religion is the biggest propaganda ever

religion is the biggest propaganda ever made by the weak. dont all religions have the "protect or be safe thing" if you know what i mean. this protect or be safe thing only applies to people the same religion as you. have i confused you? sorry but im crap at explaining. let me just say, we are all weak. the strong become weak at some point.

The institution of religion is one of the most captivating control mechanisms for the established powers around the world. By control it keeps people in fear, sets limits, and establishes the imaginary separation between people of different cultures. This is what partly contributes to large scale wars and why people would be willing to kill each other, in the name of an institutionalized religion created by someone else to control.

Religion should not be confused with personal spirituality, which has more liveliness than a set structure.

Religion has helped many people in their lives and have helped to solved problems. Drug users turn to religion in a time of need and their lives become better because they find HOPE and BELIEF to turn their life around. Its all about faith, you have it or you dont.

hope and belief? everyday we live in hope. are we hoping for what we believe in or believing that hope is more likely? hope will always exist without a religion. if you believe something, im sure its more likely happen because of the positiveness on our mind. you dont have to have a religion to believe you can do something. belief is this imaginary positiveness or negativeness in our mind. it can act both ways so religion is not all good.

~~~

all the religions in the world, are Best Attempts at grasping

the elusive, uncomprehensible...

sure, some men have fouled up some of these information/communication/platforms ~ (religions)

& your correct...i haven't yet found a religion that hasn't offered
individuals a 'sanctuary' and positive reinforcement, and held
out the offer of being a 'select' 'community of believers'
....as opposed to saying you are dirt & a fluke in the universe...

point...take what you want or need, leave the rest behind.

peace

Originally posted by IMMORTAL

Religion should not be confused with personal spirituality, which has more liveliness than a set structure.

Word!

Religion is poison.

relgion even has splits so what is the ultimate religion? something that pleases you or suits you?

What I don't get is why logically would anyone want a priest or a rabbi or any religious figure to act as an intermediary between them and their god. Is it because they feel that they are not clean or worthy enough to communicate with god directly?

Well, religions do push the submission thing quite a lot so perhaps that is why.

imo

Whenever money enters into faith and spirituality, it becomes a religion.

Religions depend on hard cash for cathederals, clergy and whatever.

Spirituality requires only searching your own conscience while faith needs trust in our fellow humans.

The Gods/ Goddeses reside within us.

just my opinion...not preaching.

jesus' disciples and preachers were an organised bunch werent they? i think it is one of the most successful propaganda ever made. because of so many generations of passing the story, our weakness is always accepting the fact that its right and never wrong.

This forum needs at least one response from a believer. So here it is.

Most of what I hear in the responses to �religion is the biggest propaganda ever� is people taking pride in the fact that they refuse to be scammed by some imaginary system devised to control and profit off the weak. Well, that�s admirable enough, but don�t throw the baby out with proverbial bath water. If in the end we find out that life in the universe is simply a cosmic accident or that God was simply too disinterested to reveal himself, then what will it matter anyway. However, since we can�t prove ether one, I suggest nobody should close that door on the possibility that the God of the Bible is real and did reveal himself through the bible.

I know, we have all read the great works of modern philosophers debunking the bible as lies, yada, yada, yada. Well, you don�t need your spiritual aspects to understand philosophy, but you do need a right heart to understand the Bible. So, I say we all should leave a little room in our life�s journey to look at the bible as Gods way of revealing himself to man. The admonition in the bible to �seek and you shall find� is quite profound. But seeking God must be done with a right heart and an expectation that you will find something. Having said all that, I agree that most �Religion� is bunk and devised as a conspiracy to deceive, but the God of the Bible is not asking us to be religious.

The true nature of religion is a noble and scary one, right? First off, aliens used it to divide us and turn us against each other. On the other hand, religion is useful for people not to go insane with all the crap that is coming, if they believe they'll go to a better place if they're good then it controls them to act more civilized. I've seen both sides of religion and think you only need spirituality and not religion to keep your sanity and bypass the mind conrtol(crowd control).

Well said, Elron...and I agree whole heartedly. We musn't throw out the bible...it is a font of wisdom for anyone wishing to find what it is to be human. There are so many wonderfully poignant lessons in the ancient texts, like the Old and New Testaments, but lets not forget some of the other texts like the Vedas, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, Gnostic Gospels, Epic of Gilgamesh, the Kabbalah or the Book of the Hopi.

There are so many great spiritual texts out there, it boggles the mind...and yet each is a spiritual journey requiring no outside interpretations. We are left to make our own judgements from what we may learn within them and are required only to know how to read.

Even from the most arcane and difficult language, somehow we gather nuggets to nourish us on life's journey.

In my opinion...
It is when we have closed our minds to the variety of paths that we nurture narrow mindedness. And it is at the point where we can only listen to someone else's interpretations that we truly become blind to our own soul.

Religion is people who follow the same traditions and have the same practices. My religion does not exclude, in fact we are encouraged to learn about all the religions and gain knowledge of the world. We do not have events that are exclusive to members and we are very open to every belief. We accept everyone. Just because some sects or a group of people following a certrain religion exclude or shun away anyone else who is not a member of that certain religion, does not mean all followers of a religion do the same. Modern times have skewed the meanings and teachings of religions. I gurantee you, most people who follow one do not have faith in it, and have no understanding of it either. It is a damn shame in my mind.

Ok everyone, the questions posed here are some of the most loaded I have read on this forum yet. However we get into them quite a bit in many of my classes.

First: Channy, you're making a huge generalization with the original post there, You assume far too much and put all religions into the same mould. Followers of the Church of Satan totally and completely break your little mould there: they believe that one's responsiblitiy is to themselves.

Wiccans, Zenists and Catholics are called to defend all, weak and strong, whom so ever needs shall be helped, weather this actually happens is a different question entriely. There are also many many other religions that are outside of your generalization. Please, try not to paint so broadly and with such exclusion in the future.

Second: Religion is not poison, nor is it an alien mind control system. Religion is basically organized spiritualism, and in most western nations, one is not forced to join any one or any at all. Some religions attempt to brainwash their members and this is horribly wrong, also some parents force their children to "grow up" with one religious tradition, this also is not a positive thing as it makes them exclusionary and closed minded. Instead I invite everyone to learn as much as you can about as many religions as you can, I'm almost positive you'll find one you relate to.

Third: Yes some religions are exclusiveist. falz makes two good points that I totally agree with:
A: It is a shame when a religion puts itself so far above all others that is begins preaching hatred and evil against non-members.
B: It's a horrid thing, but most people do not truly believe in the religion they practice!
I think that these things attribute to much of the truly evil things that religion has caused in history. Greed, insecurity, hatred and bigotry are not things in the dogmas of most religions, but they find their way into them with alarming frequency.

May Peace Travel With You
~Astral

Every religion on Earth attempts to put you into a mindset telling you what is right and what is wrong. The 10 commandments are childishly simple- who needs to be told that killing someone is wrong?

I dont have a problem with the idea of God in fact i find it logical- we must have come from somewhere right? even if extreme ideas such as aliens put us here are true then surely do the aliens not have a God?

Religion is far too special and personal to try and generalise it into a worldwide organised relgion like all the current ones do.

I do have a problem with christians preaching to me about their Bible which does not comdemn and even promotes misogyny, racism and homophobia. Ultimately it is a dangerous pacifier of the human will to resist persecution- the meek will inherit the Earth remember?

I will stop 'bashing' christianity when it stops hijacking my human virtues- replacing them with hate propaganda and a sticker of jesus.

respect.

i do believe there is "something" out there but since its unknown, i dont think we should try to interpret the unknown for our own desire or gain. change always happens. christianity is born out of judaism. the son of god. seeing how long humans have been here, its only around 2 milleniums christianity has been put to place. one day i will be arguing about a new religion but for the same purposes of interpreting the unknown. you can believe but do you worship? you can worship but do you believe? religion will always exist. i never said it shouldnt exist, but what it does. i have no religion but i still respect others. (not here i guess, but i only question is to why) as to why i respect other religions, its because i am surrounded by them.

Originally posted by The Astral City
First: Channy, you're making a huge generalization with the original post there, You assume far too much and put all religions into the same mould. Followers of the Church of Satan totally and completely break your little mould there: they believe that one's responsiblitiy is to themselves.

Wiccans, Zenists and Catholics are called to defend all, weak and strong, whom so ever needs shall be helped, weather this actually happens is a different question entriely. There are also many many other religions that are outside of your generalization. Please, try not to paint so broadly and with such exclusion in the future.

How old is the church of satan? Is it really considered a religion? I define religion as the major religions in the world today thats why I made a general point. Lets just ask the question about these "other" religions - would if be the same principle of religion being propaganda if they too were major religions in the world?

Religion is the opiom of the masses, so it must be destroid.

Originally posted by Pavel
Religion is the opiom of the masses, so it must be destroid.

its impossible destroy religion. dont you think minority religions will take the chance to rise up. tell me a religion where it says freedom to join and no need to spread ideas.