Religion is Different

I am sure many atheists that like to debate theology (like me) have been called intolerant because they openly criticise religion. People are as defensive about religion as they are about race, gender or place of birth. I contest this. You cannot choose any of those things so questioning them would be stupid. But you can chose religion so it makes seance to question it.

If I said I was a communist. People would question my reasons, and rightly so, communism has never been applied correctly so being a communist is stupid. If I said I was a monist people would question it, and rightly so. The idea that I am the only person in existence calls into question how important I consider other people. But if I say I'm Jewish, no one will question it. Even if they are an atheist, a Christian, a Muslim or a Hindu, even if their who outlook on religion and the life was different from Judaism they would think questioning it would be intolerant.

Another place were religion gets a special place as opposed to other world views is with children. Most children are automatically viewed as being part of the same religion as there parents. Even children who are too young to understand how the world works are automatically branded as being Muslim, Jewish or some other religion. If I were a communist my child wouldn’t be considered a commonest.

Now I'm not saying go around and start questioning peoples religion on the street. But, if you are debating theology or in some other argument don't be afraid of pointing out flaws in there argument just because you will be declared intolerant.


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Washing of the Brain.

Today I will rant on about probably the major problem atheists have with religion. Indoctrination. Particularly the religious doctrinarian of children. Indoctrination basically brain washing. I have wondered about this for a while, a few weeks ago I was in my class studying social issues and the topic of sexism came up. Anyway my teacher was pointing out all the sexist organisations and she mentioned the church, I suddenly felt the need to speak up and say religion was not a sexist institution, than I thought about it for a second. I am an atheist and I had what was basically a non voluntary reaction to insulting the church, which is something I do all the time. Another example of this was a few days ago I read something about a church being burned down on purpose. This seemed like a hateful action until I realised that I would not care so much if it was someone’s house burned down. I mean the church has money. It could easily be rebuilt. Now I don’t know why I thought these things. I know that if the victim had been someone non religious I wouldn’t have been so bothered about it. I think this may be cultural in nature. I know in Australia religion is compared to race, sexuality and gender. So there may even be a cultural aspect to respecting religion that I was until recently unaware of.

Now a small cultural consideration isn’t too bad if it is only about respecting people. What is bad is people who are completely obsessive, violent and stupid about their religion. I am talking about the people who run plains into buildings, I am talking about the people who bomb abortion clinics, I am talking about those that would stop the pursuit of knowledge simply because it did not correspond with their fairy tale!  Think about it logically, would your god be okay with the suffering of people in his (because it couldn’t possibly be a she) name. If not than rethink what you are doing. If so than rethink your commitment to this god.

One of the worst things religion can do is indoctrinate children. To fill a person’s head with lies while they are still vulnerable and not yet mature enough to think about them. To tell them they are going to burn in hell if they don’t do as they are told. To tell them they are going to be burned in hell if they ask questions about what you are teaching them. To tell them certain people don’t deserve rights because of brief sentences in a 2000 year old book!

To all the religious parents out there. I will conclude with this. If your religion is right than your child will follow it because it is correct. So teach them about all religions so than your child will follow one because they want to. Not because they feel obliged to. If you feel the need to scare your child into following your religious views, ask yourself. Does my child believe through his or her own will or because I brainwashed her or him?

here are a few links that god me thinking about this issue
.http://www.youtube.com/user/kidsinministry#p/u/54/sNIJGLeI0w0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fq4wZ_lQjc&feature
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT3d5RFNATA&feature=related