I know a couple people who swear that religion turned their life around. I swear they’re the nicest most pleasant people I know. They claim that when they were teenagers they were consistently stealing things and breaking into places and it wasn’t until they found God that they stopped.
The one guy was a little more analytical than the other guy. He looked me dead in the eye and said I don’t know that God is up there watching, But I do know that in the time when I needed somebody to be watching, I felt he was and I made better decisions.
Now, I think that this is an outlier case but I’m apprehensive to just completely discount religion even though I know in all cases it’s control. A lot of churches do have reasonable positive outreach for the money. Of course for each one of those you’ve got another church out there really everybody for 30% in no matter what their situation is.
I really understand that it is a nuanced issue, people are extremely intricate and surprising creatures. People have a way of taking the worst circumstances and making them wonderful. If a little God makes your life better, fucking go for it. My granddad, one of the sweetest most caring men I ever met, his final words were, “God in heaven…” And then He passed. At which point it doesn’t matter if heaven is a “real” place, it is real because it is real to people who believe in it. On the other hand, many atheists are insufferable and just as ignorant and entrenched in their negative belief as the worst religious people can be. I’ve studied religions and was deeply Catholic until I was about 30, so like 15 years ago. I love to discuss theology. Personally I read the Tao te Ching and it helps me connect with my spirit, and I want others to have that, whether it comes from religion or music or just other people.
But the parts that are a mechanism of control are just too ingrained into it. I believe in freedom and human self-creation. If religion helps you accomplish that, go for it: praise Jesus, God is Great. But if it doesn’t, then to the extent that it actively prohibits this then it is to that extent that I oppose it. Sometimes its a little, sometimes its a lot.
I know a couple people who swear that religion turned their life around. I swear they’re the nicest most pleasant people I know. They claim that when they were teenagers they were consistently stealing things and breaking into places and it wasn’t until they found God that they stopped.
The one guy was a little more analytical than the other guy. He looked me dead in the eye and said I don’t know that God is up there watching, But I do know that in the time when I needed somebody to be watching, I felt he was and I made better decisions.
Now, I think that this is an outlier case but I’m apprehensive to just completely discount religion even though I know in all cases it’s control. A lot of churches do have reasonable positive outreach for the money. Of course for each one of those you’ve got another church out there really everybody for 30% in no matter what their situation is.
I really understand that it is a nuanced issue, people are extremely intricate and surprising creatures. People have a way of taking the worst circumstances and making them wonderful. If a little God makes your life better, fucking go for it. My granddad, one of the sweetest most caring men I ever met, his final words were, “God in heaven…” And then He passed. At which point it doesn’t matter if heaven is a “real” place, it is real because it is real to people who believe in it. On the other hand, many atheists are insufferable and just as ignorant and entrenched in their negative belief as the worst religious people can be. I’ve studied religions and was deeply Catholic until I was about 30, so like 15 years ago. I love to discuss theology. Personally I read the Tao te Ching and it helps me connect with my spirit, and I want others to have that, whether it comes from religion or music or just other people.
But the parts that are a mechanism of control are just too ingrained into it. I believe in freedom and human self-creation. If religion helps you accomplish that, go for it: praise Jesus, God is Great. But if it doesn’t, then to the extent that it actively prohibits this then it is to that extent that I oppose it. Sometimes its a little, sometimes its a lot.