The Rhetoric of Religion

The idea of religion to this day still baffles me. I understand why it would be a necessity hundreds of years ago, and to a degree, I understand the necessity of it even today, but as a whole, it is completely illogical. The only reason I bring up this topic is because according to religious zealots, the rapture is suppose to occur this Saturday, which in my opinion, is a lie. As a forewarning, if you are reading this and you are a religious sort, I do not mean to offend and this is merely my own opinion. Take it with a grain of salt. We are all entitled to our own thoughts and this happens to be mine.

My biggest issue with religion is the believers themselves. I am adamant about my belief that the most popular religions in the world today were more than likely created with the purest intentions. Whether or not the believers of said religion are pure is another question entirely. First and foremost, believing in your religion is one thing, but religious fervor to the point of hysteria is on another realm. I personally hate it when a believer decides to shove their opinions down my throat and feels the necessity to say that whatever I believe in is wrong, or that what I'm doing is wrong. Fine, it may be, and I may be going to so called "hell" for doing so, but what business is it of yours? I understand that their whole purpose of doing so is for our own salvation and thus in the end, they would be "helping" me out, but really, I didn't ask for said help. Second of all, who's to say that your beliefs about the divine and the afterlife are the end all? There's so many other religions out there in the world, and no one knows which one is the absolute truth. We all know that there is no way of finding out what actually occurs in the afterlife, so why shove something down my throat that has no concrete answer?

My second biggest problem with these religious zealots, and more importantly, missionaries, are their headstrong attitudes about conversion. If one recalls from history books, when European colonists attempted to conquer other countries, they also imposed their religions upon them. Here's the problem with that, when imposing said religion, you also lose out on their native religion and culture. This, in my opinion, is a complete travesty. With conversion and an adherence to the new culture, one will forget about their old ways and their old beliefs. It is my belief that, as humans, we must always cling to our past and our cultures. It is what defines us as unique. Thus we lose our definition of self and hundreds of years of history among that culture. To me, that is quite possibly one of the worst things that could happen to a native group. Your background and culture is what makes you unique, and it's beautiful in its' own way. No one should push them in another direction.

In addition, with forceful conversion also comes war. I doubt that the original writers had intended for violence to be committed on behalf of their beliefs. In fact, I thought they adamantly preached against violence in these holy books. So, if that is the case, why fight these holy wars if it goes against the ethical codes of your religion? I see no point. Again, this is probably due to the fervor that comes with religion, and thus purely a human error. I suppose we can't help our "human" faults but we should also realize that they are what they are, a fault.

Another problem with these beliefs is interpretation of holy books. Most of these holy books were written so long ago that there is no clear interpretation of the writer. This is all based upon the reader. As such, interpretation varies between persons and will probably never be exactly identical to the original intention. We, as humans, have a tenacity toward fault, and I'm sure that many interpretation is completely askew from its' original intention. So really, what is right then? There is no clear cut answer. This specifically ties into the supposed oncoming rapture. Somebody interpreted the bible into saying that the rapture is supposed to occur on the 21st, but who really knows? It's just another interpretation isn't it? There have been plenty of interpretations of the rapture, none of which has actually happened. Personally, I do not believe in the rapture at all, but if it does happen (which I doubt), then I rescind everything I have said.

Lastly, I do think religion is kind of a necessity in some ways, but in others, a complete waste of time. The reason I do believe that religion might have been a necessity hundreds of years ago is because we had no explanation for many of the things out there in our world. Now, due to technology, we do. Of course, not all has been explained, and I do believe that there are definitely unexplainable phenomena that does occur in this world, but regardless, most phenomena now has an answer . In this sense, what use would religion serve? Back then, it was an excuse to explain something that was illogical or unexplainable, now it still serves that purpose, but to a lesser degree. Furthermore, with our lifestyles now, it is hard to even fit the idea of religiosity into it. This modern era brings about a new slew of stresses that humanity has never experienced before. Religion is just another weight to add to our list of burdens. I am not a proponent of how we live our lives today as it is extremely detrimental to us as a whole, but religion can be as well. Interpretations of religion have gotten out of control, and not because of religion itself, but mostly because of the people that believe in it. It's a unique human fault that will remain as such.