Religion: Preface
Before heading off the slippery slope of addressing religion, I thought it would be wise to state some specific issues first:First off, I’d like to say that I am not trying to lead people astray. If you believe in a supreme being, whether you call it God, Jehova, Allah, or even Sven, that’s your own thing and I’m not gonna try to convince you that you should stop believing in them.
I openly admit that I cannot confirm nor deny the possibility of such a being existing, or even several for that matter. I mean, if I can believe in luck, why should this be that much different? As such, I define myself as an agnostic leaning towards atheism.
Aaanywho, what I am trying to do is to convince people to not take the scriptures literally. They may work great as moral lessons or ancient laws, and taking them as such may make you a better human being, but believing them blindly and to the letter is somewhat foolish and has thus far brought nothing but hate and disagreement.
Secondly, while I would like for this series to get all around every religion, I will admit that the main focus will be on Christianity, since coming from a Serbian-Orthodox family, that is the only religion I have hands on experience with.
Thirdly, in the posts of this series, I will be using a great deal of videos from YouTube and probably also Google video. Some will be recordings of lectures while others will be of random people with webcam who feel they had to share something with the world. Some the latter will be used because they bring up valid points that could be interesting to discuss, while others will be a bit of a facepalm type of thing.
Finally, I obviously do not expect everyone to agree with every point that I make, just like I don’t agree with every point made by theists or other people. However, please try to keep your disagreements on a respectable level if you feel that you just have to verbalize them.
As for credentials and whatnot, I hold no PhDs in anything and make no claims of expertise on any subject. Everything I use is basic research method, human psychology, and normal common sense. Also, I should mention that I am an evolutionist, so be aware that I may be biased on some points, even if it isn’t intentional.
Aug 25th, 2010 at 12:08 am
I dunno about the literally part but
saying “religion cause hate and war” (i’m talking generally and not criticizing you )
is just the stupidest thing that alot of people belive in
the problem is not only with religion (people argue and die over football,water,mates …)
what’s the problem is the way people thing and the real problem is fanaticism
fanaticism make everything it touch bloody and violent (with varying degrees)
even science isn’t impartial and perfect “science is a system of beliefs”
and alot of problem are arising in research, theoretical, and academic fields
some scientist die defending and old and obsolete theories and others crush even an small hint of new ways of understandings and thinking
so i’ll say this
“don’t hat the fetish, hate the crime”
by the way it’s irrelevant but i’m a muslim! i hope you don’t have a thing against that ^^
and another thing about literal readings , id don’t have sources but some scholars say that the religion (in my case islam ) and the book (quran) need the mind the be understood
so if i shutdown my mind and read blindly what kind of understanding did i came to?
and this word must be said to those ignorant fools who are leading the masses to the fall
Aug 25th, 2010 at 5:55 am
@zazuge: Hi zazuge, thanks very much for your comment.
I have nothing against Muslims whatsoever, or against people of any other religion for that matter, and many of the kindest people I know (and to some extent aspire to be like) are in fact devout followers of a religion. Who I have a ‘problem’ with are literal followers (especially fanatics) and pushy evangelists, since these are the “squeekiest cogs in the machine” and thus get all the attention, giving people the wrong idea of what their religion is about.
But yes, saying that religion outright is what causing hate and war is to some extent stupid and misleading; it’s people’s literal interpretation of it that is the direct cause, which is also what I wrote in the opening paragraph.
So I completely agree with the scholars and it’s again something I wrote in the opening paragraph; religion is brilliant as a collection of stories to teach moral lessons, but should never be taken literally or followed blindly.