Religion: Opiate of the masses
One of the most controversial topics today would have to be the everlasting battle between religion and science. Almost always a sore topic. Bring this up at a party or any kind of social gathering and you are instantly branded as a quarrelmonger. But a few weeks ago, after a party where barring a few exceptional individuals we were all high, a bunch of us, Hindus, Muslims and Catholics alike, went down to the beach for what was to be the one of the most compelling discussions on the afterlife, different religions, heaven, hell, and religion in general. This post draws inspiration from that conversation.
The latter(science) always seems to discredit the former. But that battle has not just been raging only for the last few hundred years, triggered off as early as Gallileo. Anyone who has read 'Angels and Demons' knows what i am talking about. While science discredits religion, religion proceeds to demonise science. Today, a lot of religion defies logic. Yet the need for religion has never been questioned. Ofcourse, we do have atheists, but mostly the products of disillusionment rather than reasoning and logic.
To be honest, Religion disgusts me. I realise that just making that statement has earned me a lot of enemies in an instant. I am a Catholic and thus will refrain from commenting on other religions as I am probably ignorant. Dont get me wrong, i pray too, though i dont go to church. I believe in god, though i haven't recieved communion for over six months. That in itself would be reason enough for me to be ostracised. I am a Catholic by baptism, though i am not sure if I can be considered one by birth. My mother is second generation Irish anglo-indian. I was brought up in the anglo community of what might well be referred to as cut-throat-catholics. Where anyone who wasn't a catholic was a pagan bastard who deservered to get his arse bones rearranged for that that reason alone. And i was happy. But my father is a Hindu. A Brahmin, at that. There was a time when onions and garlic were taboo in his family. When we were in Hyderabad, livin among the anglos that didnt make much of a difference to me. And then one day we moved to Bombay. Everything that i thought i knew was instantly uprooted. Now there were just too many Pagan arses to kick. No longer could i afford to ignore the fact that dad was a Hindu. That in a supreme gesture of benevolence, he agreed to raise us as Catholics just out of love for Ma, despite the fact that it went against everything in his religion. It betrayed a tolerance that the bible keeps talking about but us Catholics never practised.
The Religion that disgusts me is that of today, where everything revolves around the rituals to be performed. Where it is marketed(yes marketed) as a solution to all our troubles, an opiate if you will. To be able to forget the squalor that we live in. The meek will inherit the earth....yeah sure, so its ok to step all over people cos they'll be better off in the afterlife. We seem to have forgotten the basic cornerstone of our faith: love. Jesus went around preaching love. Just love in its simplest form. Nothing else. Instead we seem to be focusing on what makes us different from everyone else. Religion was the product of the need of individuals to co-exist peacefully in society, yet all it seems to do is fuel war. There cannot be an 'US' without a 'THEM'. Oh yes, but holy war is a thing of the past. Who are we kidding?
But that is just one aspect of it. Remember the Pharisees in the bible? The people who kept trying to discredit Jesus cos his teachings went against the estabilished rules. Now look at our church today. Everything is run by the Vatican. There is a constant effort to maintain a status quo, to prevent change. To protect vested interests. How can they allow themselves to concede even the smallest degree of power? Doesn't it strike you as odd that the 'leaders' of a religion that preaches sacrifice as the ticket to redemption, are living in a state of unparalleled luxury? That the Vatican is the richest city in the world while millions of her followers starve?
Women are not allowed to become priests. Has anyone ever thought to ask why? Priests are required to maintain celibacy, as are Nuns. So why not let them become priestesses? A common argument is that Nuns are the parallel of Priests. No, they are not. Ever heard of anyone being married by a Nun? Or baptised? Or recieving communion? Or a funeral service performed by a Nun? Why not? Why are their powers non-existent? Aren't they playing for the same team? They are the parallel of Monks. Not priests. Hundreds of churches all across Europe and America have been excommunicated by the Vatican for allowing women to perform ceremonies that are exclusive to priests. And yet we haven't asked why....In a world where women everywhere are fighting for upliftment, our religion itself discriminates against them.
Did you know that catholics are not allowed to use birth control? That the church views the usage of condoms as a sin? In a world that is under the everpresent seige of AIDS how can these people honestly ask us with a clear conscience not to use condoms? Of course the best one they come back with is 'stop immoral extra-marital sex, or pre-marital sex and the spread of AIDS will stop'. Are you retarded?!? AIDS spreads whether you're married or not! If 'MARRIED' couples infect each other, the virus will be passed on to their children. VOILA!! Yet another infected generation! "Oh but using birth control is the equivalent of murder." Really now? By that logic, a vasectomy would amount to genocide! Well there goes any Catholics best chance at surviving testicular cancer. Its really easy for the Vatican to sit pretty on her tonnes of gold and tell you its wrong to prevent the explosion of population irrespective of whether you and your kids are starving. "But regulating pregnancy by contolling your sex cycle is allowed." Controlling the sex cycle refers to only having sex in the periods where the womans fertility is lowest, usually a few days before or after the menstrual period. So why not allow condoms? Its ok to use one method but wrong to use another just because it is foolproof? Thats like a judge goin "Did the accused shoot the victim or did he merely stab him? Oh he stabbed him? Well in that case he is free to go home and stab again..."
Its as if the church is opposed to anything new that springs up in society. Another thorn in their side is the whole gay thing. They are so vehemently opposed to it. Why? Who exactly is it hurting? Why cant same sex couples get married? Is their love for each other inferior just because they are of the same sex? Hasn't the same God that made you made them too? Or are we going to claim they're hellspawn now? Oh the favourite cliche is "If God wanted us to be homosexuals he wouldn't have made two sexes." Thats like saying if God wanted us to use clothes we would have been born with clothes on.
Today everything revolves around the rituals we perform. It doesn't matter what type of a person you are outside as long as you're in church every sunday. Go ahead, take bribes, cheat, lie, steal, come to church on sunday and we'll absolve you. As penance say one Our Father, ten Hail Marys and a Glory Be. And the world is all peachy keen again!! All the people you've fucked up and fucked over have all forgiven your sorry ass, so you can fuck 'em up again next week. YAY!! But for the rest of the weekend you are, as of now, a saint. I'm not saying I am a saint. I've done more than my share of rotten shit. I'm just not shameless enough to go to church and pretend to be one, looking down on everyone else. The people I have screwed over are the only ones that can forgive me, not some priest that has heard what I want him to hear. I know that they will not forgive me unless i go to them and ask for it. I know they will not forgive me if I do not deserve it. I know that that is a choice for them to make, not some priest. I know that when the time comes they will bear witness against me and they will be justified. Maybe the fact that I know I'll be held accountable for my own actions will serve as an incentive not to screw someone over the next time I have a chance.
Today, religion is all about following an outdated set of principles, to satisfy an institution that is only intent on maintainin its stranglehold on power. So we can walk by the starving children on the street while we're on our way to church all decked up in all our finery. Cos we're on our way to church you see. That makes it OK. I am part of our Parish youth, that until recently i was rather fond off. The myriad of activities pulled off would make any member proud. Granted we aren't exactly the United Nations but we did do some commendable work. A few weeks back, a group of the elders in the parish came to complain that the youth was not doing its job as there were very little spiritual activities. They decided it would be good to start all our meetings with BIBLE reading. WHAT THE FUCK!!? How many of these people can say that you organised a movie for HIV infected toddlers? Or that they paid a visit to a home for the aged? With supplies mind you. These are the people that put those poor old folk in the home in the first place! And they're here tellin us that thet're better than us cos they read the Bible and we dont.
Since when did religion become about everyone thinks of you? Wasn't it about makin the world a little bit easier for someone else? To leave behind something that our kids could be proud of? If not proud of, at least not ashamed of. Its not just us Catholics. Every religion has its fanatics. Its so called 'conservational section'. Its just that these fanatics seem to be holding the reins today. How can the faith that gave us a concept as benevolent as non profit banking be the same one that that fuels the fires of 'Jehad'? Or the religion that gave us the ideals of Gandhi also incite people to rape ane pillage just because their victims were of a different faith? For too long have we been doped to the gills on religion, blinded to what actually needs to be done....
The latter(science) always seems to discredit the former. But that battle has not just been raging only for the last few hundred years, triggered off as early as Gallileo. Anyone who has read 'Angels and Demons' knows what i am talking about. While science discredits religion, religion proceeds to demonise science. Today, a lot of religion defies logic. Yet the need for religion has never been questioned. Ofcourse, we do have atheists, but mostly the products of disillusionment rather than reasoning and logic.
To be honest, Religion disgusts me. I realise that just making that statement has earned me a lot of enemies in an instant. I am a Catholic and thus will refrain from commenting on other religions as I am probably ignorant. Dont get me wrong, i pray too, though i dont go to church. I believe in god, though i haven't recieved communion for over six months. That in itself would be reason enough for me to be ostracised. I am a Catholic by baptism, though i am not sure if I can be considered one by birth. My mother is second generation Irish anglo-indian. I was brought up in the anglo community of what might well be referred to as cut-throat-catholics. Where anyone who wasn't a catholic was a pagan bastard who deservered to get his arse bones rearranged for that that reason alone. And i was happy. But my father is a Hindu. A Brahmin, at that. There was a time when onions and garlic were taboo in his family. When we were in Hyderabad, livin among the anglos that didnt make much of a difference to me. And then one day we moved to Bombay. Everything that i thought i knew was instantly uprooted. Now there were just too many Pagan arses to kick. No longer could i afford to ignore the fact that dad was a Hindu. That in a supreme gesture of benevolence, he agreed to raise us as Catholics just out of love for Ma, despite the fact that it went against everything in his religion. It betrayed a tolerance that the bible keeps talking about but us Catholics never practised.
The Religion that disgusts me is that of today, where everything revolves around the rituals to be performed. Where it is marketed(yes marketed) as a solution to all our troubles, an opiate if you will. To be able to forget the squalor that we live in. The meek will inherit the earth....yeah sure, so its ok to step all over people cos they'll be better off in the afterlife. We seem to have forgotten the basic cornerstone of our faith: love. Jesus went around preaching love. Just love in its simplest form. Nothing else. Instead we seem to be focusing on what makes us different from everyone else. Religion was the product of the need of individuals to co-exist peacefully in society, yet all it seems to do is fuel war. There cannot be an 'US' without a 'THEM'. Oh yes, but holy war is a thing of the past. Who are we kidding?
But that is just one aspect of it. Remember the Pharisees in the bible? The people who kept trying to discredit Jesus cos his teachings went against the estabilished rules. Now look at our church today. Everything is run by the Vatican. There is a constant effort to maintain a status quo, to prevent change. To protect vested interests. How can they allow themselves to concede even the smallest degree of power? Doesn't it strike you as odd that the 'leaders' of a religion that preaches sacrifice as the ticket to redemption, are living in a state of unparalleled luxury? That the Vatican is the richest city in the world while millions of her followers starve?
Women are not allowed to become priests. Has anyone ever thought to ask why? Priests are required to maintain celibacy, as are Nuns. So why not let them become priestesses? A common argument is that Nuns are the parallel of Priests. No, they are not. Ever heard of anyone being married by a Nun? Or baptised? Or recieving communion? Or a funeral service performed by a Nun? Why not? Why are their powers non-existent? Aren't they playing for the same team? They are the parallel of Monks. Not priests. Hundreds of churches all across Europe and America have been excommunicated by the Vatican for allowing women to perform ceremonies that are exclusive to priests. And yet we haven't asked why....In a world where women everywhere are fighting for upliftment, our religion itself discriminates against them.
Did you know that catholics are not allowed to use birth control? That the church views the usage of condoms as a sin? In a world that is under the everpresent seige of AIDS how can these people honestly ask us with a clear conscience not to use condoms? Of course the best one they come back with is 'stop immoral extra-marital sex, or pre-marital sex and the spread of AIDS will stop'. Are you retarded?!? AIDS spreads whether you're married or not! If 'MARRIED' couples infect each other, the virus will be passed on to their children. VOILA!! Yet another infected generation! "Oh but using birth control is the equivalent of murder." Really now? By that logic, a vasectomy would amount to genocide! Well there goes any Catholics best chance at surviving testicular cancer. Its really easy for the Vatican to sit pretty on her tonnes of gold and tell you its wrong to prevent the explosion of population irrespective of whether you and your kids are starving. "But regulating pregnancy by contolling your sex cycle is allowed." Controlling the sex cycle refers to only having sex in the periods where the womans fertility is lowest, usually a few days before or after the menstrual period. So why not allow condoms? Its ok to use one method but wrong to use another just because it is foolproof? Thats like a judge goin "Did the accused shoot the victim or did he merely stab him? Oh he stabbed him? Well in that case he is free to go home and stab again..."
Its as if the church is opposed to anything new that springs up in society. Another thorn in their side is the whole gay thing. They are so vehemently opposed to it. Why? Who exactly is it hurting? Why cant same sex couples get married? Is their love for each other inferior just because they are of the same sex? Hasn't the same God that made you made them too? Or are we going to claim they're hellspawn now? Oh the favourite cliche is "If God wanted us to be homosexuals he wouldn't have made two sexes." Thats like saying if God wanted us to use clothes we would have been born with clothes on.
Today everything revolves around the rituals we perform. It doesn't matter what type of a person you are outside as long as you're in church every sunday. Go ahead, take bribes, cheat, lie, steal, come to church on sunday and we'll absolve you. As penance say one Our Father, ten Hail Marys and a Glory Be. And the world is all peachy keen again!! All the people you've fucked up and fucked over have all forgiven your sorry ass, so you can fuck 'em up again next week. YAY!! But for the rest of the weekend you are, as of now, a saint. I'm not saying I am a saint. I've done more than my share of rotten shit. I'm just not shameless enough to go to church and pretend to be one, looking down on everyone else. The people I have screwed over are the only ones that can forgive me, not some priest that has heard what I want him to hear. I know that they will not forgive me unless i go to them and ask for it. I know they will not forgive me if I do not deserve it. I know that that is a choice for them to make, not some priest. I know that when the time comes they will bear witness against me and they will be justified. Maybe the fact that I know I'll be held accountable for my own actions will serve as an incentive not to screw someone over the next time I have a chance.
Today, religion is all about following an outdated set of principles, to satisfy an institution that is only intent on maintainin its stranglehold on power. So we can walk by the starving children on the street while we're on our way to church all decked up in all our finery. Cos we're on our way to church you see. That makes it OK. I am part of our Parish youth, that until recently i was rather fond off. The myriad of activities pulled off would make any member proud. Granted we aren't exactly the United Nations but we did do some commendable work. A few weeks back, a group of the elders in the parish came to complain that the youth was not doing its job as there were very little spiritual activities. They decided it would be good to start all our meetings with BIBLE reading. WHAT THE FUCK!!? How many of these people can say that you organised a movie for HIV infected toddlers? Or that they paid a visit to a home for the aged? With supplies mind you. These are the people that put those poor old folk in the home in the first place! And they're here tellin us that thet're better than us cos they read the Bible and we dont.
Since when did religion become about everyone thinks of you? Wasn't it about makin the world a little bit easier for someone else? To leave behind something that our kids could be proud of? If not proud of, at least not ashamed of. Its not just us Catholics. Every religion has its fanatics. Its so called 'conservational section'. Its just that these fanatics seem to be holding the reins today. How can the faith that gave us a concept as benevolent as non profit banking be the same one that that fuels the fires of 'Jehad'? Or the religion that gave us the ideals of Gandhi also incite people to rape ane pillage just because their victims were of a different faith? For too long have we been doped to the gills on religion, blinded to what actually needs to be done....
posted by Socrates (ugly bastard, wasn't he!!) | 9:52 PM
1 Comments:
A vasectomy amounting to genocide? Amazing line man!
Think I'll follow up on this post, hopefully, if I get the time. Doubt it'll be as good as this one though.
Post a Comment
<< Home