re: Religion

I know, you're all shocked to see me writing on religion...

First, to clear up Zac's misunderstanding of the Qu'ran. Although there is much debate on the exact translation from Arabic, it is almost universally accepted that, "God/Allah is the one true power and if you fight in his name, you will be closer to 'heavan.'" Here is another widely accepted verse:
"Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it. But you may hate a thing although it is good for you, and love a thing although it is bad for you. God knows, but you know not" (2:216).

Let there be no misunderstanding, all three of the major monotheistic religions (which all originated with Judaism) have text which puts believers above non-believers (infidels.)

Now, as an atheist who is fascinated with religion, I agree with both Maura and Zac. First, I agree with part of Zac's premise. As far as we know, before the Jews, the strong-people ruled the world (Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, etc.) The Jews (and later Christians) strongly believed, and more importantly, wrote down the benefits of being "lower than God" which many people take for granted now. I think this does cause a problem because it makes survival words like "selfish," "confident," and "opinionated" appear "anti-humanity."

I also agree with Maura; the problem doesn't lie in modern religion. In fact, people have always (at least since recorded history) believed in a higher power. This was especially true for the Romans and Greeks with their powerful gods to which they "poured libations" and "sacrificed" almost daily.

Enough background, here is my opinion:
Religion isn't a problem in itself. It has always been a way to justify people's actions and a great reason to take people's land (If you disagree, please see: the Reconquista, the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, modern Jihad, the Byzantine Empire, the colonization of Africa, and Palestine.) The problem, instead, is actually the "religious establishment," aka, churches, fatwas, the Pope, and Supreme Ayatollahs who lead groups of people to do things against their personal interest. Let's face it, war is very rarely in the person's interest who is fighting it. This "leadership" causes people to blindly follow someone whom they believe has "divine power" and ignore their normal, rational belief system.

If people want to believe in something higher, e.g., Athena, Allah, or Mother Nature, then that shouldn't affect the entire world. The difficulty is when they do unethical (according to their non-religious beliefs (i.e., Darwinist) like declare war on the non-believing world (Jihad) or use their religion to take over land (Palestine/"occupied territories"/"holy land.")

Sorry, this is a little convoluted because I have so much I want to say. I'll leave it at this for now.

-tim