I'm not here to tell anyone what the ultimate higher power is, or that there even is one. Anyone who does that, is completely full of themselves and ridiculous. I guess that I just need to go in order of what seems to be the most important, and again, I just want to share my thoughts.
I've never been a very religious person, though all of my extended family on both sides are. I always feel outcasted from their "perfect world" and I'm always rather disgusted by it. I tried to relate to my grandma when I was 13 on one of the rare times I got to spend with her by talking about books. I told her that I was just rereading the Harry Potter series in preparation for the next one (I forget which one it was) and asked what she was reading. She seemed apalled and well...here's the dialogue that went on between us:
Grandma: You do know that that's about witchcraft and Satan, don't you?
Me: No. It's not like that. -__- It's just a fantasy world where that kind of stuff exists. It's not "from the devil"
Grandma: All magic is from the devil
Me: Have you ever even read it?
Grandma: No, and I don't want to because it would be a sin
Me: Right...
Grandma: Have you read your bible lately?
It seems today and for last few millenia, that religion is a point of intolerance, but why? Are these fanatics so dillusional that they believe that they know the answers of the universe? How could they possibly know what lies at the end of the tunnel, or are they "magical"? They're only repeating what they've heard or what they deeply believe, but they're repeating it as fact when no such facts exist.
The truth is, that relgion has no defined truth like people want to believe. It's simply that: a belief. It's nothing more and nothing less and therefor shouldn't forced onto people. I have an atheist friend who's bene picked on since she was just a little kid. "You know you're going to hell, right?" the other kids would tell her, "If you don't believe in god. Do you really want to burn forever when you die? You better go to church." She'd come home in tears, both frustrated and slightly afraid as any kid would be when told that she's evil and going to be engulfed in hellfire.
I don't want anyone to get me wrong. I'm a Christian, if a very loose one. In a way, I feel slightly ashamed to call myself that because it feels like conforming when it isn't. I've simply taken the influences in my life and thought about it, thinking it over until I can come up with an explanation that makes sense to me. Over time, I've managed to consider everything that I've learned about life, the world, and from different people who claim to have the answers and I've found my own truth. I'm not going to bother telling anyone what that truth is, because that's not really important to anyone else. It would ruin the entire point. You, each and every one of you, needs to stop having a certain idea drilled into your head or even, stop firmly believing in nothing just to spite religion itself. If you end up coming up with that desicion by yourself, then fine, but it shouldn't be out of spite.
I encourage people to stop going to their churches. I've watched church services with my uninvolved mind and I realized what they really are. It's some person going up, and preaching a myth or his own belief as if its true. It's a huge group of people, believing every word as it's definate fact and doing exactly what he says. It's a large group of people coming to celebrate something that may or may not exist, and attempt to impose it on others. Yes, churches are simply a large cult. Though I know that many of you will disagree, a cult is a cult, no matter what you call it and no matter what reasoning you give it. "Well it's not hurting anyone!" someone might say. Well, that's not the definition of a cult, is it? And if you want to say that such strict followings don't hurt anyone, go talk to my atheist friend. She's lost friend after friend because they found out how she believed and thought her to be unworthy of their time.
Think about how many wars have been fought over religion. Think about the ones that are being fought as we speak. (If you live in the U.S.) we are currently under attack by fanatical Muslims who believe that we should be wiped off the face of the earth for being Christians. I don't know which is more insulting, the fact that the unnecesary conflict between the two religions has persisted to this day, or that he generalized America as being entirely Christian.
I hate people who say that people who find offense in the lack of secularism in the government should just shut up. They say that America was founded on Christian values, is a predominantly Christian nation, and should therefor exist as such. What about everyone who doesn't fall under the "predominant" class? Are they supposed to be allowed to be restricted and lack the freedoms that they do now? If you think that other beliefs are tolerated in the United States, then just wait until I get to that.
((Just so you know, yes, I know that many many countries are much less tolerant than the U.S. I get that. But that doesn't mean that we can use that as an excuse to still use our "Christian" values and leaving others behind. Just because a greater evil in the world exists, doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to be better than we already are.
I will undoubtedly go into more detail on this topic later...
And sorry for not mentioning the laws and beliefs of Canadian, British, Australian, ect. governments, but I just don't know enough about it to comment.))
View User's Journal
The Thoughts of an Opinionated Teenager
I don't want to bore anyone with my normal life. You all know about normal life. I want to focus on what I think of the world and how it works, at least in my opinions. I don't care if you read or not, though I obviously would prefer that you would.
 |
