I thought I would take a few minutes and share my views, to date, on religion.
Currently, from my own personal experience, I have found that we are all interconnected, to include people to people and people to world. I can’t take it any farther than that.
It is my belief that on this base, religion has a place to grasp on, and allows people to buy into the beliefs expounded by whatever religion they believe in. It is based on the premise that once we feel a little truth exists, we can buy into the whole package.
However, I have yet to find a religion (defined as a group of people telling the individual what God has said they must do to prevent damnation) that did not rely on experiences that that happened to one person or was purported to happen to a nation long ago. This, in my mind, is the main weakness with religious claims, which is further impacted by the fact that most of the stories of religions, can be found in different models in other ancient peoples.
However, with that in mind, I don’t totally throw out the value of religious texts.
In fact, I think it is healthy in that there is much wisdom held within religious teachings that can help us grow as individuals. However, I don’t believe it is God given, rather, is just recycled materials from those who studied human nature earlier on – and in many cases really got it.
What I do take issue with is 1) the assumption of what happens after death 2) the actions that religions impose on their believers to keep bad things from happening based on the previous point.
Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing I would rather have than a guide to this confusing path we call life, however, religion as I have seen it is too fishy, just to buy into hook, line, and sinker.