Religion In Modern Society

Okay because it has been over two weeks since I last posted, I thought I would do something worthwhile and something that I feel strongly about. This being religion.

First of I would like to say that I am an Atheist. There are two types of Atheists. Those who reject the idea of a personal god or gods and those who just simply do not believe in God. I consider myself 1/3 of the former and 2/3 of the latter.

Being an Atheist doesn't mean that I am against the belief of a god or gods, in fact I am quite the opposite. I think the belief in something, whether it is a god or a generic higher being/entity, is a good thing for people to have because it gives them a sense of security. So you may ask why I do not believe in God... To put it simply, the idea of a big fat man sat on a cloud, sporting a long grey beard and a white toga, who judges every move I make and condemns me for not praising him just does not seem feasible to me, what-so-ever.

My problem is with the oppressive, contradictory, controlling, brain-washing force known as religion. It stops people from free-thought, something that I believe to be vital to the human existence. People are roped in and told how to act, what to do, what do think and how to live their lives, therefore being controlling and oppressive. When people are roped in from an early age, they are made to believe that a virgin fell pregnant and gave birth to the son of God. This is brain-washing.

This is surely against basic human rights that allow people to think for themselves and make their own decisions but children are impressionable and when caught from an early age, you can tell them anything over and over again and they will believe it. Children need a point of view from both sides, one from the side of the religious and one from the side of the irreligious, and this is exactly what I will do with my children if and when I have them.

I have always been very skeptical of the existence of God, even from an early age when I went to a Roman Catholic primary school and I was taught to believe. I always questioned religion and why it said the things it did. For a few years, until recently I was Agnostic and a few months ago I became an Atheist, primarily due to to the contradictions in religion. Such as God being the good and all-powerful being who refuses to eradicate all evil on Earth. In the "Holy" Bible, God killed almost 3 million people for not listening to him, not praising him and not doing what he wanted etc., and Satan only killed 10 people in the very same book! Now you tell me who the evil one really is.

If God gave everyone set paths to follow in life, why did he give people free-thought and make certain people Atheists and Agnostics. Why does he make people "evil"? Why does he judge us and our lives when he himself set those paths for us? If God really did set our paths out, why didn't he make it so that everyone praises him? The only way religious people can answer this is by saying "Satan did it". Hang on, isn't God all powerful? Why doesn't he just destroy Satan and make everyone good, surely it would save God a lot of trouble in the future.

Control, oppression and contradiction goes for all religions, I don't care what it is but it is mainly pointed to the Abrahamic religions; Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

In today's world of science, we do not need religion either to control us, or guide us. Religion originally started as a means to explain the unexplainable, such as where we come from, why we are here and what happens after death. Science has explained most of these away and with the constant advancement of knowledge and understanding we no longer need religion in today's world. It just makes no sense.

Instead of worshiping some Jewish carpenter with an invisible dad, who lived 2000 years ago, we should be worshiping those who are constantly advancing the limits of human knowledge and understanding into the un-imaginable. We should not be giving God the credit for OUR work as it only undermines all the work that we have done as a human race.

Most of the most powerful and important minds in the world are and have been Atheists. Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Karl Marx, Richard Dawkins, Sigmund Freud, Paul Dirac, Stephen Hawking, Peter Higgs, James Watson and Francis Crick. The absence of the oppression of religion allowed these people to work to their full potential and become some of the most celebrated people who have ever lived.

"Is God willing to prevent evil but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God." - Epicurus.