PrintI Hate Religion! (1)
Someone recently said to me, "Religion is the root of all evil". I wanted to point out that the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil but that would be too pedantic and miss the point of what he was expressing. Although the quote is technically inaccurate, there is a disturbing amount of truth in what my friend said.
My friend, in fact, is anything but alone in thinking this way. Actually, he belongs to a club with a huge and growing membership. When one looks at history it becomes undeniably evident that religion in all its expressions has been responsible for much of the hatred, conflict and heartache in our world century after century. There's not a day goes by that we aren't confronted with the results of religious tension and conflict across our planet.
Today it is the world-wide struggle between Islam, Christianity and Judaism. Yesterday it was the conflict between Catholic and Protestant. There is no denying the human cost and devastation brought about by such dark seasons as The Inquisition and The Crusades. It seems that no matter where one turns the pages of history, every page provides further evidence of this curse of religion.
I am finding within my heart a rising level of frustration and resentment towards religion. I resent what religion has done to the Christian faith and the Christian Church. I want to expose religion for what it is - a humanistic system of beliefs and behaviour, devised by human ingenuity and that claims to represent and act on behalf of some particular god or gods to the end that it disempowers, controls and manipulates people.
I can no longer make excuses for the place and impact of religion in the world. I will come at this issue again until I have resolved this matter to my own satisfaction.
