(no subject)

[serene]

If there is as much bad as good; if there is MORE bad than good, and the
bad is something people can change, can do something about -- then don't
tell me to focus on the good.

I do not deny that religion and faith (two separate things) have brought
some good to individuals -- I know some of them, and I believe it has made
their lives better. However, I think it's brought a lot of bad to
individuals and societies, bad that could be prevented, bad that is, at
its most sickening, *encouraged* by religion.

So I won't stop talking about the evils perpetuated in the name of
religion, not even if my religious friends write to me and ask me to look
at the good that comes of faith. I've looked. It doesn't outweigh the
bad. Not by a mile.

For every person who finds comfort in a time of need, there are people who
believe their need and lack is God's will. For every person who feels
accepted by God, there are people whose lives are ruined by churches and
other religious organizations, and there are people whose evil is
justified by their reading of "holy" books.

I was there. I was in a place in which my suffering was God's will, and
the natural expression of my joy was forbidden. I've also watched
countless people accept the evil in the world as "God's will".

I hear you, my friend, when you say I'm angry at God, and I can see why
you might think I am. I'm not. No more than I'm angry at the Easter
Bunny. God doesn't exist, as far as I'm concerned -- I'm angry at a large
subset of God's followers. And I love you, but you're one of them.

Comments

[tesseract26.livejournal.com]

This is very ironic - my initial response to reading this was, "Amen!" :)

Which, translated from the Southern, means I'm with you. I'm a cranky Unitarian who believes in... uh... something, but I'm pissed at a large number of God's followers, too. I spend a lot of my political life fighting them because they can't seem to grasp that they way they choose to live isn't something they should use the apparatus of the state to force others to adopt.

[pure-agnostic.livejournal.com]

Ironically, my response is "Amen to that, sister!" :-)


As I see it, more evil has been done in the name of "religion" than for any other purpose.