Religion is The Vampire of life
On the other hand spirituality and the search for the grater good...
is beneficial to oneself and everyone else...Where as religion is just another form of government that wants to claim what ever is left once the government gets done with you.....What do you think?

I am an atheist. This is not a choice. It's just the way I see reality. That said. I am not hostile to religion. Even with all the evil in the world that has been done in the name of religion. First, I think that religion is cheap psychiatry. People need to feel that they are in a good place in the universe. Second, I think that church fellowship provides an invaluable venue for binding communities together.

I do not think that religion is effective in teaching morals and ethics.

NO , JUST AS LONG AS IT IS GIVEN FREELY, OR A FREE WILL OFFERING OF ONES SELF......THAT IS WHAT THE U.S.A OF IS BASED ON .......WISH THESE OTHER COUNTRIES WOULD GET THAT THRU THERE HEADS THAT EACH MAN HAS FREEDOM OF RELIGION......... THESE COUNTRIES FIGHTING FOR THERE FREEDOM SHOULD ADOPT THE FIRST TEN AMENDEMENTS OF OUR CONSTITUTION WHICH IS THE BILL OF RIGHTS OR CIVIL RIGHTS OR HUMAN RIGHTS EACH PERSON IS BORN WITH ALL OVER THE WORLD......... AMEN FOR THE U.S.A..............

I think it depends upon the subjective view of religion.

I view religion as a way for people of similar spiritual minds to congregate and congregating(so long as it isnt to organize harming others) cant be seen as 'good' or 'bad' IMHO

Agreed. Especially the part about cheap psychiatry.

I also think that church fellowship can indeed be a positive thing, and fortunately it actually is in the vast majority of cases.

However, in rare instances it can also be the source of venomous attitudes toward "non-believers". And that's an unfortunate thorn that it always seems to be present in at least in a minority of individuals who enjoy using religion as an excuse to spread hateful rhetoric toward other people.

It's so easy to fall into the trap of using religion and a God concept to say mean and hateful things to people who do not believe in a particular the religion.

That's a very sad side-affect that these religions seems to have. Fortunately like I say, the people who suck up to that kind of hate rhetoric are typically a minority.

I only wish that the wiser people of the faith would step in to chastise the few who use the religion for such negative purposes. The mere fact that they seldom, if ever, step up to the plate is quite disappointing.

I think one reason they don't do it is because the people who use religion to spread brotherly hate, would quickly chastise their very own religious brothers as being "false" members of the faith, if they don't support their hate rhetoric and then they start spewing verses from the doctrine to support their hated toward non-believers and it's hard to argue with them without getting into a doctrine war.

So it's better to just ignore them.

But yes Artlo, overall, in the vast majority of cases, I agree with your positive assessment of religion in general. It's both cheap psychiatry and more often than not incites people to do GOOD things.

This is true. Fortunately.

not that I know what all people are doing but I can imagine one reason 'wise' religious people may not be SEEN chastising those 'negative' ones is the WISE ones may not be about publicity and popularity,,,,but that doesnt mean those 'wise' ones arent taking action in their own more private ways

perhaps thats why we dont 'see' even more of those 'negative' ones?

Unto all, I nid you read this article, for a fuller understanding of what religion really is.
It's about a 1-2 hr read (unless you're a speed reader) but well worth it if you have the time.

Read it and please spread the word.
Make our world a better place.

http://actualsanity.com/

I think religions are more like cocoons. Sometimes they are necessary in order to bring about a change. While someone is inside one, there may not be a lot of room to move around, but once it is cast off, you can never go back to the way you were before.

Thank you very much for sharing this letter.

I totally agree with the author 100%.

I would especially like to pass on a specific thought that he shared in his letter:

"it simply means that this message (the message of compassion) is the only way to actual sanity and a better world - and it meant exactly the same thing when Jesus said it, too. "I, the message of compassion, am the way, the truth, and the life." Sorry about your bad luck, but no man comes to the Father (your true nature) but through me (the message of compassion). Got it now? Okay, good - and don't blame me, meaning "me" as in the imperfect human being who is being used as a vehicle for these truths. I didn't make the rules, and neither did Jesus, Buddha, the Dalai Lama, or anybody else who has tried to carry the message to you."

I'm in total agreement with this man's views whoever he might be.

I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue.

~B. Russel.

I tend to agree with him.

That does not mean that I wage war against the people who practice religion. They have their reasons, and most of them are nice well meaning people.

I think your right...
religion keeps peopleoids from experiencing true spirituality.
Too busy following rules and trying to please everyone else they forget to be true to themselves, that is a barrier to spirituality!!

if we JUST please our self, that may be seen as selfish

I think a balance of self fulfillment and community(having commonality, agreeing on certain boundaries and expectations) doesnt barter ones spirituality at all

MsHarmony,

I agree with you 100% But only because you must necessarily be thinking of the "self" here as the ego, and not as your true spiritual self.

Did you read the letter posted by Mikey_Douglas at the following link?

http://actualsanity.com/

When these non-Christian spiritual people speak of their true self, they are not speaking of the ego or a self-serving attitude in that sense. They are speaking of their true self. Their inner child. The true essence of who they truly are.

So there isn't going to be any division between serving their true self, and serving their fellow man in terms of compassion and positive things.

Cowering down to a dogmatic religion in an effort to appease a society of Christians is not compassion. There's nothing spiritual in that. The truth must always be held above all else. And if the truth is that a person does not acknowledge the ancient Hebrews stories as the verbatim word of God, then they must stand by that truth.

It's a shame that this leads those who do (i.e. the Christian) into judgment toward those who don't. That's a truly sad reality of the religion. It's a real shame that this can't be changed. But unfortunately it's what the Christian doctrine teaches. And there doesn't seem to be any way to save the religion from this negative aspect of it's doctrine.

That is mostly true. No one cowers down to appease anyone. If someone is doing something just to please another that would be in vein, not truly ment, they only did that to make that person happy or to make them self look better. Christianity is about doing things from the heart, not out of direst, not out of vein actions, not out of bettering oneself. It's about uplifting our God and true heartedly loving each and every individual. Not judging anyone for we all make mistakes in life and not one of us is perfect in our actions, atleast not all the time.

So how do you think the Christians will welcome me when I start going to their church when they all think I am an evil tarot card reader in league with Satan?

Will they welcome me into their church when I tell them I don't believe in their Book or their idea of God? Or will they try to convert me to their way?

I'm sure they'll welcome you in.

My question to you would be, "Why do you even want to bother going to a place where people are worshiping a religion that you don't believe in it?"

Just to socialize?

That seems like the wrong reason to me. Surely there must be other social places you could go that aren't focused on religion.

I agree, this is certainly true for many people.

Of course its the wrong reason to go to church.

But I'm sure its not a new idea.

Yeh, The only bar in town: The V.F.W. where all the alcoholics hang out. People have been known to have their drinks drugged and wake up in the field with a sore a$$ hole though. Its not a very safe place.

Besides I may be going there to recruit some new members into my cult of The satanic tarot card readers. LOL

I knew you had a secret agenda you sneaky witch.

I guess truth is subjective

but we all conform and agree to conform to some type of boundaries and rules whatever community we are a part of,,,,,religious or not


it is a shame for anyone to not know their 'true' self, but it is also a shame to assume that the 'true self' cant coexist with personal religious belief