Ga Maleven<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Religions come in many different forms. From polytheism, monotheism, even atheism. Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Judaism are the more “popular” ones, but there are many others out there. Many religions have come and gone, such as the Ancient Egyptians religion with Ra, then the Ancient Greeks with Zeus, and even the vikings with Thor. Religions and lack of religion have always been around, they have clashed, and they have empowered people, saved people, or even destroyed people. But, would the world be better with no religion?
No, it wouldn’t. Let’s look why.
While some religions (cults, really) in the past and even today may encourage harm to others, such as live sacrifices, suicide, hating gays, promoting murder, true religions don’t. In fact, religions such as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc. do not encourage their followers to go on killings sprees, but sadly there are extremists who claim that these religions do in order to justify their hate, abuse, and murdering others. In the past, and even today, many have died due to those who have agendas of hatred and violence and twist the words of religious texts to try and justify their actions as being “holy” and “permitted” by their god or gods.
Christianity, for example, has been twisted by Fundamentalists to make it seem like God hates gays, wants humans to eat animals, women are objects, birth control is “evil,” that human overpopulation is impossible, and that humans are “superior” above all other life. In reality, God wants us to be vegan<\/a><\/span>, God still loves you despite sexual orientation<\/a><\/span>, and birth control is fine<\/a><\/span>. The Bible doesn’t actually preach hate, to eat and kill animals, to abuse others, or to be cruel. Sadly, people such as those in the Westboro Baptist Church, Klu Klux Klan, and Fundamentalists ignore what the Bible actually says to hurt others all because they<\/em> don’t like them. It has nothing to do with what God wants.
This has been done with other religions, such as Islam, that doesn’t actually tell people to murder or to kill Christians, or bomb people. Extremists claim they are following Islam, when they simply are not. Muslims are targeted by those who do not fully understand their religion and discriminated against and even killed because of it.
The Bible had some questionable stuff in it, just as the Qu’ran does and other religious texts, but those violent acts are not ordering the believers to do the same. A lot of misunderstanding also arises due to the languages that the texts were originally written in. On example of this would be when Jesus in the Holy Bible speaks about caring for slaves. During the time of slavery, these verses were used to justify owning slaves, but God never actually intended for slaves to be kept. The word used for these “slaves” in the Bible doesn’t have an accurate translation in English, so the word “slave” was used. These “slaves” were actually more like butlers that lived with their “masters” and took care of the house, animals, and the owners. They did this out of necessity since they were poor, had no place of their own, and this job provided everything they needed. Many people had them during the Biblical times, so Jesus simply told people to care for these “butlers” and ensure they had food, necessities, and were not harmed.
Many things in the Holy Bible, Qu’ran, and other religious texts also do not translate over to other languages, or even life. These texts were written in a very different time and culture. If we were to live EXACTLY <\/em>as people did back then following all those rules precisely<\/em>, we could not survive. Back then they had no electricity, vaccines, medicine, soap, nothing. Our bodies are not adapted to live in those conditions, so it would take a while to do so. We would not be able to live long without the proper medical care and so will be dying young, and even genetics have changed over time. So, to follow these religious texts to the letter is impossible.
While following the teaching of your religion is important, you must remember what it was like in the time they were written, the culture, and to follow the good teachings. I am a Christian myself, and while I follow what Jesus said, I am not cleaning anyone’s feet. Times have changed and now the streets are clean, we have closed shoes, and with the change of culture it would probably be viewed as a foot fetish if I approached someone and cleaned their feet. And then I would be arrested…
Religions are not evil, and while some conflicts, wars, and even murders have happened by someone claiming their religion wanted them to, the reality is it didn’t. They had their own agenda and they went after that, using twisted verses to justify their actions. Cults do this often. Cults are branched off of religions, changing many things to it to fit a personal agenda (Westboro Baptist Church is a cult heavily trying to attack other religions and sexual orientation), to create something new to believe in (Scientology), or to control others into believing something they want to have be believed in. Cults do not follow actual religions, science, and abuse\/control is often heavy in them.
Amish are a kind of cult given how they have changed the Bible into trying to make it seem like God only wants people to live with 1800s technology. They also twist the Bible in many other ways to support animal abuse, child abuse, treating women like property, and hating outsiders. Amish are quite far from being “peaceful” or following God. They are the largest providers of puppymills, they overwork, beat, and kill animals, and they horrifically abuse children. Rape is common, and women are often forced to marry their rapists, and women have no say in what they do with their lives. While many may say the Amish are a “kind” people, the sad reality is they are not actually following the Bible, but instead creating a high patriarchal society that benefits only men and greatly harms women, children, and non-human animals.
What about lack of religion? Atheism is not pure itself. Many evil people are atheists, just as many evil people claim to follow a religion. The problem is not religion, it’s humans. It’s selfish, cruel, hateful people who don’t care about others. Religion is not something to fight over, hate people for, or use as an excuse to do bad, just as a lack of religion isn’t. Sadly, humans are destructive, especially if they are not taught to be peaceful and loving to others.
Macro evolution (believing the big bang, species evolved into new species) is sort of a religion of itself. While religions, such as the Bible, have evidence of battles, cities, and even people mentioned in it of existing, we can’t actually prove God Himself exists. Macro evolution works the same way. We have evidence that micro evolution (wolves becoming pugs, but still same species) exists, and have found fossils that might <\/em>be transitional fossils, but there is no way to prove the big bang happened. Evolution has some possible <\/em>evidence for it, but still lacks a lot, so simply is still a theory. Since it cannot be tested and proven, as the scientific method goes, macro evolution will probably always be a theory.
All religions support science. Not a single one says science doesn’t exist or even require science to not exist in order to work. God, Allah, and other deities who may or may not exist obviously created science in order to run the world so they don’t have to. To claim that Creationists or someone who is religious doesn’t believe in science is simply bullshit. As I like to say, God is the engineer, science in the car engine, and the universe is the car. Many scientists are Creationists, and are not fundamentalists or any such things.
Religions do not cause violence, religions and science work together, and hating someone for being religious or not religious is simply bullying. Religion is a big subject to delve into, so I am not going to go into much more detail into it in this journal. I simply don’t have the space! Religions, all <\/em>religions, need to be taught in schools so children learn about them all. It doesn’t have to be excessive, but even a basic overview is better than nothing. To show what these religions believe, and how creationism and macro evolution both explain how the world was created, how species exist, etc. This is important to not just spread education, but help ensure no discrimination happens. When children do not learn about religions, hatred and fear can form and you have them harming those of a religion they know nothing about. This is what’s happening in the United States right now in regard to Islam. Many Americans know nothing about Islam and assume it’s a terrible religion so attack Muslims. If they knew better, they would know that only the extremists are the problem, not 90% of actual Muslims.
Teaching children about all religions and lack of religion and giving them the choice to believe one or none also empowers kids. It builds their education and allows them to make better decisions as they grow, and to not hate those who believe something they don’t. Because in the end the only thing that matters is not harming others. IF something you do harms someone, whether human or non-human animal, then that is bad and needs to stop. But if your actions and lifestyle cause no harm, then who cares what you do or believe?
One last thing I will touch on is child marriage. While it is not actually religious, but rather culture related, some people may use religion to justify it. It doesn’t. No child is property to be sold to an older man in order to get food, money, or anything else. Child marriages are still prevalent throughout the world, even the United States. They cause unimaginable suffering, rape, abuse, and psychological trauma to the victims. Child marriages must come to an immediate end.
While not always as bad, arranged marriages, especially to other family members, is also forcing people into a relationship against their will. People have the right to choose who they want to marry and live with, and forcing them into a marriage is wrong, goes against human rights, and often leads to abuse. Marriage is not a “necessity” for life, and people are not property to be forced to do things simply because you gave birth to them.
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