The Problem with Religion

It has come to my attention that religion is not just a belief system anymore and in fact is destructive in this day in age. Religion is not inspiring people to make great art, it is not helping in peaceful negotiations, and it is not bringing families together like it used to. No, today, like many times before it, religion is being used to commit atrocities, war crimes, breaking up families, and destroying our planet. And here's why:

1. Many people who believe in a certain religion cannot explain why they believe in that other than it is the “truth”. Why is it the truth? What makes it true? In Christianity: Why is it that most of the beliefs come from the Old Testament which is Jewish? Christian is an update of Judaism, but if that’s the case, why do so many use the name of Jesus to start wars, breed hate, steal from the poor, and build their own wealth machines? In Islam: Muhammad preached of a Holy War as one that was in response to an invasion. Yet we live in a day where Muslim extremists murder those who have not even touched their land. Another caveat: In a religion that believes they are the holy people, why do they continue to kill each other?

2. People who speak to God are considered crazy. Yet in all three monotheistic religions, the founders spoke to God by themselves without any witnesses. In a rational sense, these people are crazy. Abraham was told by God to kill his only son who was thought of as a gift to the elderly couple. Hmm… Anybody remember Andrea Yates? God spoke to her and just forgot to tell her “Oh, hang on, I was just kidding.” He was too busy planning 9/11.

3. God is supposed to be omniscient. An omniscient God who is described as jealous does not seem omniscient. Not only that, but why would an all powerful God need to kill his “only son” (and for that matter, if Jesus was his only son, what are we, and why does he care about us?) for our sins? If he had the power to stop Adam and Eve from eating the apple? Why would he ever be angry at them then? Everything is his doing. Yet, God has shown his insecurity in this. He was afraid of people’s knowledge so when Adam and Eve became knowledgeable, he cast them out. If he is so insecure, how is he all powerful? Why worship something that is flawed and yet call him perfect?

4. Free will. The idea of free will goes against everything that these religions are found upon. Why would a jealous, all-powerful God give people the power to disbelief in him? If we have free will, isn’t entirely possible that we simply made up God?

5. We shall not judge, for we are not without sin. Yet certainly God has sinned. He killed his only son; conspired to kill Abraham’s son and all of Job’s family; murdered thousands in Sodom and Gomorrah; killed the entire world except for Noah; and countless other things. So God is above the law?

6. Religion is inherently sexist. Come on, this one doesn’t even need to be explained. Eve is the beginning of all sins; Abraham’s wife begged him not to kill their only son and she was considered weak; Lot’s wife turned to look at Sodom and Gomorrah and turned to a pillar of salt; and don’t even get me started on how Christianity treated Mary Magdalene for a thousand years and does one even need to mention Islam? How can any woman find this behavior praise-worthy?

7. Religion is the opiate of the masses. Karl Marx put it best. Religion is used by the powerful to keep the weak in line. Why care about your shitty life when there is a better one just around the corner? The name of God has been used to dumb society down and start wars, commit genocide, and generally put this entire planet to death, just to fulfill a prophecy that the world will end.

8. There is a better afterlife than this life. Why not just kill yourself then? Oh, because it’s a sin. But if Jesus knew he was going to die, didn’t he commit suicide?

9. Hell. Hell is never mentioned in the bible, although other forms of it can be ascribed this way. For many centuries Hell was more of a “purgatory” place, not eternal damnation. This came from the Catholics much later. Which leads to:

10. Religion is invented. None of the founders wrote anything down and neither did their immediate followers. The gospels were not written by people who knew Jesus (obviously from their discrepancies); Moses and his contemporaries didn’t write anything down; Siddhartha Gautama and his contemporaries didn’t write anything down; and Muhammad and his contemporaries didn’t write anything down. Why believe something that has no witnesses? In court, that’s called hearsay. It’s like saying “my brother’s friend’s great-grandfather said that he knew a guy who had his liver stolen once”.

11. What makes one any more valid than the other? Nothing. No one can say one religion is any better than the other and if they do they are wrong. “Those scientologists are crazy, but I totes get whole ‘God speaks through me’, burning bush, and a talking serpent. Yeah that makes sense.”

Unfortunately, religion is used not show the good life anymore, but as a political maneuver to convince others they are wrong and to get votes. Sure, there are good people in every religion, but where are they? Why aren’t they running for office or getting on talk shows? Because they don’t care enough. Only the people who are truly crazy and hateful really want to spread the message to everyone else.