A Word On Religion.
Disclaimer: Those whom are deeply religious may be offended by the following writing. If you believe you could potentially be offended by the ramblings of an agnostic on the subject of religon I suggest you stop reading and go watch cartoons or something. Think happy thoughts.
I am currently attending a private college located in southern california. So far the institution is great, the instructors are great (my primary instructor is amazing) and the campus itself is nice. There is, however, one caveat: It’s a Christian institution.
This, in itself, didn’t bother me while I was going through the admission process as I assumed it meant the faculty was christian and they perhaps had stricter policies in dress, appearance, etc (they do). What got me a little annoyed was the other day when the President of the school walks in, gives a little spiel about her background and then proceeds to say that the reason she created the institution was because on the night of XX during the month of XX at XXXX o’clock in the morning God woke her from her sleep and spoke to her, telling her that her mission in life was to develop this college in question.
……
So I was polite during her little speech and didn’t laugh, or smirk, or anything… just maintained my poker face and was respectful. Didn’t join in the applause now that I think of it but hey, I’m just a man. By the way the bible says:
If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say to him, “You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of the Lord.” When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)
In other words, death to false prophets.
Anyways, cue today’s events.
It’s been some time since the alleged Prophet has spoken, class is about to conclude for the day and in walks in a former student whom just received notice from the state that she passed her certification testing. She gives this story about how she was going through hard times, struggling through school, money was nonexistent, etc etc. She than began to tear up and with tears running down her cheeks stated that without Jesus as her savior she would never have been able to do it, now without God looking out for her, no way no how… and most of the class cheered her and applauded.
WHAT THE FUCK????
Why are they applauding that she believes herself to be worthless without some imaginary being? Why do people think of themselves to be at the mercy of some deity? I just don’t fucking get it. I try so hard to be understanding and caring and accepting of so many beliefs but today was just the last fucking straw. You know what it’s called when you feel you can’t achieve anything on your own without the support of some god?
PATHETIC.
What a way to fucking progress as a species. As long as we pray X amount of times a day, maybe in X direction, maybe give X amount of money to a church/synagogue/temple, maybe expel X amount of infidels from our country and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get what we pray for.
No amount of prayer will save you from what life brings you tomorrow. I wish people would stop hiding from the realization that control over life is an illusion.
Just enjoy it while you can.
I’m going to sleep now.
October 17, 2008 at 3:31 am
No offense taken. I’m glad that you try to be accepting of differing viewpoints while still maintaining your own views. That’s called taking a stand. The problem comes when you’re inflexible in accepting the possibility that your stance might not be the right one. Skeptics and atheists rightly accuse Christians (and other religious folks) of this all the time but often tend not to take their own advice. I’m not saying anything about you personally one way or the other: I don’t even know you – I just happened to stumble across this post while this kind of thing was on my mind.
Anyway, one thing I would challenge your post about is this notion of a progressive species. Progression implies improvement over time, and I don’t think that history will bear this out as true of humans. We’ve been fucked up for a long time and aren’t getting any “better.” We might be more savvy about technology, but humans are just broken – look at the ways we treat our environments, our neighbors, ourselves, our society. I would NOT call this progress. Progressivism is an illusion.
Now, if we’re not progressive, what hope do we have apart from ourselves? I leave that as an open question.
October 17, 2008 at 4:24 am
Fwiw, you were doing good until you started using ‘fuck’…but it’s your blog.
Many people have lost the reason of religion and belief. They do believe as you state:
“As long as we pray X amount of times a day, maybe in X direction, maybe give X amount of money to a church/synagogue/temple, maybe expel X amount of infidels from our country and maybe, just maybe, we’ll get what we pray for.”
It is the commercial institution of religion at fault. Where would any church be with a product that is available without the church?
October 17, 2008 at 4:44 am
Robaigh – Not being open to the possibility of being wrong would be foolish indeed. It was not my intention to claim such a being does not exist, but rather that we don’t know … and the post was directed at my frustrations with the institution of religion itself (and its minions). As for “progressivism” (never seen that word before, had to wiki that shit) being an illusion, you’ll find no argument from me.
Michael – Thanks for stopping by and the input. And yes, I’m a hopeless pottymouth. *shrug*
I apologize if this doesn’t make sense, I was up late studying. I should have went to sleep hours ago.
October 17, 2008 at 6:52 am
Not a problem for me, but you may turn off a number of potential readers. I learned a long time ago if I type anything out while tired, not to send it anywhere until after I have slept on it, lol!
October 17, 2008 at 8:34 am
4 a.m. and I’m still awake writing this song… Oh wait. No.
4:22 and I can’t sleep, so I’m catching up on blogging. I think it’s awesome that there are people who have faith and believe. I do. I’m not one of those people.
My diificulties with religion are the hypocrisies here and there – people with not much money to spare still feel obligated to tithe x% of their already paltry earnings to church – or churches who have parishioners in need spending money to builter bigger, better, whatever “Super churches”. I guess I would rather see churches put their money where their mouths are – sure, I suppose they need a roof underwhich people can congregate – but surely they can have a less extravagant roof and maybe DO more rather than BE more. Or the people who claim to hold such strong faith and then their actions completely contradict the words they claim to believe so fervently.
I’m never going to be one of those people who blindly accepts, and it’s because I’m a cynic in most areas of my life. That’s fine. (OH MY HELL I WISH I COULD SLEEP I CAN’T BELIEVE I’M RAMBLING ABOUT RELIGION AT 4 A.M.). But I get annoyed too to see people say they would be nothing without their god or such. Really? That people don’t think they have worth on their own is what gets me.
(And fwiw, I don’t mind your potty mouth – but i hear there’s a 12 step program for that
)
October 17, 2008 at 10:54 am
I hear you. 3 hours of sleep and I’m up again…
Time for the gym.
October 18, 2008 at 6:37 am
Hmmm….well. I am a Christian…a struggling, broke-down, faith the size of the tiniest mustard seed Christian…but still, I’m a believer (Hallelujah brotha! Amen!).
Here’s the thing though…I know I’m a sorry excuse for what other people might look for in a believer. I suck. I suck bad. BUT, in the end…what other people think of me isn’t what I concern myself with. And I wish more Christians could embrace the idea that they don’t actually have to live up to any standards in order to to be “right with God”. I’m pretty sure He knows we are never going to live up to His standards…that’s the crux of Christianty…knowing (having faith) that we can still be loved regardless. There is nothing that we can do to be like Him…so there is no point trying.
NOW, if a believer chooses to do good and right because they are inspired to do those things out of love, that is a different story altogether. Trying to be good and right in order to achieve some sort of favor…that’s cheap and false and smacks of vanity.
And prayer isn’t about asking for presents and favors and help…or it shouldn’t be. It’s a way to communicate with the one we believe in. People that think of God as a giant Santa in the sky are in for a lot of disappointment.
I don’t think I’m worthless without God…I struggle with worthlessness all on my own. I was taught by HUMANS to believe that I am useless and hopeless…and I’m paying a therapist a lot of $$ to help me sort that shit out.
Many people think they have no worth. Believers and non-believers alike. And then…there are others that think they are worth much more than they are (Hello? Cast of The Hills). I don’t know a lot of people that have the balance just right. Do you?
If you think about it, most everyone looks for validation of their worth. Whether it be money, status, intelligence, talent, beauty, athleticism, health, material goods, number of myspace friends…whatever it is…we are humans and we need to be loved (just like everybody else does…thank you Depeche Mode).
I question my faith constantly. It does all seem ludicrous if you take away the experiential parts. I am sometimes hit very hard with the fact that I could be totally misled into believing something false. But, since I’m not crusading against the heathens…or burning people alive at the stake for practicing witchcraft…or even harshly judging non-believers….then I figure that’s my own damn problem if I don’t end up face to face with Jesus himself after I die. If I’m wrong, then I won’t know the difference. But if I’m right…then…woo-hoo! Yay me!
That was a lot of words…and very little sense. Sorry. I’m just musing along with the rest of the world…
I certainly hope I haven’t lost any respect you might have had for me as a fellow blogger. I search for signs of my worth in your validation!
October 18, 2008 at 1:06 pm
LeavingEvangeline – Thanks for sharing your thoughts =) There is absolutely no love lost for anyone who disagrees with my thoughts or opinions, blogging friends especially. Have a good weekend!
October 27, 2008 at 12:59 am
religion is a security blanket. people are afraid not to have the answers…and if they (we) did, i believe the result would be complete hysteria. the questions are what keep people in line, not because people lack morals without religion, but because it’s embedded in their brains that eternal life is only attained through faith. but fuck eternal life. we are simply animals inhabiting a planet. what the hell is so wrong with coexisting peacefully with the reward being able to peacefully coexist? why does it all have to be about the after life and heaven or hell…why does a theory of eternal damnation have to be created to motivate people to be good fucking people? and if religion is such a wonderful thing, then why is it the reason for all the most horendous acts on our planet? oh yeah, because it is created by man…not a supreme being.
November 4, 2008 at 2:08 am
Is religion really *about* the afterlife? Is religion really *about* morality? Is religion really “the reason for all the most horendous (sic) acts on our planet?”
If these things constitute the extent of one’s view of religion as a human practice, it might help to dig deeper and into sources other than mainstream, anti-religious sources.