From:    Albertus Magnus
Date:    18-Sep-94 11:22am
Subject: Why I don't like religion
Area:    PODS "Metaphysic" echo

Many have asked me over the years why I have little use for 
religion. It basically congeals into one primary point, and once 
that point is understood, all the rest makes perfect sense.

I'm not going to get into a treatise on the existence of a 'god' or 
even a great 'Cosmic StarGoat' for that matter, although the latter 
does go a long way in explaining my particular position.

That position is that religion is the creation of man, not the 
creation of any higher being. This being the case, religion is 
subject to all the whims, fallacies, faults, and maladies that 
afflict humanity as a whole. Humanity can't create miracles, and 
hence, neither can religion.

Let us presume for the moment that there is a greater entity out 
there... a creator if you will. Depending upon the religion you wish 
to subscribe to, the genesis of all that is differs greatly from 
religion to religion. They all can't be right. There is a simple 
reason for this... that being that even if there is/was some form of 
creator, it created the raw materials of the universe, but the 
organized worship (ie. religion) was not a construct included. That 
was a creation of mankind looking to pay homage to said creator.

We can use Christianity as an example, here. The issue of the actual 
functionality of the church isn't addressed until the book of Acts. 
Acts itself isn't really a blueprint for a religion, either, it's a 
collection of early 'ministries' conducted by the faithful. A 
ministry need not be a religion... in fact, really all a ministry is 
is a travelling oratory campaign, to 'spread the word.'

The further presumption that a creator and/or supreme deity is 
omnipotent would seem to further preclude the necessity for 
religion. Religion essentially serves one major end: worship of the 
given god. Is it beyond the means of the individual to be able to 
relate to that which is omnipotent on their own personal terms and 
revelations? Of course not. It is certainly possible for the 
individual to have their own relationship with the deity-figure of 
their choice without having to attend human-created ritualism. Any 
religion which tells the individual that they cannot have such a 
relationship (without doing so in church-context) is engaging in 
either a profound doubt of the ability of their deity or a profound 
doubt in the ability of the individual. Each case, as is evident, is 
tantamount to extreme philosophical elitism.

So why do so many rush to their churches on given holy days and so 
forth? Why the obligatory tithes and 'burnt offerings' if you will? 
One possible reason is that the organized religions of the world 
have perhaps gauged themselves accordingly on the herd mentality of 
the people. That the people, in an effort to want to belong, wish to 
roll themselves up in these human/arbitrary concepts and feel 
accepted. Is this acceptance from the deity or acceptance from the 
religion, however? Since, as has been discussed, the concept of 
religion is entirely a human fabrication it is relatively safe to 
say that this is a peer-to-peer acceptance between the devotee and 
the priesthood. It is not, however, a method of any greater 
connectivity to the chosen deity.

So, does religion have any intrinsic value in society? Certainly. 
Religions all have behavioral templates which can be applied to the 
devotees who wish to partake of them. Many (if not all) of these 
templates contain generally sound advice on codes of conduct and 
relationships with one's fellow man. The larger issue is, however, 
whether these templates go to any great length to improve the 
standing of the follower in the eyes of a god. To that end, while 
they may not explicitly be a hindrance, they certainly aren't 
overtly necessary. Religion may help to connect the like-thinking to 
each other, but anything else is subject to skepticism.

If you are seeking to make a covenant with a deity, the best 
covenant there can be is the one you make with yourself to that end. 
For there you are alone in the eyes of what you have opted for and 
in that solitude, you have no crutch and no one to blame when things 
go wrong except for yourself.

       .\ .\.\

... I'm a SysOp, not a role model.
--- Blue Wave/TG v2.12
* Origin: {Cerebral Babylon} E.Prov/RI 401-435-3576 v.32bis
(93:9640/0.0)