A Case Against Religion....

Does it really do more good than harm? I don't believe that anymore.
http://www.youtube.com/user/richarddawkinsdotnet?ob=4&feature=results_main

I'm not atheist, but I get it. I get it when RD ridicules so called "religious" people. Most are either posers, or fanatics. Either one is cause to gasp in horror.

I'm not going to go against anyone's personal spiritual beliefs--we're all entitled. But just consider religion on the whole. What it's meant for humanity. Has it reeled in the masses to behave themselves?? NOT REALLY! We all "sin" and are imperfect beings! All it does is control through fear!!

So many atrocities are committed in "God's" name. Maybe "God" and our perceptions of him/her/it and our FEAR of him/her/it is what causes more evil and harm in our world than if we just were reasonable, ethical, moral people because it's the right way to be.

Wouldn't we have less prejudices against one another? If we all just scrapped religion. Just pretend those beliefs no longer matter and accept that we'll die and be at peace because we will no longer exist.  Would the world become a scarier place? Think hard on this. Our cultures despise one another...mostly due to religious dogmas. Religious fanatics kill in the name of "god". How is that moral? How is imposing your beliefs and withholding civil rights from another person moral? And coincidentally, as a person who's read the Bible, where does Jesus himself ever say not to have sex before marriage? Or that you should even BE married? Or that two men shouldn't marry? He said NONE OF THAT. Alot of the NT is writings of his apostles, post mortem. I'm sorry, but as loving as the Christ figure is, most Christians STILL DONT GET IT. Did not Jesus go to the hungry, despised Samaritan and offer him assistance when noone else would? Didnt he teach us to love one another? How did that message get drowned out by all the other bullshit and fire and brimstone? This is why personal spiritualism can exist, but religion must go. Fanaticism must go.

Religious rituals mean nothing. Sure, they have a symbolic meaning that noone ever gets or cares to think about. They just blindly do these things because its tradition, not belief.  I don't believe you need baptism, or confirmation, or any other religious ritual. Sure, it feels weird to abandon such rituals, because they are expected traditions, but it's also a relief to not be hypocritical anymore.

The sad thing is, like a lot of people, my soul yearns for a benevolent god. For the expectation of a reunion with my deceased loved ones. For the hope of a glorious eternity of wonder and learning and growing. I still hold out the hope for the possibility of such things, yet I cannot completely believe.  I don't think god needs ME to believe. And I dont believe he will punish me for my doubts. I also dont believe he cares what i eat and dont eat (re: Lent). Whenever people ask me if I'm eating meat during Lent I say proudly, God Loves ME no matter WHAT i eat!! To which I laugh out loud.
Perhaps next year I should say, there is no god, so I eat what I want! Wouldn't THAT shock the "hell" out of them!!!