Meine eigene Gedanken: Religion
Sometimes I wonder how religion works.Yes, let’s have a warning first. This may be offensive.
What is religion? To me, religion is like any other organized group of people who share common beliefs. It only happens that religion tends to have membership in the millions. Sadly, even though religion is supposed to embody certain ideals like that of purity of thought, religion has ironically been always a victim of political machinations. The Church in the 14th and 15th centuries was fraught with intrigue and hidden danger. A case study for you:
The Great Schism was essentially politically motivated, resulting in two Antipopes being brought into so-called ‘legitimate’ Papacy because they were rightfully elected by the legitimate leaders of the Church. Only when they realized that they could not depose Urban VI without incurring the wrath of Rome did they elect Antipope Clement VII in Avignon.
More?
The Church was able to flourish early on because of their monopoly of education. It consolidated its power in tradition, not in how one is personally accountable to God. The Church’s Bibles are selectively compiled, excluding ‘secret’ Gospels deemed detrimental to Church doctrine. It was only during the Reformation, with the advent of the printing press, did Luther push for the mass-production of Bibles to become widely available, since he believed that there should be no proxy to God. This, of course, led to a huge decentralization of the power of the Church.
If religion teaches becoming united under one God, and is strictly non-violent, why are there atrocities which are happening even today?
So often has religion suffered under megalomaniacs. Islam is a shining example for what’s happening lately. Terrorists, acting under the will of God, are going around blowing themselves, as well as whoever may be around them, to sightless atoms. Why? Do they really believe that martyrdom (even if it’s for a forsaken cause) is a back door to Heaven? Why are terrorist heads exhorting people to do ‘God’s will’ and fight, even if it’s ethically incorrect? Just because they can quote a few select verses from their religious text, and bend the meaning to their will – does that mean that they have the right to?
Does this point seem in direct conflict with what I said above? But think about it. If religion teaches you something which deep down, you know is wrong, would you still do it? Something must be wrong with either the religion itself (highly unlikely) or the person who interpreted it as such (much more likely.) Just give it some thought.
And let’s not forget other examples, like the persecution of the Templars or the bloody, bloody Crusades. Let’s not forget how Pope Clement V was manipulated into apprehending all Templars in France, which resulted in their untimely demise, despite him having secretly pardoned them in 1314, just so that King Philip IV of France could seize their properties – just google ‘the Templars’ and you will see in their history that they were exceptionally well-to-do, and this whole shenanigan could well have been the result of a loan which Philip requested but didn’t get.
So what’s your take on religion now?
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