Religion is a noble practice that, unfortunately, has the capacity to reduce the most intelligent of us into a walking mess of retrogression. For every wonderful religious folk, there are a few extremists who smear this aristocratic front with the unholy muds it seeks to make redundant. This they do by either being too uptight, holier-than-thou, snobbish and condescending or by deliberately misquoting scriptures to further a selfish agenda. Then, there is a special case that use religion for self development, which in itself is not a bad thing, until you realise it is 'at all cost', the flocks I am preaching to be damned, humanity be damned. Nothing done that laughs in the face of humanity bears fruits that aren't bitter or painful. Religion is one of the pillars of hope for humanity and thus must be treated with the reverence it deserves.
My religious background taught me to respect religion and that rings true even now, though I m a skeptic. People's belief and faith in religion should never ever be taken for granted, which therefore means that those using religion for the betterment of their own pockets while leaving the flock still flocking in poverty have best come out of their con-man shaped cocoon and be honest. The tithe and offering offered are to furnish your Highrise apartment and buy you a Beamer. Lay it all bare. It's okay. True, maybe it will be detrimental and self defeating but humanity complexity has your back, you will still have your stalwart believers.
Still on religious folks riding on religion -shaped business agenda, isn't it ironical that some of the folks who claim to have a personal relationship with God barely have a sense of shame or empathy? That even when they have wronged and their awful misadventure has led to a loss of life, they still claim innocence and cast aspersions to those calling them out of their fault? Isn't it ironical that the humility they preach to us, the humility they tell us God expects from us, is barely a term they can spell? That, as they speak of how pure Jesus was, their hearts are darker than a moonless night and their motives contain more evil than the name devil? The recent outing of fake pastors has been happening at such startling frequency that it makes religion as a whole look like a glorified syndicate of wrong doers. It is high time the christian folks reconsider their ways and shift the trust they have dumped on these so called Men of God onto something else, maybe wholly onto The Holy Bible. Men of God! More like men from dogs. If I sound angry, its because I am. The motives of many churches today has shifted from spreading the Gospel then making money to making money then making money then making more money; those silly believers can go swallow soap and positive thoughts. Churches have become burdens, cursed mansions of sin and christians should distance themselves from such churches and just work their way around the Bible. Damn, these pastors aren't even telling you anything that isn't in the Bible and understanding metaphors is quite easy if you read well.
Moving onto the religious folks themselves, bigotry is a sin. Seems some don't get that. While being a human who plays by the rules of a Diety might come with benefits such as ranking higher on the morality ladder, intolerance and at times outright loathe to people who don't consent to your set of rules is an indespicable act that I believe even the father of lies might be tempted to run away from. It doesn't matter how awful 'other' human beings are, discrimination, dogmatism and hatred are not admirable traits. It doesn't matter how many charities you support single-handedly or how well you can manoeuvre the Bible blindfolded, when you hate, you befoul all your good deeds. The greatest commandment according to God himself is love one another (see I also read the Bible). True, its hard, at times downright impossible, to love another, but that's when tolerance is required. It's an action, not just a noun. Sometimes ( and I believe its almost every time), there is usually an undercurrent of reason flowing beneath the tide of rashness, a voice that asks for second thoughts and second chances. A voice that asks you to forgive. That's the voice of humanity. It's there in almost all of us, and if you feel it, listen to it and follow what it tells you. Associating with only one of your kind is comfortable, but being able to accomodate others that you have nothing in common with is priceless. Being accomodative is one of the best traits any of us could ever possess.
So, therefore, in our daily dealings with life, let us remind ourselves that Religion is not a tool for separation and self-magnification but is an important column on which we support our cause to rid ourselves of these ghosts of prejudice that make us lose hope in ourselves.
