Abandon Religion
by: Andy Carloff
Why Abandon Religion?
It is so commonly believed today that religion is a source of goodness
and charity for so many people. It is also believed that to oppose
religion is also to oppose the goodness and charity stipulated to be
with it. When I ask others to abandon religion, they will reply, "Why
would you want to abandon something that has produced so many helpful
things?" But I am not asking people to give up the affectionate and
tender ways, laced with gentleness and humanity. I am not asking that
they give up mercy or justice, things which are just as easily
attainable without religion, if not easier. I am asking people to give
up their fear of hell and daemons, their belief in a soul and ghosts,
their hope of an afterlife and a god, the creeds founded on the
credulous superstitions of their ancestors. I am not asking the human
species to relinquish the things that are good and accompany every warm
heart -- I am asking the human species to ameliorate the ideology that a
god exists that will punish nonbelievers and reward believers, that will
smile at the sufferings of the damned and fortunes of the saved. I am
asking others to abandon religion, which has been a never-ending source
of intolerance for those who have harnessed any sort of bigotry.
There may be those who persist in the assertion that religion is
inseparable from goodness, and goodness from religion. Would any
religionist be honest to state that without god, they would allow
themselves to be heartless and brutal -- to become the epitome of savage
behavior, of unspirited meanness and sincere hatred? Would anyone who
called themselves close to god, and with good intentions, if this
individual were to suddenly discover that there was no god, would they
find themselves to be less considerate, less hopeful, less charitable?
If any religious person can honestly say yes to this, then it would only
be right to be suspicious of the claim that they are hopeful, kind, or
charitable now. God, this mythical being who lives apart from the
physical world, and his existence are only questions of science: he
either exists or he does not. If he did not exist, it would hardly
deprive anyone of ethical or moral behavior. If a city, a road, a
mountain, a lake, or a natural formation did not exist that we had
believed to exist, at discovering this, would we abandon all humaneness
and all forms of goodness? Only those who had reveled in hypocrisy and
deceit can truly say so. There is nothing innately special of the
mythical beings called gods that means their existence gives privilege
to moral behavior.
There are, though, the genuine claims that we should not abandon
religion on the grounds that religion has portrayed a truthful and
honest view of the world. Though this claim made be made on the
foundation that we ought to pursue the truth, it often fails short of
that, because religion has universally been the opponent to
investigation and inquiry. There have been times and eras where the
church had disallowed the public from reading or writing, and had made
it punishable by death to be found with a Bible written in local
languages. In 391, Christians burned down one of the world's greatest
libraries in Alexandra, said to have housed 700,000 scrolls. [The New
Columbia Encyclopedia, 61, and Eisler, The Chalice and the Blade.] The
tale of Galileo should not need repeating, but perhaps the tale of
Giordano Bruno or Francisco Ferrer need repeating. Though Galileo was
only threatened with death for his claims, Giordano Bruno was burned to
death for his ideas in 1600 and Francisco Ferrer was shot to death for
his beliefs in 1909 -- both executed by the Roman Catholic Church.
Giordano Bruno, the great thinker, and Francisco Ferrer, the great
educator; a day does not go by where their grave loss is mourned by
Rationalists and Humanitarians world wide. Gregory the Great had the
library of Palatine Apollo burned "lest its secular literature distract
the faithful men from the contemplation of heaven." [Barbara G. Walker,
The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets (San Francisco: Harper &
Row, 1983) 208.] The history of Christianity and organized religion runs
parallel to the history of oppression and slavery. Examination and
inquiry have been restrained, and this can be found in the evidences
that every historian ought to be well aware of. Even today, we find the
same radical fanatics, burning Harry Potter books, and on the same exact
claim that it will deprive children of the religion of Christianity. We
also find Christian fanatics working to ban books in public libraries,
including works by Mark Twain, J. D. Salinger., and Maya Angelou,
sometimes on the exact claim that these works are "unChristian."
But aside from the fact that religion tends to disallow Free thought and
investigation, inquiry and science, can it at all be permitted to call
itself truth? As well as having a long history of suppressing honest and
sincere attempts at science and truth, religion is also founded on
superstition and myth. When man did not understand the origin of the
rainbow, he postulated that it had divine origin. When man did not
understand the origin of the human female, he made the same claim. When
man did not understand anything that was of natural phenomena, he often
times ran to the easy and simple belief that it was created from a god
or a spirit or a ghost. Even beyond that, though, the evidences and
claims of religion are synonymous with many cultural myths. As I have
discussed in other works, Santa Claus and god both have a remarkable
amount of similarities: both are mystical beings, both live far away,
both have no evidence, both are only believed because they are taught by
community and elders, both have not been demonstrated, both have
supernatural powers, among an enormous amount of other similarities. But
if one is not content to believe that a man exists who delivers billions
of presents to children on one night of the year, then why would one be
content to believe that a man exists who delivers billions of souls to
heaven or hell?
Upon the hundreds and hundreds of fallacies and errors, we find that
religion itself is something deprived of both merit and science. It has,
for ages, worked against the instruments of truth, often times denying
the population the right to think and believe as they wish. We also find
that the foundation for the belief in religion is identical to the
foundation for the belief in many cultural myths which have also been
abandoned. There is little truth to be found in religion, once an
open-minded investigation has been allowed to examine its institutes.
Instead of finding a realistic and open-minded viewpoint of the world,
we find flaws, oppression, ignorance, and a sizable amount of cruelty.
Only a small investigation into the real world would allow us to
discover that many individuals put much stock into the institute of
religion. If we were a free and intelligent people, without the tyranny
of a Capitalist class and government defending them, people would put
less concentration into the things unseen and put such focus onto the
real, materialistic world. Instead of investing in prayers, people would
be offering their kindest and warmest affections to those around them.
We would not build churches, but homes -- we would not ask the gods for
forgiveness for our actions, but those we harmed -- we would not pray
for things to happen, but make them happen -- we would not rely on the
superstitious myths that have guided so many to bigotry, or rely on the
unseen to do what we must do for ourselves, or praise anything that was
nothing more than an idol representing cruelty and misguided violence.
If a man reserves his love for a god and for angels, he simultaneously
deprives love from those around him. By giving our kindness and
affection, our sincerest dreams and hopes, desires and aspirations, to
this being without evidence, we are losing focus of the one thing that
we do know: our lives. And by losing focus on our lives, and those
around us, we are ignoring the one thing that we know for sure: that we,
as material beings, do exist, and that we are capable of feeling joy and
suffering. To ignore this is the greatest of ignorances, and the most
grave of all follies.
Tolerance and Acceptance
If there was a god, I would make only one prayer to him: That his
followers would follow truth over scripture, benevolence over cruelty,
science over myth; to ask his followers to be more focused and
concentrated on the things that exist -- their lovers, their family,
their children, their friends -- to uphold truth as beautiful, and
kindness as sincerity. There is no other prayer I could give to such a
deity ruling over our Universe. If I were to make such a prayer, though,
it may very well be that such a god would ask him followers to turn
against him. That would only be so, however, only if the god that exists
was the one of a popular Monotheistic religion. Such gods tend to be
described by their scripture as vicious and unrelenting in their
pursuits to control mankind to devious ends.
Religion and its followers have embraced intolerance and have called it
duty and reverence to their lord. Though the disciples of the cross have
managed to do everything in their power to destroy liberty and
happiness, I would be the last man on this Earth to say that nobody
should be allowed to be a disciple of the cross, or a follower of any
religion. It has been the custom of religion to oppose freedom of
thought, but I certainly cannot oppose this freedom in any form. Whether
a man desires to be a Christian or an Atheist, a Buddhist or a Hindu, it
is their own decision. It is their actions, and not their beliefs, that
ought to be monitored. My belief that everyone should be entitled to
their belief (as well as beliefs about beliefs) is not derived from the
idea that we should not be like those we oppose. Rather, it is formed
from the idea that everyone deserves the right to believe as they wish,
to consider and investigate for themselves, that power lies within the
individual, and even more deeper, because I believe in humane and fair
treatment, I believe in justice and compassion. Those are the reasons
that are behind my belief in the right to think and believe as one
wishes.
There are some Christians who I have heard say, "I will not speak to
that man or deal with that man unless he is a Christian." There are also
many Christians who speak of myself as though I am the first Atheist to
walk this planet. But as well as speaking of me with that harsh, grave
tone, they have systematically made up lies about myself, claiming that
I hate all who claim to be Christians. It seems impossible to some of
the followers of the divine for Atheists or Agnostics, or any infidel or
heretic, to hold charity and mercy as good values. It may sometimes even
be considered unfulfilling to aid an nonbeliever in any way, to offer
them any sort of affection or kindness, to give them the fruits of a
warm heart. But whether someone believes that a god exists or not, or in
any religion, there will be one fact about that person that will not
waver my humane treatment of them: that they are a conscious being, that
they can feel pain and suffering or joy and happiness, that touching
their skin gently will produce feelings and emotions of security and
happiness. This is something that will not be erased, no matter what
creeds an individual professes to believe, no matter what ideologies an
individual follows.
The Purpose of a Rationalist Humanitarian
My purpose is not to turn every man an woman into an Atheist or an
Agnostic. Such a proposal would be impractical and difficult to obtain,
at best. My purpose is to offer humane and rational solutions in
comparison to the brutal and dogmatic solutions offered by others. I
would like to convince the clergy and the ministry to teach their youth
how to respect each other, and not how to respect god. I would like to
convince those who believe in religion that there is no hell. I would
like to convince religionists that there is no need to cry in fear of
god's punishment, that if there is a god, he is merciful and just.
Offering all of the kindness and affection that can be mustered from a
sincere heart, I would like to offer the world all I can to make it a
better place for everyone to live. To maximize happiness, to teach
people how to treat each other warmly and thoughtfully, to teach them
how to think rationally and logically, to teach them tolerance and
acceptance, beauty and love, duty and kindness... This is my purpose as
a Rationalist and a Humanitarian.
See Also:
Has God Answered
Your E-mail?
When you learn to use your imagination to help you build your faith in
God, you will be able to receive the words of the Lord. You will be able
to call yourself a Person of Faith.
Prayer Remembers the
Truth
Prayer is what you do when you’re done struggling with a problem, and
you’re ready to call forth its solution. Prayer is not about trying to
get God to do something to you or give something to you. It’s about
allowing God to do something through you.
Punkerslut (or Andy Carloff) has been writing
essays and poetry on social issues which have caught his attention for several
years. His website www.punkerslut.com
provides a complete list of all of these writings.
