Note: I wrote this a while ago and didn’t publish it. So when I say today, I mean 43 days ago.
One of the top stories on Digg today: Bill Maher’s final comment from Religulous
Here’s my problem with this: religion isn’t dangerous, people are dangerous.
Religion has been around, since, well, people have. Religion was science. It was a way of explaining why things are the way they are. It’s a part of humanity. Our brains are hard-wired for religion. We seek to explain the world around us.
Now that we actually know how some stuff in the universe works thanks to science, some people don’t need religion anymore. Still, science can’t explain everything, and some people find more comfort and answers in religion. It’s a way of life, it’s a community, it’s a set of rules to follow that will lead you to happiness. People like that. I say, if it makes you happy, and you’re not hurting anyone else, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.
It’s the hurting other people part that causes trouble. That’s not religion’s fault. That’s people being stupid. That’s people trying to force their belief on other people because they KNOW they’re right. Bill Maher’s big point here is that you can’t possibly KNOW you’re right. You can believe you’re right, but knowing, is very dangerous. That’s not religion, that’s people. And not all people.
Leaders that use religion as an excuse to kill people, don’t really believe in it. If they did, they would know their God doesn’t really want them to kill people. If religion wasn’t there, they would find another way to rally people, another excuse to kill. Religion has nothing to do with it. It’s all politics – all people.
Religion isn’t the problem, it’s people. If we didn’t have religion, people would still behave like idiots.
I really hate getting into this topic, but I feel really strongly about it.
Too put it short, I think exactly like Bill Maher.
I don’t want to turn this into a 600+ word comment, but I think that without religion things could or would be a lot better. But then I also think that if people weren’t so fucking insane, that religion might work.
I’m leaning towards agreeing with you. There are idiots in all kind of “belief groups”, atheists and religious people included.