Subject: The Gangrenous Hand of God (was Re: Religion)
From: Pasha Paterson (gpaterso@richmond.edu)
Date: Mon Feb 28 2000 - 01:46:19 EST
At 15:25 02/27/00 -0800, Gene wrote:
>--- FrannyGlass42@aol.com wrote:
>> the only thing that bothers me about organised
>> religion is that very often it
>> employs scare tactics to grab followers. little kids
>> always learn about the
>> devil and hell, that's what happens to people who
>> are bad and don't come to
>> church, etc etc. so kids learn very early to be
>> afraid NOT to go to church.
>> the thing is, i believe that someone's religion
>> should be what they Love. if
>> they're going to devote themselves fully to a way of
>> life, they need to Love
>> it unconditionally, and how can a person truly Love
>> something if they are
>> afraid of it.
>>
>> linny
>
>
>I agree. My parents sent me to a private Christian
>school for elementary school and then when I went on
>to a public school for jr. high and highschool I just
>felt like the private school was so naive, sheltering,
>and extremely biased. For example, I was raised to
>believe that other religions like Buddhism, Hinduism,
>and others were all pagans that were going to burn in
>hell forever. Also, the school completely avoids
>issues like sex education(the school's K-12th grade),
>drugs, and other issues; leaving kids in the dark. I
>think I'm like an Agnostic Christian that feels
>there's similarities in lots of religions.:)
I think, before we go off on bashing stereotypes of organized religion, we
need to take a decisive step back and draw a clear distinction between the
religion and its practitioners. To re-examine our Christian example:
Anyone with the guts to read the Bible critically will see that it does
contain advice in areas of ethics, morality, and general behavior, that are
still genuinely valuable today. However, this same ideal reader will also
come to realize that other lessons that might have been applicable in the
time of Moses, or Abraham, or even Jesus, are hopelessly out of touch with
the 20th or 21st century.
My other beef with organized religion is that, as soon as a sacred
institution is granted ANY degree of secular power, corruption of that
institution is inevitable. "In the beginning was the Word," and for as
long as any organized religion manages to limit itself from going any
further than that, its "truth" will survive. If a practitioner of a
religion is diverted toward secular interests, (s)he is diverted away from
the sacred doctrines at the root of the true religion, and any decrees made
on this basis are merely corruption and meaningless dogma. This is
certainly not to say that sacred texts contain no useful reference to
secular behavior. However, when these references are ignored, or expanded
beyond the realm of general benefit to humankind, the workers of the faith
disease the hand of God. Religious teachings guide us toward spirituality
and enlightenment; corrupt practitioners only lead us to the wolves' den.
_________________________________________________
Pasha Paterson gpaterso@richmond.edu
Owner/Designer/Operator, The Digital Dustbin:
http://www.student.richmond.edu/~gpaterso/
_________________________________________________
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