In a world currently being ravaged by violent pretenders committing terrorism under the name of Islam to increasingly growing xenophobia in the US, Africa and Eastern European countries, the impact of religion and it's thorny grasp on people's lives still continues to play an important part in today's human society. In a world where science is quickly providing so many answers to age-old questions that have existed since the dawn of man, we need to step back and ask;
'What place does religion have in our world?'
For us atheists and sceptics, the fact that religion still plays such a huge role in human everyday life is a frustrating one.
The problem with religion is that it often creates a 'it's my God that's real, not theirs' mentality between people of opposing faiths, and wherever faiths meet, there is often conflict. From the deliberate persecution of Christians in ancient Rome, to the Crusades in the Middle East (long before oil was seen as a commodity worth invading for) to the huge social and cultural diversion brought on by the partition of India, it seems sadly there wherever the Abrahamic religions are involved, there is never lasting peace. And even within the various monotheist religions there is division, with The Troubles in Ireland, and IS/Daesh continuing to persecute those even of their own faith because they don't follow the 'correct' religious teachings within their own subcultures.
While not overly critical of the Far Eastern religions of Shinto, Confucianism and Taoism due to their commitment to implementing a social lifestyle (of generally goodwill and respect) rather than servitude to an un-seen deity, I also see merit in paganism and 'nature' based religions as they form an understandable explanation to their beliefs; worship of the sun makes sense as it's existence provides all life on Earth - it's warmth provides plants for us to harvest, it's light prevents from unseen dangers in the dark, and while not a 4000BC early human, I can relate as to why the sun would provide such an immense inspiration to the foundations of early human civilisation.
Being brought up in a non-religious background, I was allowed to make my own decisions as a child, and encouraged to explore all faiths and lifestyles. From voluntarily attending a Protestant Sunday school to visiting grand Catholic Cathedrals in Europe and Buddhist Stupas in Canada, I realised I was agnostic by around aged 12 and atheist a few years later.
My parents were brought up in religious households, of Catholic and Protestant beliefs, and while they never had a problem with faith, the opposite sides of the family did at first and refused to give their blessing when an engagement was announced. By ensuring I was allowed to make my own decisions on what religious (or non-religious) beliefs I chose to follow, and without paranoia induced by the almighty gaze of God upon me, you quickly realise that there is a world beyond the texts of the religious books. While ironic in the context of finding self-awareness in Hinduism and it's connotations of having your third eye opened, when you free yourself from the shackles of religion, you find more happiness, community and spirituality amongst both yourself and the environment around you.
When looking at religious text - with a sharp eye - you can quickly disassemble which parts of the holy book(s) do, and do not make sense. While it is easy to discern the books by realising that they have been translated, re-written, re-amended and re-interpreted countless times throughout their existence, by literally taking the context of the words and trying to apply them to any situation or mind-set in the real world not already implanted with a tie to faith, makes a futile and confusing endeavour.
In a world where science can cure children of cancer, of deadly worm infestations, malaria, smallpox, and Ebola, where praying away in the hopeless and misguided attempt of seeking divine intervention from God is not only negligent, but bordering on child abuse; to allow your child to die while there is a cure for his diabetes, with a >99% success rate because you would rather seek assistance from Jesus is not only vile, but sadly a strong indication that faith has far too much influence on the decisions that we make. While this scenario occurs quite frequently in the US (and in Africa with witch doctors) it is quite alarming that in the American 1st Amendment it is stated that 'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion' and is so easily ignored where the more religiously devoted are concerned.
The Catholic church's archaic stance of the HIV/Aids problem in Africa is another twisted interpretation of religious text, and in refuting the care for these people (whose ancestors remember, were forced to convert to Christianity in the first place) for fear of hellish reprisals is an obvious abuse of power clouded by a mind that would forsake common sense in preference for a teaching about anti-contraception that's not even intrinsically mentioned in detail in any version of the Christian bible.
And this sadly opens another wormhole of problems about the passages written in the Koran, Old Testament and Bible; if they are truly the word of God, and these words are his direct commands, then there can be no room for personal interpretation of the words (for fear of defiling his words). If the Bible quotes 'The Lord answered, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a she-goat, three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle dove and a young pigeon.”' (and it does in Genesis 15:9) or 'Yet she increased her prostitution, remembering the days of her youth when she engaged in prostitution in the land of Egypt. She lusted after their genitals – as large as those of donkeys, and their seminal emission was as strong as that of stallions' (again in Ezekiel 23:19) then the believers of the text must take God's words exactly for what they are for fear of a hellish reprisal.
I have the utmost support of religious freedom (and speech) and wish to live in a society where people can choose to believe in religion or not, where they are not persecuted for their beliefs, or discriminated against. Where my problem lies is that religion is often thrown down people's throats whether or not are hungry for it or not. As an atheist, and quite the spiritualist, I enjoy living in a cosmopolitan hotpot of different religious practices, ethnicity and nationalities. Less than two miles away from my home, there is a Sikh Gurdwara that every Sunday asks attendents to cook food to give to the homeless, and not far beyond that, there is a Methodist Church opposite an Islam Mosque who have cooperated together for many years.
The key element to take away from religion is that it just a belief; you cannot scientifically prove or disprove that God is a real entity, and that if we are to take a holistic view of the world, the teachings of science make far more sense than religious texts. Where you believe that a snake, and something about an apple and incest between Adam and Eve's children creating the world, and I believe that life on Earth was created through evolution, we must learn to respect each others beliefs until science can provide the evidence that we need to answer all the questions that we have been longing for. In the meantime, it is perfectly ok for people to believe in mythical beings if they wish to, as along as they don't force their views on others.
And this where we need to start assessing what impact religion has on our modern society. Where many people are seeing through the veil of religon, and embracing their atheism or skeptism of organised relgion, the 'old guard' of defenders of the faith are slowly falling away as we are becoming less tolerant of religious nonsense. Where the Daesh under their demented application of the faith are decimating communities in the Middle East, there is a rapidly growing community of people taking a look, stepping back and saying 'what in the hell is going on?'
And I say to these quiet protesters of religion: do not be quiet. Let your voice be heard. You have a right not to be religious.
Where atheism is still persecuted in countries that have an intertwined government and state religion, we need to help those that cannot be brave. Where saying 'I am an atheist' can lead you to torture, stoning and death, there is global intolerance to people who are atheist, and while there are nations that do not have a state religion, there is always a domineering religion ordaining that countries denizens and their choices. We need to give these people the same rights that the LGBT, black and feminists representatives that have been campaigning so hard for. And while it may seem belittling to what those communities have had to endure to attain their rights, we need to embrace the wave of cultural change, where the growing polarities between the liberal left and conservative right are getting bigger, we need to ensure that everyone who believes in free speech, in religious freedom, and free-will are giving the rights that are equal to their peers. In an ideal world, where we can be a peaceful species, we need to find a tolerance to everyone else. Whether I understand the reasoning of why a homosexual man may dress up in drag, or why some Christians believe that they have to give 10% of their earnings as tithe, it doesn't matter whether I understand the reasoning or not as long as I give that person the right to believe in whatever they choose to.
While I can never sway over a crowd like Richard Dawkins or George Carlin do, I wish to simply state that if you are given the choice between religious teachings, and common sense, please remember that *science doesn't discriminate, it just seeks honest answers to our questions'
And to those that are religious, please take this advice on; don't be a dick.
“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.”
― Isaac Asimov