Your own opinion on Religion?

Question

I feel that religion has been used to control mass quantitys of people for wealth, dominance and mind control, but thats just me. In the past being forced to go to a christian or catholic church to read scriptures from the Bible, which in my opinion is a book that states storys in a vivide way using mediphors so you can put what it really means together yourself... What do you think about religion?

Answer 1

Religion is a fascinating subject to study, as there are so many interesting ones.
And you're right, generally, the major religions are 'an opiate for the masses' to quote Marx, and have been & still control peoples minds, lives & wealth. Some believe that they 'help the poor', but only at the expense of cultural loss.

On the other hand, I believe some people need religion to keep them 'on the straight & narrow'! All the 12 step programs keep a lot of people from doing 'bad things'.

Many religious texts have a lot of wisdom in them, but there's nothing divine about them as they were all written by humans.

Answer 2

Religion is good.
It fulfills a need of spiritual belonging in humans. It brings us closer to God and helps us to answer the question, why are we here. Unfortunately, throughout history, and including today, there are those that pervert religion or use it for evil. They have nothing to do with God or God's message. They have everything to do with man's corruption, and they will be judged accordingly. Do not allow their sinfulness to turn you away.
As for being "forced", I presume you mean educated in a subject that you do not want to be educated in, i.e. religion. I do not look at this as being "forced". How can you know if you do not want a part of your religion if you are not first educated about it? It is only after you are educated that you can make the conscious choice to turn away or embrace it. Only then can the choice be truly yours and ultimately the responsibily for your choice.
Thus far, I have educated myself about the different forms of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Atheism, Agnosticsm, and Scientology. I consciously choose and embrace the Christian faith through the Roman Catholic Church.

Answer 3

I can understand your observations. I'm a religious person, but am a bit older. Since I've gotten past many of my questions, I feel comfortable with my faith. I'm a Catholic, who like any other, questioned his faith.

Now I realize the truth in it. God intended faith to be a perfect thing. It was never flawed or incorrect. Humans got a hold of it and turned it into many other things.

God has a very simple message in religion:

1. You're not alone. God is always with you.
2. God will never stop loving you.
3. God will give you whatever you need, if you only submit to His plan...so stop worrying and trying to take control!

I just love everyone the best I can and let everybody else fight about the stuff that doesn't matter.

Hope this helps!

Answer 4

When I see the acts of religious people in our western civilization today I see good things happening.

Churches help communities in many ways. The fundraisers they hold are for people in the community; not congregation exclusive. Some have missionaries that go and help in other countries.

Finding a church that offers a network can save you money, offer help (say you move homes); food, clothing, advice, visits to old people in homes, kids - pretty much name it. At least that goes for my church. My husband and I attended a 2 Saturday, 2 hr course on money and helped look at areas where we can reduce spending, contribute to saving got a really great workbook, breakfast and it was free!

Additionally, religion gives me an opportunity to burden my worldly woes to the Lord and not have to carry them alone. My faith that He will help and show me the way never fails, because He never fails. Sometimes I want things on my time; most times they are on His. He gives me courage, strength, love and patience. Don't get me wrong - I have an anger problem and still need to address it. I know that anything is possible if I trust in God and stay true to myself.

I think that if we look at matters from His point of view and not Our point of view, we'd get a clearer picture.

Answer 5

The Bible actually is one of histories most reliable books (check out the link).

As for my opinion of religion? Religion, when it is not a cult or an extremist faction, is a positive force in the world. It has ideals that teach people about discipline as well as how to treat others with respect. But for religion to be most effective it has to be accepted--and not forced on-- by the believer. Hope that helps, God bless. ^_^

Answer 6

I look at religions as paths meant to help people achieve spiritual awareness. A certain set of instructions meant to help you learn about yourself and your connection to deity and all that is. But people take religion to a bad place and use it to control the masses and make money.

Mainstream religions have nothing to really do with the spiritual progression of the individual or the individual relationship to "deity" or the universal whole. That concept, while maybe present at some point, was lost and obliterated. And while some people still "get it" - most of them don't. Instead of working on themselves and their spirituality - they memorize books and passages and parrot them at command.

They look at the "rewards" of religion (i.e. heaven, being right, being blessed, etc...) as what it's all about. But many of them know nothing of spirituality or themselves and expect some unseen force to save them, not realizing that they have the power within themselves to save themselves. They have their own power to manifest good things in their lives. It's not deity's job to give us anything except maybe guidance and strength while we travel our own spiritual paths.

In many instances, modern religion is just a lazy man's way of claiming his spiritual superiority to other men.

But this is just my opinion.

Answer 7

Organized religion for the most part has disappointed & disillusioned a lot of people. Some terrifying, violent & corrupt things have been done in the name of religion.

However, I don't think that means you should just rule it out. It may mean you just have to search really hard until you find the one that makes the most sense to your mind, & fills your heart w/ hope.

Answer 8

I think religion can inspire acts of great courage, nobility, generosity, and tolerance or acts of great wickedness and intolerance. The real evil is blind faith. If one is not free to examine with open eyes what is moral in and of itself, but believes that "doing what you're told" is always a virtue or whatever is written in scripture is "Truth for all," one cannot separate the good from the bad in religion or anything else.

Answer 9

You are the only person i have seen post a anti-christian question today and not be completely rude about it. Even though I am a christian I believe to an extent you are probably write. There is a lot of power in the church and like anywhere else. Where there is power there is corruption. But those who are corrupt will have to answer up one day.

Answer 10

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