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 