MySpace - Matt - 24 - Male - Villa Rica, Georgia

Thoughts on religion & my life philosophies...
a constantly evolving diatribe.

"Every religion is blasphemy against all other religions." In brief, just listen to the lyrics of songs like Imagine by John Lennon, Get up, Stand up by Bob Marley, or When the President Talks to God by Bright Eyes. These two video's might also be woth checking out. The Reason for the Season? (6:55) & Zeitgeist the Movie: Pt 1 (26:26).

I'll start by saying never be afraid to change your mind but do so with reason. This applies to all aspects of life. I tend to favor progression over tradition. I hate being told what to think or to not question things. Religion as an institution has always seemed to do both. I grew up watching the Discovery Channel, not sunday morning preachers and going to church. Mostly, I see religion as a placebo for dealing with the harsh realities of life and death. This would be OK if it remained benign but religion is all too frequently used to justify horrible actions perpetrated by governments or fundamentalist groups. The very fact that there are so many different and contradictory beliefs in/about god(s) leads me to the conclusion that none of them can be right. Be it Islam, Judaism, Christianity, or anything else. If so, why not the Egyptians? Or the Greeks or Romans? Even Native American religions? If they all claim to be the ONLY true nature of the world can they ALL be right? How would you know? How do people look at civilizations come and gone and the religions that went with them and decide that this time, they picked the right religion? This is the one and all those other ones were silly &/or wrong. How do you make that distinction? Do you then believe different versions of heaven co-exist for each faith or that only one exists--which I'm sure happens to be the one you believe in. It's all relative & so conveniently immune from the burdens of proof. It's magic! You can NEVER be wrong! My heaven has strippers and beer volcanos and it's just as valid as yours. It's ridiculous.

Someday there may be a generation that looks back on the reign of christianity, judaism, and islam...theism in general...and examines these world views in the same way as we do the religions of prebiblical history. And I only hope they haven't replaced them with something equally as irrational as civilization has done for eons.

Religion. Just say no.

The only place I see any consistency is in the physical world around me and the lack of a supernatural existence--including gods. Evolution. Physics. Simple laws of existence. Nothing more. Things that have solid proof behind them, not just faith. It is far easier for me to believe that all that exists has developed from billions of years of chaos and coincidence than to swallow the concept of some magical entity making the whole show in about a week. Alot can happen in 6+ billion years. I cannot bring myself to believe in the existence of an omnipotent power that controls and intervenes in all life. Why then would this power let innocent children starve to death or allow thousands of violent crimes to occur every day worldwide. Wouldn't a loving god naturally want to prevent these things? I also can't believe that if such a force did exist, that it would care if you were gay or if you prayed to it X number of times a day facing a certain direction. I would think that, controlling the sum of the universe, this entity would have better things to do than meddle in our insignificant lives and that to think otherwise seems arrogant. I can't believe that dancing would coerse the force to make it rain and seriously doubt that killing anything as sacrifice would make any correlative difference. Just so I cover the basics from Christianity, Islam and Paganism there. Do not even get me started on Scientology. I'm embarassed that it has science as it's root word. The fact that anyone would believe a faith that was created by a science FICTION author is ludicrous. I love science fiction but if George Lucas himself started promoting "The force" as a real religion...come one. Yes, I know there are people who do practice the force--seriously, there are. Ultimately, I don't see a purpose or a need to complicate life with any of these complex & contradictory superstitions in an effort to find meaning. No mystic forces dictate the course of life, you are here simply to exist and ideally you will have left the world a better place when you cease to exist in it. That is the purpose. There needs to be no greater meaning other than to realize we are here and that we should strive to make the best of it. Do what you will to work toward that goal. Don't pay attention to what some ancient book tells you about who's allowed to come to the party and why or why not.

One of the absolute worst things anyone can ever do, however, is to declare themselves both infallible, and correct. This sets up a dangerous scenario void of comprimise and is a principle reason for much of the violence in society--religious or otherwise. Always consider the possibility that you are wrong. If there is some sort of metaphysical existence beyond the observable physical world, I do not believe that it looks like anything depicted by any organized belief system on the planet earth. How could any one religion based thousands of years ago have gotten all the details correct when they still thought the world was flat and the sun revolved around the earth? We cannot begin to understand the nature of such a place because we cannot observe it--"a difference which makes no difference is not difference." Therefore, it is irrelevant even if it does exist. I think that no matter how strong your beliefs, you should chalenge them on a regular basis to verify that you truly believe in them. This holds true for myself as well. I welcome intelligent conversation on this subject with anyone whose willing, though admittedly neither of us would be likely to change the mind of the other. I still love sparring with an intelegent individul. It's for the sport. The fact is that no one can definitively know the nature of death or the world beyond, if there is such a place, or if the soul is not merely a product of the amazing human brain and continues on in some way. I personnaly doubt it--and I'm fine with that.

From Wikipedia:

In his last autobiographical book, Asimov wrote, "If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul."

I've settled on Secular Humanism to serve as my "religion" or rather as my philosophy in place of a religion because it makes the most sense to me compared to any theistic dogma or authoritarian beleifs. We can agree to disagree on our world views and get along just fine--I have many strongly religious friends (despite being a bit of a thorn in the side, I haven't managed to alienate them yet, so that's good). Though, if you have questioned your faith or the existence of a god(s), then I strongly encourage you to give the site a read to offer you a positive alternative. Here is an excerpt:

"Secular Humanism is a way of thinking and living that aims to bring out the best in people so that all people can have the best in life. Secular humanists reject supernatural and authoritarian beliefs. They affirm that we must take responsibility for our own lives and the communities and world in which we live. Secular humanism emphasizes reason and scientific inquiry, individual freedom and responsibility, human values and compassion, and the need for tolerance and cooperation."

Additional reading:
Humanist Manifesto III
Humanism with a capital H
RRS: Letter to Christians
Battle of the New Atheism
Chapter 1: The Alternative to Faith from "Humanism as the next step"