Disclaimer: I am not affiliated to any religion, faith or believe. Never have and never will.
Yesterday was Easter Sunday, the day when a dead person supposedly returned to living on earth for 40 days to then enter Heaven. To me, this sounds too much of a Zombie or ghost story to be realistic. Not to mention the pagan roots, the bunnies who bring eggs and the huge marketing push to buy chocolates. However, a lot of people globally see it as part of their believe system.
I firmly regard one’s believe to be a personal matter not not one of public importance. I don’t mind what people believe in and I don’t think other people should interfere in my personal believes.
I understand that live is not always easy and the hope to have a better life after the current one is an appealing proposition. However, many benefits can derived from congregating with like minded people rather than the specific believe itself according to a review on Skeptical-Science.com.
The main problem with religion as (I see it) is the division that comes with it. How many wars were lead to force one religion onto so-called “non-believers”? How many are still being fought today? Why do we still think in terms of “us” and “them”?
Wouldn’t it be better to think of everyone as an individual and in terms of their positive contributions to the world? I think so.
I think the world would be much better off if we focused on each person’s actual actions instead of what they say whilst congregating or showing off their faith. After all, if you really believe in your religion or faith, surely it would be sufficient to live by it; you wouldn’t need to showcase it.
So next time you see two people or communities or countries during a confrontation, look at what they do and listen less to what they say. Does it still look like well meaning religions, faiths, believes?
When US Evangelicals change laws to take away health care from people because it is their believe, does that make you think of a loving, wholesome religion?
That is why I would prefer it if religion or faith or believe is kept out of public life – because it makes things worse, muddies the waters and divides people. Keep religion and faith going if you like, practice it if you like but don’t bring it into public life and force it onto others who don’t want it.
Let’s start NOW. Let’s keep religion out of conflict and out of public life.