Humans 111

Religion Isn’t the Problem

The problem is we the people

Bring Enough Humans Together…

If you want a perfect religion, you must leave it. Why? Because you are imperfect. Humans are terrible people. You and I are flawed. Our ways are sinful and wicked. We make terrible decisions and we make mistakes.

Bring enough humans together in a church and you have a huge problem. Humans will never be perfect, and because of this, religion can never be perfect with humans in it.

Religion is just religion. It doesn’t promote peace or violence. Religion promotes whatever you bring into it. If you are an aggressive person, your religion will be aggressive. If you are peaceful, your religion will be peaceful. If you are ruthless, your religion will be ruthless. If you are kind, your religion will be kind.

If you want a perfect religion, you must leave it.

… and There Will Be Imperfect Religion

Religion has a bad name and some very dark moments. That’s very true. Dark moments of various kinds. Awful things have happened under the umbrella of religion.

When these bad things go wrong, it’s tempting to blame religion. But I don’t think these dark moments fall on religion. If you blamed religion for every wrongdoing, you’d be targeting the wrong entity.

Humans are to blame for those dark moments.

When we feel judged by someone in the church, we blame Christians instead of blaming the person who judged us. When we feel unsafe, all Muslims are going to get it instead of the one person who made us feel unsafe. And we think Buddhists and Hindus are just weird for the things they believe in.

It’s not religion that behaves absurdly. It’s the people. It’s a deeper psychological disorder that afflicts humans — religious and not.

The religion blame game is easier because it avoids having to have real individual conversations.

If you blamed religion for every wrongdoing, you’d be targeting the wrong entity. You’d be barking up the wrong tree.

Religion Isn’t Dying Out

Religion has its dark moments, but religion is not dying out. Religion will never die out. Religion is very important in the human world.

This isn’t to say religion isn’t, at times, a problem or downright sinful in its ways. Religion can be harmful, but if we try to solve the problem by blaming religion, we are barking up the wrong tree.

I write these things to offer a different perspective. I believe there’s no religion in heaven. We’ll all be one and there'll be no division. But on earth, religion plays a role.

Religion Serves a Purpose

I was religious as a kid because my parents were religious. They went to church every Sunday, so I did. They prayed and read their bibles, so I did.

Others become religious because they love the feeling of having the community associated with religion. Some find peace in prayers, bible studies, rituals, and meditation. Others become religious to find a sense of purpose and direction in life, and others want salvation.

Everyone has their own personal reasons for associating with religion, and religion can provide all these things. But when it fails, religion didn't fail. People failed.

Religion like everything serves a purpose, and that’s giving people something to believe in and providing help and support for those in need.

Whenever you get the chance, go to your local religious institution and ask them what they do to help people and you will be impressed at all the good they do.

You’ll probably find that your church feeds a lot of people. Churches provide support for people who risk homelessness and also children in trouble. Churches help folks who stop in and need things. Pastors visits folks in prison or the hospital and all sorts of things that are great.

There are good religious people, and there are terrible religious people. Putting them all in one category is a dangerous move.

Whenever you get the chance, go to your local religious institution and ask them what they do to help people and you will be impressed at all the good they do.

Challenge Old Thought Processes and Beliefs

About a month ago I was walking, and a so-called Christian stopped me to tell me I was going to hell for wearing shorts. I could have kept quiet and come home and blame Christianity.

I could have said Christians are terrible, judgemental hypocrites, but that would have been taking the easy way out. Instead, I called him out on his BS (Bullshit or Belief System, whichever you prefer.)

He was no God to pass judgment on people when his own ways were wrong. There was a confrontation because it was necessary. I came home and I said I met a bad Christian.

Changing our thought process from blaming religion to blaming ourselves can be challenging, but it’s crucial if we want to solve the problem and make religion a little better than it currently is.

There are good religious people, and there are terrible religious people. Putting them all in one category is a dangerous move.

Call Out the Hypocrisy

Blaming religion has become a thing because it’s simple and quick and most people don’t want to argue. Most people want to conform and not be seen as rebels. Blaming religion avoids dealing with the real problem. It avoids making humans accountable for their bad actions.

Instead of blaming the human and addressing the problem, we blame religion and we get on with it and we are surprised that religion still sucks!

I know that many people have been hurt by the church — by the humans in the church. But in this new age, we must be part of the solution and the solution isn’t walking away from the problem, going home, and being critical.

That does nothing to help!

Part of the solution is confrontation and holding people accountable for their BS in the name of religion.

Final Thoughts

The world needs people and leaders who will preach hope. Some will be in the church doing very important work and others will stand outside of the church doing work that’s just as important.

I believe in the church so I left it.

My mission now lies outside of the church because I understand many people are unhappy with religion and will leave to find their own way. They are making the church a much better place by leaving it instead of being critical of others and cynical about life.

The world has enough critics and cynics.