Anger at a religion - Is it a turmoil of conscience?

Question

I've been thinking about conscience a lot lately. I think I need to clear some definitions up, first, though:

CONSCIENCE is your inner conception of what is right and wrong, developed as a result of:
(1) what you were taught as a child
(2) your personal moral reliasations as a teenager
(3) life experience which altered (1) and (2)
(4) spiritual revelations that changed your mind
(5) something else I haven't thought of yet

Consciousness is self-awareness... I'm not really asking about that, here. I'm talking about CONSCIENCE (inner moral compass).

People who are angry against a religion that they have left, and who actively try to pull down the faith of people who still believe in that religion... Are they doing this in an unconscious attempt to break down the moral conditioning, which they now reject?

Would it help them more to find their inner peace if they turned inwards to reconstruct their own consciences to wholeness, rather than trying to obliterate the outward religion?

Thanks everyone. I realise that some people leave religion for consciencious reasons... ie truly believe something different, and are fully at peace with their decision.

I see, now, also that the anger/frustration might be against the interference of people, rather than the accusations of inner conscience.

Aurura Dawn... I accept that people arrive at different beliefs to mine through an honest consciencious process.

Thank you for explaining your feelings and perceptions with such clarity. Your words made me realise that missionary zeal to share our perception of truth is something that all people feel when they have come to their place of inner peace.

norrispenguin, I love your response. Thanks.

JeffyB - I agree. Evangelicals and ex-whateverists both have an equal right to tear down other people's beliefs... none. I can see that there would be quite a bit of backlash against evangelicals who resort to guilt and fear tactics to control other people. In some cases the anger is related to struggles for power.... Perhaps those who are angry at religion feel that the religion has taken their power away, and they are struggling to find their own empowerment again... hence anger. Thanks! I hadn't thought of that! LOL

twinsma and marbledog, I love your answers, too. Twinsma, your answer helped me to understand a bit more. Marbledog, I agree with you.

Cobradene... oh so true.

Answer 1

I think that would be true in some cases for people who leave their religion for those reasons.

Remember, though, that there are a million and one different reasons why people leave a religion (and then try to show others what they have learned, kind of like missionary work, but in reverse), and so your theory (although very valid and well-thought-out) would only apply to a select few.

Answer 2

My conscience led me to leave each religion I ever belonged to. It took many years of inner searching, researching, reading, thinking, debating and reasoning to get to where I am today. I feel that where I am is a good and reasonable place to be. I feel I have valid points about why I believe religion is wrong...and why the religions I belonged to are wrong. It would be against my conscience to not share what I have discovered. I don't try to break down anything, I come here to respond to questions posed to atheists and to ask questions of my own to gain understanding. The place where I am is a good place. I've done all the "turning inwards" and searching. Just because you don't agree with the end of my journey does not negate that fact. You would be happier if what I arrived to was what you believe in, but it isn't.

atheist

Answer 3

I don't know whether it is turmoil of conscience or not. But surely it is way of breaking out of the norms and restrictions and beliefs religion tries to impose on the common man. For eg. a particular religion says, it is a sin to have sex. The the curiosity rouses in our mind why is it a sin to have sex. And if I have sex, will I really go to hell. It's totally stupid for any religious head to say, if you have sex you will incur sin and go to hell. Similarly, there are many other examples. But apart from this, what is true religion? We need to understand that first. The word religion means to bind. To bind what? To bind everybody under the same roof of God. To bind the whole of humanity with love and compassion and unite everybody into the love of God.

But today the meaning has changed completely. Today religion doesn't bind, but restricts man from thinking or acting freely. That is not true religion at all. Today, one religion says, you must not follow or even think of any other faith or else you shall incur sin. All religions are following a blind path. Religion has been marred with ignorance. God doesn't divide man. God has never come down on earth and said, "only christianity or islam or hinduism is the true religion". Only when such religious heads start dividing man, does man get angry and try to break out of the norms of the society and start to look for his own path. What was Jesus' religion? What path did he follow? He never mentioned the word of religion. Nor did Mohammed or Krishna.

It is us who have given a faith a form, a structure and made it restricted like a well. And we are all frogs living in different religious wells thinking only our religious well is the true well and none can exist other than ours. So the ones who refuse to live in the well of ignorance move out of it to explore the ocean of life. Obviously, the ocean of life is much larger than the well. The last question is right. Yes, you have to move inward to realise that all religions are one. When you find the true supreme source, which unites all of us together as one spirit, that's when man would stop discriminating his brothers and sisters according to religion, colour, caste and creed.

Answer 4

Assuming that the moral conditioning they recieved at the hands of their childhood religion was actually in error, it could be argued that they have a moral obligation to save others from the same injury. Thus, some people are actually FOLLOWING their consciences in attempting to tear down self-perpetuating systems that harmed them as a child.

Of course, some people do attack their former religions simply out of rebellion or to gain retribution for perceived wrongs. In such cases, the religion and all of its trappings may become symbols of the person's own dissatisfaction. Such people would definitely fare better by focusing on themselves.

Answer 5

It's a good question... For me it has been more of a b rejection of the irony and hipocrisy that I experienced in religion. I have kept many of the morals, ideals, ideas from religion but feel that I cannot be a part of it because of the lies that the people in that religion told to me and to themselves.

I think you are right that those who have left religion need to turn inward. We need to deal with our triggers, issues and connect personally with God if we feel so inclined. I have done my share of putting down religion and all it did was make me more miserable. I am in a bad state of mind and dealing with negativity when I start bashing the christians.

Answer 6

I'd say that the angry people you are speaking of have every bit as much right to try to "pull down the faith of others" as the evangelicals have to push their beliefs on people who are very happy with their current beliefs. The world woudl be a much happier place if we all agreed we could believe whatever we want, and no one has the right to push thier beliefs on others.

Answer 7

No. You have it completely backwards.

It was my conscience that caused me to leave Christianity. How could I stay in a religion whose central tenet is that it doesn't even matter what you do in life, as long as you agree to "accept Jesus"? A religion that criminalizes human biology, making you "guilty" of things over which you have no control in the first place, and then offers itself as the remedy? A religion that has always been at the forefront of every attempt to stall human progress, because its power and wealth as an institution depend upon the ignorance and credulity of the masses?

So you can call me "angry," if it makes you feel better to reduce my objections to mere emotionalism. I simply feel that "morality" has no meaning at all within the context of Christianity. Everything is reduced to "accepting Jesus" as the bribe to God to get you off the hook for your own personal misdeeds, so that you can secure a good seat in His Clubhouse when you die.

Answer 8

That's why the bible says the law is a school master to lead us to Christ. The law, any moral law, directly has an effect on the conscience. It doesn't matter if one is religious or not. No one is able to consistently satisfy the conscience. We are driven to Christ for forgiveness and the reception of the Holy Spirit. This is a process so it takes time. That is also why Christians are no longer under the law.

Answer 9

Atheism is not a religion, and if someone with a religion lets someone else's lack of belief put them in a turmoil, it's not the atheist's problem. >

Answer 10

I feel that it may be an attempt to undermine an illegitimate basis for questionable morals that either constrains one activity to the point of breakdown, or justifies cruelty towards and judgment of others (example: Jews and homosexuals, bashed with equal cruelty,the latter more so in recent years).