Religion, Faith, etc.

Preface:
Because religion and faith come into play in the dating world, I thought it might be a good time to share my views on the topic.  I'm doing this now because these topics will come into play in at least one upcoming entry and it's easier to throw it all out in one spot, instead of having to repeatedly explain my position.  This is NOT meant as an all encompassing treatise on theology, nor as the basis for an existential debate on the topic.

Before I go any further, let me be very clear on one thing:  I respect the rights of others to believe in whatever they wish and I expect that respect to be reciprocated. 

Organized Religion
I have a hate love hate relationship with organized religion.  There's no question that religious entities do some great work for the needy, but they've also been responsible for more than a little genocide along the way.  More Jews and Muslims have died in the name of God than at the hands of the Third Reich.  For centuries, religious institutions were the least tolerant and most oppressive forces upon society.  But make no mistake, intolerance of other religions was all about power.  In particular, the Catholic church had it and wanted to keep it at all costs.  If that meant slaughtering members of some upstart religion?  Um yeah, it was God's will they died.  We'll come back to God's will later.  But the insanity that's been seen its origin in organized religion is just overwhelming, if you think about it.

Christianity doesn't have a monopoly on power plays in the name of dogma.  Sure, the split in Islam into the Sunni and Shia began as a difference in beliefs, but it's long since become all about, you guessed it, power.  And thousands have died as a result.

As to the horrific things currently being perpetrated by a few meatheads in the name of Islam, I don't associate them with the religion.  Power hungry (gee, recurring theme) despots exhort and fund acts by uneducated, ignorant, weak minded, goat fuckers because said despots don't have the economic horsepower to be true world leaders.  The homegrown versions are about the same, except they don't have the lack of education to blame.  And they likely still fuck goats.

I have to admit the current Pope encourages me just a bit.  He seems to be interested more about his fellow man than the power of the Catholic church.  Granted, by being so warm and fuzzy, he's hoping to entice people to join the church, but who doesn't have a motive?

My ambivalence toward organized religion continues at the local level,  When I was much younger, I went to church every Sunday, participated in Bible study groups, and such.  Some of the most genuinely kind and selfless people I've ever met were members of that church.  Wow, I hadn't thought of them in years and the memories have warmed my soul just a bit.  On the flip side, my church, as I'm sure most churches, included some of the most petty, selfish, jackwads I've ever met.  These were mostly in leadership positions.  They had their own agenda and it was all about, you guessed it, power, usually over the most inane things.

The Word Of God
Most of the atrocities I've mentioned have been in the name of some god and usually justified by citing the word of said deity.
As I'm neither a scholar of Christianity nor Islam, I'll stick with what I'm the least ignorant about, which is the former.  Regardless, my position comes down to this:  how the hell can you know what the real word of God is?
Most of us are aware that the Bible we know doesn't include all the books written, particularly with respect to the New Testament.  That portion was written over the span of the first through the sixth century AD.  Six hundred years is quite awhile after Jesus allegedly walked the earth to be writing about him with any credibility.  I'll go out on a limb and say there weren't any first hand witnesses around when those books were written.  The earliest books of the New Testament were written fifty plus years after, which makes one wonder why the authors waited so long to chronicle the deeds of the messiah.  If they guy actually existed, performed miracles, and such, one would think his deeds would have been written about contemporaneously.  And not all the books made the cut; one source I found said that there were originally three thousand books in the New Testament.  Who says they weren't the correct ones?  A group of clergy sat down and chose the ones to be included.  Again, I'm fairly certain none of them had first hand knowledge of the events.  Therefore, I would argue that we have no way of knowing what the actual word of God was.

Some of what's considered to be the word of God was most likely created as a way to govern the Hebrews as they sought out a new home.  They no longer had a king to fear and obey, so a new entity to guide them was required.  What better of a leader to have than a divine one who is all powerful and all seeing?  What better to create unity than a benevolent deity, who loves his followers (and isn't afraid to raise a little hell when they get out of line)?

One of the items in the Bible that I'll point to as a support for the 'code of conduct' theory is the prohibition of eating pork, as outlined in Leviticus.  It's only been recently that pork could be consumed without fear of contracting trichinosis, so consuming pork could be downright dangerous back before we understood proper food preparation and sanitation.  'Hey, to keep our people safe, we'll just put in that God said it's uncool.'  For all we know, the guy who wrote that part of the scripture had a beef (no pun intended) with his neighbor, who was a pig farmer.  It's all for naught anyway, because in Mark, Jesus contradicts God and says all food is okay.  How did that go down when Jesus rose to meet Daddy?

God:  You disobeyed my word by making meat from the pig okay
Jesus:  Dad, there's this thing they make from pig; one of the disciples slipped it into dinner.  That Joseph's such a joker.  Anyway, it was delicious!  Heavenly even.
G:  Don't get carried away, son.  So, what's this new food of the pig called?
J:  Bacon!

There are plenty of other things noted in the Bible, that are naughty in God's eyes, yet even the church accepts them now.  Just because you're 'the church' doesn't grant you the right to reinterpret the word of God.  Although, the Bible was retooled and reinterpreted several centuries after JC left the building, so there's that.

How the Bible has been manipulated over the centuries is a topic unto itself, but it certainly casts a new light on various religions claiming theirs is the right one, and condemn those who worship differently as blasphemers.  And they shallst be known as the greatest of the idiots.

The Existence of God / Allah / Ishvara / Other Deities
In short, the horrible things that go on in our world wouldn't occur, were there a loving deity guiding us and protecting us.  So no, I don't believe in the general concept of God(s).  That doesn't mean there wasn't a creator of some sort.  Yes, the big bang theory has a great deal of evidence behind it, but what was before that?  For all we know, our universe was a project for some cosmic teenager's senior science project, that he got a B- on.

People of Faith
Readers might be surprised to find I actually hold a great deal of respect for people of earnest faith. Those who truly live being Christian are some of the kindest, most giving, I've ever met.  Truly, now more than ever, faith is something that's tough to hold onto.  And if your faith provides you comfort, solace, and brings joy to your life, you're ahead of the rest of us.  Not to mention, most religion's tenets provide an excellent moral framework.

However, that respect has a few boundaries.  While I advocate the freedom to believe and worship as your faith dictates, practicing your religion should never impinge upon my ability to practice my own.  Worship that golden calf all you want but if you get in my face for eating a steak, you're gonna have a chance to meet that golden calf maker sooner rather than later.

There is one other segment of the faithful that makes me want to punch them every time they speak; I refer to them as the ones who always want God to drive.  These are the people who proclaim everything that happens to them as God's will and take little to no responsibility for their own actions.  No, it wasn't God's will you're paralyzed and He's not doing it to test you; it's because you were a dumb fuck and got shitfaced before you got behind the wheel.  I met someone recently, who repeatedly did stupid things, most of which I pointed out were stupid prior to said stupid actions being taken.  Instead of modifying their behavior, they'd pray for guidance on what to do.  Um, I just gave you the fucking guidance!!!!  They would repeatedly say 'it's in God's hands'.

Listen people, if you believe in God, you still need to remember the two greatest gifts he's given to you; free will and a brain.  And that's the argument I've had with more than one of the non-drivers.  I've lost count of how many times I've said 'I'm fairly certain God would want you to use the fucking brain he gave you to make the right choices, instead of hoping he'll clean up after you after you make the wrong ones.'  I don't believe in God but I'm fairly certain if he actually existed, he wouldn't appreciate you treating him like your janitor.