When i think about religion (any religion), i immediately become uncomfortable with the idea. I come from a conservative Islamic society where to question any of the scripture or established 'truths' means that you are questioning God himself. It also leads to charges of blasphemy that create a whole other set of problems for people with unsatisfied curiosity or those who just disagree with a particular distortion in that religion.
From whatever I've seen in my own life, read about past generations, cultures and civilizations, i have come to the following simpleton conclusions:
- Whatever man cannot explain due to a lack of an accumulated body of knowledge, he ascribes to a supernatural being (God). As time passes, that body of knowledge grows and is sometimes able to explain these occurrences. He then tries to reconcile those religious ideas with the new findings but it creates an even bigger mess than what we were dealing with earlier. We just can't seem to let go.
- Man uses religion as a convenience when thinking about the unknown or about stressful situations.
- Man seems to have created a theology in which he is the highest form of God's creation and other life forms should bend to his will. I see mankind as an evolutionary marvel albeit a parasite on Earth at the same time. If we think about how we have enslaved other life forms for our own use and amusement, continuously changed the environment to fulfill our immediate desires, it makes me think that mankind follows the distinctive features of a virus which spreads because of its resilience to natural stressors. Again, i cannot fathom a divine scripture that allows the needless enslavement of other life forms. The "take as much as you need and leave the rest" philosophy that the animal kingdom follows doesn't seem to apply to man which makes me believe that mankind has corrupted a sense of balance that nature strives to maintain.
- Countless bloody wars have been fought in the name of religion where the true issue was power, resources, respect or vengeance. To this day these wars continue because "god wills it". A religion that allows the idea of war in my eyes cannot be divine unless God is amused by the destruction of innocent life which He is not in my mind. War is the manifestation of the desires of groups of humans not some divine decree.
- Religion has been used as a form of social control for as long as we can trace human life. It has also been used to create a sense of kinship and a bond between people. I have problems with such type of control exerted in the name of a divine being but serving the privileged few instead. For example, any religion that puts one gender above another is completely distorted and perverted from it's true message. This is a classic case of social control on our part. There is absolutely no divinity in unfairness.
- The intolerance to other people's beliefs ascribed by the many interpretations of a particular religion and the people practicing it make me believe that if ever there was a pure religion, it has now been corrupted beyond repair and hence rendered obsolete. If my neighbor likes to plant daisies in his garden whereas i like to plant tulips, does this mean he is wrong and i am right? Should i shed his blood and destroy his garden because he likes or believes something different? How do his daises affect me? What have we done with 'free will'? I think religion is the personification of a person's inner beliefs, upbringing and preferences and that these should remain personal. My relationship with God is very personal to me; one in which i will tolerate no outside interference.
I don't want to follow a particular ideology just because i am expected to or because i was raised in a particular environment. I want to come to terms with what makes sense to me and what doesn't. Blind faith is something i cannot come to terms with - so preachers... no one's home, and reciters...
لا شيء وقيان مطلق بالكولون ممكن
(Laa shay'a waqui'n moutlaq bale kouloun moumkine)
"Where other men blindly follow the truth; remember, nothing is true.
Where other men are limited by morality or law; remember, everything is permitted.
We work in the dark, to serve the light..."
-- Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad --
