The Insanity of Faith

The number of religions on this Earth is quite staggering. Through the ages men and women have come to practice a multitude of faiths, each with the absolute conviction that they are the definitive religion. One thing is clear, only a few have survived the test of time. These are Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism and there may be others. Buddhism isn’t supposed to be a religion but it has become one in certain countries.

But have you ever heard of Wicca and Satanism? These are just two of what I like to call ‘non-mainstream’ religions that are still alive and well. There is a Church of Wicca and people practice its teachings all the time. It has something to do with elements. Satanism on the other hand has to do with believing in the darker side of man, though it’s a lot more complicated than that. They have their own beliefs which obviously they believe.

Then let’s not forget Scientology and its biggest advocate, Tom Cruise. It’s somewhat scary when you watch his Scientology video and you can see that he has absolute faith in what he’s saying. But maybe to us it looks like he’s been brainwashed, but you can’t really judge until you read the basic text behind the entire religion or cult as some would call it.

A further area of concern with religion is in the fact that indoctrination is always used to keep membership. What is indoctrination?

“To instruct in a doctrine, principle, ideology, etc., esp. to imbue with a specific partisan or biased belief or point of view.” Taken from dictionary.reference.com

Now the word biased might have you up in arms… but it could be biased in the right way. Still the word indoctrination has a negative ring to it.

Anyway I once told a friend of mine that all religions use indoctrination, namely with children. I said that it was wrong and that people should make up their own minds as to what religion they should follow. He replied “then who would ever follow a religion” and went on to say that it was ok to do so.

Personally I believe people should be able to come to conclusions freely and I highly disapprove of religious schools that drum messages in to kids. Why can’t children make up their own minds as to what faith to follow? Why must they have it drummed in? If religions are that good, why can’t we let people grow up and make their own choices?

My mother has often said when she is mad “you turned out this way because you don’t have a religion” and at other times “it’s not too late. You can still have a religion”. I just LOL at those. Yes, I am a terrible, terrible Godless person who has never been to a religious educational institute in my life. Therefore I am evil and clueless. I drift without enlightenment.

But what I find most hilarious are the people who have gone through the religious system their whole life, behave like absolute bastards and then have the nerve to holy book thump in my face. I find this highly irritating.

Even more fascinating is the way people just pick up a holy text and then proceed to interpret everything the way they want to thereby justifying whatever it is they are doing. Look no further than the crusades and terrorist groups such as the Taliban.

Religion revolves around faith. What is faith? To avoid selective interpretation I bring you all 6 out of 8 (the missing two being irrelevant) from dictionary.com:

1. confidence or trust in a person or thing: faith in another’s ability.

2. belief that is not based on proof: He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

3. belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion: the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

4.belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.: to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

5. a system of religious belief: the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

8.Christian Theology. the trust in God and in His promises as made through Christ and the Scriptures by which humans are justified or saved.

I would select no.2 because there is no concrete irrefutable proof that will convince everyone of the existence of God. I also like the example about hypothesis because in that regard I have faith too though sometimes you are proved wrong. 4 is also good.

I can have faith in something, but I want to be damn sure before doing so. Once you put your faith in something it’s pretty much the end. Coming back from that is near impossible. I leave you with the Cruise scientology clip. Look at his eyes and you will see the conviction he has in his faith. He KNOWS that he is right. Is he insane or just a devout follower? That’s up to you to decide.