Lets go with George Washington this month. Here is a quote that echoes my sentiments of the state of religion today. Anyone with an ounce of sense, who is paying attention to the goings on in the world today, will see that things really haven’t changed much since 1792.
“Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated. I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”
George Washington – letter to Edward Newenham, 1792
If anything, things appear worse now than they were then. People blowing each other up over what? Religious views. Palestines killing Jews. Jews killing Palestines. Muslims killing just about anyone they see as a threat or symbol against their tyranny. In Africa we have Muslims killing x-ians and vice versa, and x-ians going on good old fashioned witch hunts, where their children and neighbors are being killed (for being witches? really? I thought we had moved past that). You have all kinds of religiously motivated atrocities going on all over the place, why then is this religion thing heralded as something good again? Someone remind me.
I honestly feel like religion is the single largest threat to society… ever. Unless those that practice religion of all stripes can learn to be tolerant of other peoples beliefs, and reconcile old differences of opinion, what we see today will continue to fill 20 second slots on the nightly news, Infinitely. I see nothing to indicate otherwise. An ideal world, in my opinion, would be one free of religion, and the prejudice that comes with it. Can we move out from under this darkness, this machine of evil, this unrelenting opression already? Religion is not the sweet goodness its adherents think it is, they are just blinded, or indifferent, to its true nature.
Evidence Based Reality 
we have Shiite muslims killing Sunni muslims. Religion is a great thing, provides the number one excuse to kill your neighbor
LikeLike
I know Mak, it is insane. Religions claim to be peaceful, and supposedly based upon love. What I see is the exact opposite. The peace and love shit is what gets you in the door. Then a transformation occurs. Without realizing it, the religious recruit becomes just like the group they joined. They begin to dislike, even hate everything that isn’t just like them. To the point where murdering anyone that doesn’t toe their particular line, is easily justifiable.
Religious clans, cults, factions, whatever you want to call them become groups of hate. They hate gays, democrats, liberals, anyone with a skin tone darker than theirs, hell they even hate each other. They speak about each others cult with the same vitriol they reserve for atheists. The Baptists hate the Mormons, The Pentecostals, the 7th Day Adventists, the Jehova’s Witnesses, you name it. If it isn’t of their own cult, they have no tolerance for it. All the while proclaiming what a grand and loving culture they cling to. Same goes for them all, they all have the same intolerance for each other. Here they may not make a scene in a restaurant, where they might perhaps co-mingle, but you can bet your ass as soon as they are in the car, or in their pews, the hate will spew forth. Disgusting excuses for human beings all of them.
Those that take up murdering for sport have gone to the etreme. At least here in the states, if one religious group started murdering a large congregation of another group, the authorities would step in…I think. The only thing that is certain is, the more you look, the more there is not to like, and more and more reasons for anyone with an ounce of sense to wonder how the hell it came to this.
LikeLike
We could say they are religions of peace on paper but not in practice. They hate and kill when they are in power. What stops them from bigotry, murder and hate is the temporal governments we have. Funny people they are
LikeLike