14 DAY TRIAL // I don't think it's a secret that I have something against organized religion. I've never tried to keep that a secret, and I've struggled to explain why throughout my articles. In my quest to discover people with similar points of view to my own, I came across some fairly interesting speakers, as well as upon some conspiracy theorists that believe everyone is out to get them. This duality in people who shun religious beliefs resembles the duality of religious people as well. More accurately, the duality of various religious groups. We shall call them the moderates and the fundamentalists, or fanatics.
The former group is the mass. We will stick to talking about groups in the United States, because here the divide is the most visible, and almost asks to be analyzed. In the US, at this point, it is considered OK to talk about all possible subjects, including politics, sports, climate change and leisure time, but this freedom of expression stops when it comes to speaking about religion. This is considered a taboo, something pertaining to each individual, and which cannot, and should not be changed. I will cover why this is limiting, and detrimental to society later on.
The second group is smaller, but also more dedicated and subversive. The fanatics are all the more dangerous because they actually believe that they are right. They also have the nerve of pretending that they know what God wants. I don't have any system of reference – a higher power to pray to or other such thing – but it seems to me that claiming to know what your Creator (if you believe in such things) is thinking, or what it wants, is simply stretching it too far. This is the same thing that Catholic priests and the Inquisition did when they killed thousands of innocent people. If they had that power, they would undoubtedly continue to do so.
Another reason why fundamentalists are dangerous is because they believe they have the ultimate truth, Moreover, their ultimate truth is “better” than that of other religions. This is obvious in the case of Christian fanatics, who consider Islam to be the work of the devil, and think it's their duty to ensure their words will not spread. This sets up the required conditions that Samuel Huntington spoke off in his amazing book, The Clash of Civilizations. In the work, the author reveals that the next wars, if any, will be carried out in the name of cultural differences, and not necessarily between countries.
In the US, the ultra-conservative religious groups are taking advantage of the work that moderates are putting forward, in an attempt to safeguard the freedom of religion. Under this cover, fundamentalists are setting the groundwork for what they perceive to be their mission (again, the talking to God part). This is extremely alarming, but people in the United States don't seem to care. Slowly, but surely, religious fanatics are making their way into the upper classes of leadership. Thankfully, George Bush got kicked out of the White House, but his religious ideology persists. The separation of church and state took place centuries ago, but now far-right religious extremists want it back.
The problem I, personally, have with religion, and the Christian faith most of all, is the fact that they keep pressing on into my life, and the lives of people around me. I've made my choice, to live accepting that there are things I cannot control, and that every day is something new, and not predefined and planned for me. I choose to see coincidences for what they are, and not as signs of God's existence. I choose not to see the face of Jesus in a grilled sandwich, or on the misty windows of a car. And, most of all, I understood that you make your own faith. If you give proper consideration to everything you do, and consider the implications of your actions, then you will succeed where others fail.
So, I have these choices. They are mine, although admittedly a bit influenced by my personal experiences and other such things. These ideas don't come from the devil, as religious people would have you believe, but from my own mind, which is capable of weighing pros and cons of each single thing I do. So, my point is, if I've made my decision, why try to convert me to the “way?” Why do all brands of Christian groups send people at my door, asking me about my life, and the faith of the world, and if I wouldn't mind accepting Jesus as my lord and savior?
I don't wish to accept that. I did not ask for it, and I do not need it. If, when I die, it turns out that there is a God, and that I will go to Hell for what I believed all my life, then so be it, I have no such fear. But apparently these people believe that it is their “holy duty” to free me of my sinful life. I have no desire to be freed of my life, and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that many of us are simply content with living our lives. In either case, the problem is not visits from these religious groups.
The main problem is the fact that some groups believe that if I'm not with them, I'm against them. This is the narrowest point of view possible, and fully demonstrates the purely evil influence that books such as the Bible and Qur'an have on people. Though they may preach good will and self-sacrifice on the surface, they are in fact used to promote intolerance and hatred towards those who are different. After all, it says in the Bible that Jesus himself asked for those who do not believe in him to be brought in front of him, and killed. So, what could we ask of those who are blind enough to follow a book simply because it's old? And because they actually believe it came from some god?
Should we accept that people who believe they represent divine justice are our leaders? I don't think that's a mistake we can afford to make for much longer. Bush even proposed that “common-sense” judges be appointed to decide on legal matters. Do you realize the extreme stupidity and dangers of that? A religious judge, most likely a Christian, passing common-sense judgments on a Jew, a Muslim or a Hindu? Under what right? How is that Constitutional? None of these questions seem to be asked. Still, if they are, too few people ask them, and the far-right conservative groups, under the cover of religious free speech, are invulnerable to them, and continue their subversive work.
In a sense, moderates are to be blamed for this, as they are the ones promoting freedom of religion to the extreme. Granted, they are animated by good intentions, but they seem to be oblivious to the damage they are inflicting on themselves and others. If I live to see some form of Inquisition restored, I will laugh really, really hard when I see fanatics put through trials and then purged for being “less religious than God wants.” By then, people will realize what's happening, but there would be nothing more they can do.
If you think this is alarmist talk, don't. The White House is already filled with lobby groups, which militate frantically for various “moral percepts” to be added to various laws. Morals and good feelings, such as mercy, compassion and good-will are not something that religion teaches, it's something people are born with. They stem from us being social creatures. The Founding Fathers of America wanted the country to be free of the creeping religious influence that was keeping Europe in the dark during those years. They wanted a free country. They are now most likely twisting in their graves, when seeing that people honoring their statues are also pushing for the theory of evolution to be removed from schools.
How bad is that? Evolution removed, and creationism taught. A fairy tale, a story derived from a 2,000-year-old book shown to students as the truth. This is a recipe for disaster, if I ever saw one. Solid scientific work is being cast out the window, so that fundamentalists can push forward their agenda of control, masked as saving people. Just think about this for a second. They say that God, with its own hands, placed the dinosaur fossils into the ground, so as to test our faith. How does anyone with a 1,300-cubic-centimeter brain believe that? What twisted processes go on inside, which make this ludicrous and ridiculous statement true?
Regardless of what I say, religious fanatics will access the comment section, and leave hate mails, or find some poor grammar construction to pick on, or call me a hypocrite, or two-faced, or whatever. Others will say that they will pray for me. I've been there before, and to all of you who think of doing so, just forget it. You could try to say that the same arguments I gave work both ways, but I take pride in the fact that most of the readers entering this page understood what I was talking about, and did not have their minds clouded by fantasies.
