[extropy-chat] Religion Rant

[Samantha Atkins]

On May 25, 2005, at 2:09 AM, BillK wrote:

> Personal freedom doesn't mean keeping your mind so open that your
> brains leak out.
>

Nor does it require claiming or believing that your own understanding  
is what all sensible people will come to when they grow up.

> The biggest critics / opponents of religion are the members of a
> different religion.
> 'My invisible friend is better than your invisible friend'. Let's have
> a holy war!
>

Cheap characterization.

> It is a waste of your intelligence to try and find the 'one true path'
> among the thousands of cults and religions. And don't bother becoming
> a New Age type who treats all the religions like a restaurant menu.
> "I'll have one of them and some of that and a bit of this, etc.".
>

More of the same.

> As a wild generalisation, being "Spiritual" in western society mostly
> means - "I am not a member of any church or organisation, but I think
> deep thoughts and am a nice guy".
> The implication here being that if you are not "Spiritual" you are
> either not a nice guy, or at least, not as nice as the "Spiritual"
> one.
>

"Wild generalization" is another way of saying "cheap characterization".

> The nonsense that has been displayed in the Religion threads
> demonstrates all the myriad interpretations that different branches of
> Xianity extract from the same verses of the Bible. Every verse has
> multiple interpretations and can be countered by quoting opposing
> verses.

Partially agreed.  The only sense of it all is in understanding the  
essence of what it is about.  It cannot be found by searching verses  
and books of theology.

> And it is all being used as a route to power by religious
> organisations trying to control your life.
>

How so?  Many religious organizations have gotten out of the control  
business.  There still are many that believe they should run all  
aspects of society.  But such a belief is not definitive of religion  
or spirituality.

>
> Sure, you can investigate the unknown. But investigate reality, not
> the vivid illusions within your own mind. You might as well get drunk
> every night to investigate the pink elephants roaming around your
> living-room.

Do you really believe that is all there is to spirituality?

- samantha