to believe in that promises those things, and most of the time that fanaticism takes over. People turn a blind eye to reason to feel like they know why we're here, and to feel comforted by the idea of an afterlife. If it makes them feel safe, included and informed and, most of all, powerful, they'll drink all the kool aid they're given. And after they drink? they'll simply ask for me. Religion is a drug, more powerful and addictive, and far less expensive than heroin. But, in my eyes, it's just as dangerous. But unlike heroin it's free and readily available. And that? That scares me.
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