Day 709, Avengers go to church.

There is one little church in the place where I live, it is not so far from where I live in the countryside. There was another one in the main town but that one was vandalized by some kids a couple of years ago and they demolished it because it was a hazard, little late you might say. This particular church is not so special, but they are always interesting, like a tv from the fifties, they look cool but only old people use them. But churches are often interesting structures, they stand out from the ordinary buildings and remind us that with some cooperation we humans can build some nice things together. I grew up without religion, I can’t remember anyone was religious in my mothers and fathers family. At school we learned about Jesus but also about Thor and Wodan and I still remember those stories, I loved them. There are enough religious people in Holland but it’s not something you specifically mention when you are one of them and most religious people are pretty liberal with the rules they supposed to follow. Because of this religion is not important to me in my personal life, as an object of study I find it highly interesting because for me Jesus is as real as Thor and with that in mind it is quiet amusing how serious people take there believes. Could be nice if Jesus was one of the Avengers, heling people left and right and as a special power: making wine out of water… no, that’s kind of lame…guess Jesus is not as cool as the other Gods.

Day 651, Thor is a god

Day's pictures, Religion

Some things are hard to understand for me, growing up in a secular country that has no long history and no entrenched traditions. In this case I was thinking about Israel and Palestine and their quarrel. There are lots of complicated reasons why they are still fighting with each other but at the basis stands the idea that long ago some people pointed ate a piece of dirt and proclaimed it sacred. Remember that those religions have no more significance to me than the stories of Tolkien or Harry Potter. And if you look at it like a that you can imagine that it is hard to understand that they fight, and kill, over different interpretation and gods. As a nerd I like to fantasies about who would win in a fight: Thor or Superman. But in those ridiculous countries they tell young people to kill each other because of there disagreement in who has the right to live close to Asgard or Krypton.

The sad thing is that most Israeli and Palestinians just wane live their lives and probably believe in a god out of tradition and habit. These people don’t really believe in god or have never taken the time to question it, what in my mind is the same. But like everywhere in the world, the people with the biggest mouths, the strongest opinions and the most to lose determine the faith of all of them. And if you stretch it a little further you could say that the people that are in charge are driven by their power and the fear to lose it and that they use the religion to legitimize their rule. Religion is not what drives them, but power does. Religion is not real, and if it is used as a reason for action you will always find ulterior reasons hidden behind those actions.

If you are a believer tell me than why there are over 4000 religions? Some of them have no problem with multiple god’s but a lot allow only one. Why do you, as a believer think you are right and all the other people (probably billions) are wrong, if your religion only allows one god?

Next time you read a text where they use the word god or an equivalent, exchange that word with Thor and you will see how stupid these man (as in a person with a penis and power) made books are.

Prov 3:5: Trust in THOR with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.

Phil 4:6: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with Thurseblot, present your requests to Thor.

Acts 18:9: One night Thor spoke to Loki in a vision: “Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent.

Before and after Newton

Religion

“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.”. (Genesis 11:1)

“So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous”. (Exodus 9:24)

“Allah hath turned some to apes and swine,”. (5:60)

Why is religion still around? Most people in the world will drive a car, make a phone call or watch tv. All these activities are made possible because of science, the same science that can disprove most of the claims from the different religions. Religious people don’t except the scientific method if it disproves their beliefs but except it the moment they get in a car, made possible by science.

Everyone that bases their actions on, tradition, hearsay, voices, or old books should by now know that the “they stand on thin ice”.

You can see a clear evolution in religious traditions like the concept of an “eye for an eye “to a justice system or the role of the woman in the household. The strict “god given” rules are more flexible as time goes by taking away strength from their claim of divine inspiration. Claiming that something is tradition and therefore true is in this light difficult. If you claim the newest tradition/laws as true then that contradicts often the original traditions or law books.
Many stories and rules in the different books and religious laws are themselves based on an oral tradition wherein stories go from one to another. Our modern historians or the police use hearsay but never as the only source, and these stories are often debated as to filter out the truth. In some religions there is also a tradition to debate the origins and validity of their thousands year old books and laws, but as everybody knows that has studied ancient history the evidence for these theories are thin and surely not enough to base a whole religion on let alone prosecute people and fight wars.
In most religious traditions hearing voices is a big part of their (written)belief. Throughout the ages and in many cultures, people that heard voices had often a special place even if they made no sense. This changed slowly and nowadays we have a whole industry to calm these people down. But if you genuinely heard voices or not, it’s not hard to imagine that a charismatic person can pretend to hear voices and give his wishes more convincing power. There are many reason why people (claim to) hear voices but like with hearsay it should not be a basis for a religion that can be so destructive.
The old books are al based on the first three points and can be dismissed.

Imagine you want to put together an IKEA shelf and the book with instruction was based on tradition, hearsay, and people with voices in their head. You might think that any way with IKEA manuals, but I guaranty you that there is a lot of science involved in making these manuals and furniture.

Even the most religious person in the world has probably some modern equipment that was made with science that contradicts his belief. And if people say that they “just know that God exist” you just ask them if they would fly in a modern airplane where the engineer that designs the wing just “knows the right shape”. As modern people we should know that saying that it feels right doesn’t make it right. That’s a sentiment from a time when people believed in witches, talking snakes and a flat earth.

Science can also be used for evil like a weapon. But a weapon itself is not dangerous, it becomes dangerous if it gets used in the name of some beliefs.

I know that there are a lot of peaceful religious people that use their personal god as a guide and strength in their life but there are better ways to find a guide in this life. One is to just look around and get amazed by nature and how lucky we are to be part of it, science is the tool to see and understand even more of it.

Fill your mind with science because an empty mind can be filled with nonsense.