OpEdNews » Civilization can no longer afford the hypocrisies and violence of institutional religion.

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Tag(s): Civilization; Compassion; Evil; God; Greed; McCain-John; Murder; Pope; Religion; Religion And Spirituality; (more...) Religion And Values; Religion-Politics; SOUL; STUPIDITY; Texas; Violence; Violence-War (less...)
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June 22, 2008 at 16:00:35

Civilization can no longer afford the hypocrisies and violence of institutional religion.

by W. Christopher Epler (Bill) Page 1 of 2 page(s)

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Institutional religion is a game. It has rules and punishments, but it has NOTHING to do with the human heart.

The human heart doesn't need institutional religion. Jesus wasn't a "cleric" and neither was Mohammed or the Hebrew Prophets. These men didn't have "institutional back up", such as gargantuan buildings and game rules written by men in dress-like institutional uniforms.

These last eight years have put religion under a spiritual microscope and what we have seen is beyond loathsome. Mostly, we have seen religious fanatics who justify murder in the name of God. Indeed, God, for them, is virtually a synonym of murder.

We also shouldn't forget such IQ refuse as those who actually believe the world is going to go boom in next week or two (Armageddon). Such thinking (and similar nonsense’s) is grounded is abyssal stupidity and is more dead weight of institutional religion.

Is the human race ready yet to face the fact that most of what passes for "religion" is moral trash and criminal stupidity? It's time for this meaningless free ride to end. It's time for civilization to transcend religion.

"Religion" is a tricky word because some of us can play the religion game in a tongue in cheek manner, while remaining committed to the transcendence of spirituality and morality. This is probably harmless enough since the individuals who do this know full well the human heart is all, and such religious peripheral game playing can have a certain pragmatic value.

But this is light years away from the Homo sapien morons and cowards who have handed over their lives to cult leaders and Pope types. The first step of spirituality is realizing that TRUTH HAS NO AUTHORITY and when it comes to transcendence or "God" (if that word works for you), you are 100% on your own. Indeed, the more you depend on the cult "leaders" is the more you kill your own soul.

George Bush is an archetypal boot licker of religious masters. So is John McCain. These two spiritual vacuums are the essence of what spirituality ISN'T.

However, this isn't so much a spiritual critique of certain individuals (however evil); it is rather a critique of institutional religion, or just religion itself for that matter.

To say it point blank, religion is mostly a lethal virus in civilization, but we keep looking the other way and acting as if religion is kind and helpful. Yes, about as kind and helpful as eating ground glass.

Religion is now the enemy of civilization. How can we think otherwise? Has it come to the aid of bleeding human beings during these last Bush/neocon/Nazi-like eight years?

Has it heroically stood up and pointed out that Bush's neocon cabal answers ONLY to the Israeli lunatic fringe right wing, and that this "ally" (what a laugh!) has been wagging America's foreign policy nonstop for the last eight years (actually much longer)?

Has it DEMANDED that we put 9/11 under a microscope, since hundreds of internet sites are overflowing with evidence that the Bush/Republicans didn't just "screw up" with 9/11, rather they played a dramatics role in ENGINEERING it.

Has it come to the aid of the American people to protect us from being driven bankrupt (along with the country at large) because of the manipulations of Texas energy corporations and such monsters of greed as Cheney/Halliburton? More specifically, where has religion been while the gap between the increasingly non existent lower and middle classes and the vampire rich is greater than it has ever been in American history? Jesus' heart went out to the victims of elite greed, but the American pulpits are occupied only with immoral, Bush-validating wimps.

Show me a clergyman, and I'll show you someone who can’t even spell the word morality and compassion.

We could go on and on, but the moral is simplicity itself. Religion has now bonded itself with political evil and has become in every respect like the spiritual filth Jesus whipped out of the "temple".

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10 comments

I am a homeopath. I have a doctorate in Naturopathic medicine, with a dissertation on spina bifida; preventive, and maintenance protocols that do not discount mainstream medical practices. I believe that when all is said and done the karma we send will be the karma that comes back to us. Jesus said love your enemies. What a tough mandate. Voltaire said information is light. I think that blurred and sweeping perceptions are why we need to talk together. Thanks for the love and light brought t...

to see more of bio, click on member name
karmacounselorI am a homeopath. I have a doctorate in Naturopathic medicine, with a dissertation on spina bifida; preventive, and maintenance protocols that do not discount mainstream medical practices. I believe that when all is said and done the karma we send will be the karma that comes back to us. Jesus said love your enemies. What a tough mandate. Voltaire said information is light. I think that blurred and sweeping perceptions are why we need to talk together. Thanks for the love and light brought t...

to see more of bio, click on member name

check out whtt.org

There is a group gettng in the face of the evil of which you speak...We Hold These Truths.org goes out to apostate churches, pickets them, and challenges them to look at the murders and killing they are condoning and promoting with their right wing protectionism. Grace Community Church in Southern California (their name Grace is a smoke-screen for their inherant legalism) has attempted to do citizens arrests on the pickiters. WHTT is like David standing before a Goliath of what I call taking God's name in vain for the sake of wars and profits by the industrial complex; as Jesus' tenets of forgiveness, love and peace are cast aside for machinations of power hungry, greedy, abusers of power.

by karmacounselor (1 articles, 0 quicklinks, 6 diaries, 64 comments) on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 4:07:19 AM

Patricia Ormsby is an environmental and health activist living Fujinomiya, Japan. She obtained her bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1981 and studied Linguistics at the University of Michigan Graduate School before moving to Japan in 1984, where she has worked since as a language teacher and translator of Japanese and Russian technical documents. She hang glides and climbs mountains and has led several ecotours to Siberia, Canada and the United States....

to see more of bio, click on member name
Patricia 0rmsbyPatricia Ormsby is an environmental and health activist living Fujinomiya, Japan. She obtained her bachelors degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Colorado in 1981 and studied Linguistics at the University of Michigan Graduate School before moving to Japan in 1984, where she has worked since as a language teacher and translator of Japanese and Russian technical documents. She hang glides and climbs mountains and has led several ecotours to Siberia, Canada and the United States....

to see more of bio, click on member name

Empowerment

You cut to the heart of the crisis in America and to a large extent, the rest of the world. I continue to wonder how we can enjoy what is wonderful about religion or spirituality without falling prey to its dark side, which manifests itself too often, regardless of the creed. It's obvious that paganism was institutionalized and brutal, therefore Christianity came along to restore religion to its proper role. Then it too was corrupted and became institutionalized and the roles soon switched. Herbalists keeping the old knowledge alive were hunted down ruthlessly and persecuted as witches. Worst of all, when you look at new religions, supposedly set up to address the problems of the old ones, they usually turn out to be a means for a charismatic psychopath to gain power over a mob of fawning idiots. And if they aren't that way initially, sooner or later someone takes over who wants to use the nifty "army" at his command. It works! So that's why they do it.
The recent information on ponerology has given me some hope of nipping it in the bud and maintaining a religion that continues to help those in need. Religion is an awesome tool, providing inner strength and the ability to stand up for what is right while promoting peace; but in the wrong hands it can be so easily turned into a new force of persecution and degradation of the human soul.

by Patricia 0rmsby (3 articles, 5 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 133 comments) on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 5:43:40 AM

Retired university professor.
francineRetired university professor.

At the root of our problems

there would not be a Bush presidency without the rise of right wing Christian fundamentalism, and the fact it became a political force that took over the GOP.

by francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 332 comments) on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 5:58:20 AM

A retired sales ad marketing trainer, escapee from the automobile business, who reads vorciously and writes whenever possible. The rest of the available time is spent doing woodworking or cooking. Lives in central TX, where the weather is great and politics are dubious. Usually logical and sensible but can be very cranky when assaulted by anybody leaning too far to the right and doesn't know it.
Ivan HentschelA retired sales ad marketing trainer, escapee from the automobile business, who reads vorciously and writes whenever possible. The rest of the available time is spent doing woodworking or cooking. Lives in central TX, where the weather is great and politics are dubious. Usually logical and sensible but can be very cranky when assaulted by anybody leaning too far to the right and doesn't know it.

Frankness

This is quite an important article, and the three comments that immediately follow are well worth reading, as well. No matter how hard I try, I cannot, in the end, find one good element of organized religion (and its institutions) to vote for. There really is nothing to commend it for. This mesmerizing excuse for not living an honest, moral life seems to lie at the bottom of all or most of the undeniably hideous and grievous events of mankind in recorded history. Were more critiques offered, this openly and honestly, as frank observations about the state of our civilization, a far more moral rationality would prevail.

by Ivan Hentschel (5 articles, 0 quicklinks, 8 diaries, 252 comments) on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 12:28:33 PM

A liberal American, PhD mathematician, bipedal Earthling.
W. Christopher Epler (Bill)A liberal American, PhD mathematician, bipedal Earthling.

thank you

May I add my thanks to the comments as well (including the last one). I learn so MUCH from my fellow Americans and authentic spiritual beings.

by W. Christopher Epler (Bill) (232 articles, 44 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 541 comments) on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 2:05:25 PM

DOB -- September 20, 1940. Became active in civil rights and peace movements in 1962. Active in socialist and antiwar movements -- 1963-69. Active in Gay Liberation from 1969 to present.
rhalfhillDOB -- September 20, 1940. Became active in civil rights and peace movements in 1962. Active in socialist and antiwar movements -- 1963-69. Active in Gay Liberation from 1969 to present.

WHY DON'T YOU JUST CHUCK THE WHOLE THING

When I read the title of this article, I hoped to see an attack on all religion and a defense of Atheism instead of just an attack on organized religion. Why don't you just dump the whole thing when it has been a source of so many evils?

I don't even know what you mean by "spirituality." I do feel awe when contemplating the immensity and complexity of the universe. But I see nothing beyond the material in this enormous universe. You haven't a shred of evidence for the existence of ghosts and this includes any imagined Supreme Ghost Of The Universe.

There are no independent historical sources from the first century A.D that say anything about Jesus and his Apostles. Even the Christian sources were written much later. Therefore you not only have no way of knowing what Jesus wanted or thought, you do not even know that he was a historical person, i.e. that he even existed.

Voltaire captured why religion has been such a harmful force in human history when he said; "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.

Shadia B. Drury, writing in the June/July, 2008 issue of FREE INQUIRY analyses how religion can damage the human conscience in THE DEATH OF CONSCIENCE (PART 2). The secular movements that committed the greatest atrocities of the twentieth century, the Nazis and the Stalinists killed their victims away from the public eye in isolated labor camps away from population centers. The Nazis established their death camps, as opposed to labor camps, outside the borders of Germany because they considered it unGerman. Heinrich Himmler, although he believed it was necessary to exterminate the Jews to prepare the way for the new Aryan world, worried that the heirs of the new world might be unable to remain "decent fellows" while completing the task of mass murder. But in contrast, the Catholic Dominican Inquisitors conducted their "trials" in which they tortured alleged heretics to make them confess, and subsequently burned them at the stake, in broad daylight, in full view of the populace. St. Thomas Aquinas defended the work of the Inquisition, quoting St. Paul, "know you not that a little leaven corrupts the whole lump?" to justify not only expelling the heretics from the Church but "severing them from the world by death."

Steven Weinberg expressed perfectly the malevolent effects of religion when he said" We will always have good men doing good things and evil men doing evil things. But to have good men doing evil things, it takes religion."

Robert Halfhill

by rhalfhill (3 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 285 comments) on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 8:12:19 PM

A liberal American, PhD mathematician, bipedal Earthling.
W. Christopher Epler (Bill)A liberal American, PhD mathematician, bipedal Earthling.

spirituality

I understand (I think) your reservations. Religion is a problematic word but to speak of institutional religion gives the matter much more focus, since "religion" could simply mean "spirituality". Here again, you have trouble with this word and I respect that as spirituality is super difficult to define. The key point is that aesthetic mountain experiences or love for our children are REAL, this isn't semantics, and they DON"T require any "institutional" validation. Also religion as an instution has totally abandoned America for the last eight years which is infinitely hypocritical and even violent. Lastly, discount spirituality if you wish (assuming we're talking about the same thing), but we are all children of the universe and that = spirituality. Call it awe or sublimity or whatever, but it is MORE real than anything else in our lives.

by W. Christopher Epler (Bill) (232 articles, 44 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 541 comments) on Monday, June 23, 2008 at 8:49:28 PM

retired schoolteacher
Married and mother of two.
Hobbies: Pottery, reading, studying world affairs, music & gardening
I was broken hearted after 9-11 and didn't know where to turn. All around me people were buying into the MSM. While I knew we were being manipulated (PNAC)it seemed I was alone. Got very depressed, especially after the invasions or Iraq and Afganistan. Millions of innocent people slaughtered. WE were told to shop. Since then I've been on my own investigative jou...

to see more of bio, click on member name
JoAnn Walkerretired schoolteacher
Married and mother of two.
Hobbies: Pottery, reading, studying world affairs, music & gardening
I was broken hearted after 9-11 and didn't know where to turn. All around me people were buying into the MSM. While I knew we were being manipulated (PNAC)it seemed I was alone. Got very depressed, especially after the invasions or Iraq and Afganistan. Millions of innocent people slaughtered. WE were told to shop. Since then I've been on my own investigative jou...

to see more of bio, click on member name

Religion vs: spirituality

Eckhart Tolle writes that religious people know there is a hell. Spiritual people have already been there. His amazing book, "A New Earth" allows the reader to experience the unknowable, by turning off the "head-talk" and going straight to the heart.

For a good talk by a retired Episcopal Bishop who is revolutionary in his thinking and has received death threats, go to UCTV.org and do a search for John Shelby Spong. I couldn't stop cheering.

by JoAnn Walker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 8:28:47 PM

A liberal American, PhD mathematician, bipedal Earthling.
W. Christopher Epler (Bill)A liberal American, PhD mathematician, bipedal Earthling.

interesting book

Thank you JoAnn. If I can find time I'll check it out.

peace, Bill

by W. Christopher Epler (Bill) (232 articles, 44 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 541 comments) on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 at 9:41:01 AM

religion vs: spirituality

Sorry, but I made a mistake on the Eckhart Tolle quote. It should have read' Religious people think there's a hell. Spiritual people have already been there"

by JoAnn Walker (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 5 comments) on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at 8:33:17 PM