RELIGION

This is quite a sensitive topic among most people. Christianity happens to be one of the popular faiths that is highly polarised on the terms of who interprets the bible best. There are quite a number of denominations sharing the Christian faith. Catholics, Adventists and the protestant category where it includes all the churches that were once part of the Catholic Church that broke off because of the doctrinal differences they experienced at the time.

Most of these issues included, the day of worship, the liberal Christians and the conservative kind. The stand on various pertinent issues that affected them at the time. Issues on contraception, family planning, morality issues mainly dwelling on alcohol consumption and temple prostitution. Persecution and combination of state and church also made many to dislike the mainstream church.

I won’t dwell much on the history of churches but you’ve got to admit Christianity is the most flawed religion of all time. This does not leave out any form of religion. Someone once said that if animals were to imagine they had a god, they would imagine one that looked exactly like them only with a few more features that made them gods. They’d adorn them with immortality, strong set of wings, tough claws or talons and maybe a sharp set of teeth. Likewise, humanity have had to create gods in their own image and give them the power that they would want real human beings to possess. This is mostly inspired by tough times in human life. This is especially by death and life that are practically inexplicable.

Human beings also fail to wonder how nature takes its perfect course. How night turns into days, how seasons come to being, how animals depend on each other for survival either directly or indirectly. From the cradle to the grave, mankind can’t begin to comprehend most things he witnesses. This pushes him to start thinking that we may just be puppets in a show. The man behind the curtain may be bigger, better brighter, and stronger in order to put everything in place as it is.

I can’t go in writing to discredit any form of faith or lack of because it may rub most believers and non-believers in the wrong way. This is just but my opinion though and I am entitled to it. I tend to think we should be bright enough to know that most of the stories in the bible especially are just Hebrew fables, epics and legends that have a moral significance. They mould better people and lessons are learnt from their mistakes.

As a realist I think god and religion as a whole are just a state of mind. Pure imagination by those who feel most inspired by the events in life that have no sensible or human explanation especially to those who don’t trust science. I can’t say what god has done for anyone but I can say what faith in him has done to the lives of very many people. I agree with the bible on the definition of faith. It is the belief in the unseen. Better put, the imagined. It can only be seen in the head of believers. Who is to say we did not create gods in our own image. They get angry as we do. They keep families. Their families disagree at some points. They get jealous. They are loving and caring to their own. This is to mention just but a few characteristics of the gods we worship. It cuts across Greek, Roman, Hebrew and many other mythologies.

We should however not overlook what religion has helped humanity and the world at large to accomplish. Mankind have always had the insatiable need to have faith in something stronger than them in case they need someone or something to look up to. The morality in the world has been championed mainly by religious zealots who are in pursuit of a world that has no sin or any form of immorality. Man is a perfectly moral creature without religion. Religion only helps remind and reprimand the wrongdoers in the society and help spread goodwill.

Most orphans would be forgotten if it were not for religion. The poverty and disaster stricken areas in the world would be devastated without religion. Most criminals would have nothing to run to in order to change their ways. If you look closely into this, it is the strong faith in god that inspires goodwill and not god himself that comes down in person. To most, faith is all they have. You take that away and they are left stripped of love, kindness, morality and their entire existence as they know it.

It can therefore be concluded that religion is a part of mankind that cannot be done away with. Man needs to live having faith that in death, there will be a better afterlife earned by the good deeds done in his lifetime. This way, the sanity in the world is maintained. Only now the battle is, whose imaginary friend is stronger than the other.

I will have you know that atheism is no religion whatsoever. It is just lack of faith in supernatural creatures. From superman, batman all the way to gods. That is my definition at least. Most Christians would want to call it Satanism because if you are not for god then you are against him but the labelling is up to them. I am just a man who prefers real solutions to real problems.