Posts Tagged religion
For a Lack of Good Faith
written 30 Jun 2009 over a light lunch
As I’ve been living in and around my hometown of Ebensburg, Pennsylvania for the past few weeks as we take a break from tumbling around the world, there has been much reflection mirroring up and around my brainstem as of late. I suppose the simple reality of being in the place I grew up, meeting old friends and watching as everyone compares themselves up: how did he do, how did you do and how do they relate to one another.
But more than such trivialities — anyone who’s made anything of themselves worth being knows that it’s better to be happy than any amount of worldly success — come up the idea of religion. It seems that just about everyone in this area, a small town surrounded by emptied mines and rural farmlands, is heavy set into their Church-going and Godliness. Many will assure you that they are not “religious” but simply “spiritual”, that they don’t live by the rules of the Church but by God’s rules. It’s all I can do to not attempt to argue it out with them, that without a Church there would be no Bible, and without a Bible what connection would you have ever had to God? But I’m not interested in breaking the faith of others, just dealing with my own lack of the stuff.
Some would think that to be of the agnostic or atheistic persuasion would be a life of simple, easy living, with no morals or Godly rules to abide. Of course, simply not believing in God doesn’t instantly leave you lacking in morals, and in fact it’s religion that makes life easier, giving you the benefit of the idea that even if you die, you’ll still have more time. Not just more time, but the best time, theoretically. In fact, the idea that Heaven is such a wonderful place would have you thinking more Christians would live insane lives, jumping out of airplanes, serving in wars, driving with reckless abandon, in hopes of an accidental death.
But the realities of not believing in God leave me with the inevitability that there may be nothing after this life. I can hope that there is, reincarnation might be nice (I recall a movie where a guy was reincarnated as the seat of a girls bike…) or even to be a spirit who can float through the galaxy with endless time to explore. Unfortunately, I’m lead more toward believing that there is nothing, that for all of the amazing consciousness, our thoughts, our achievements, our lives and how important they are to us, that we might simply be a fluke, and that there is no greater being waiting for us with 99 virgins or golden palaces. The finality of life is a daunting aspect, but it has one massive side effect: live now, because this is your only chance.
And I feel like I’ve done quite the living thus far.
More Posts in This Archive
Gods, Atoms and the Inevitable Tasty Treat We Make for the Worms
A boy raised on a farm by good, Christian parents who always meant well, whether or not they always did the right thing or not. In rural America, life is as simple as working hard on the weekends, fishing Saturdays and always making it to Church on time Sunday morning. For most people who grow up in that environment, emulating your parents is a good enough path in life, and asking questions is only a hassle. Why question what works? That’s the only question you need, and it’s rhetorical as all hell.
Read more on Gods, Atoms and the Inevitable Tasty Treat We Make for the Worms…
Religious Inequality
I personally think religion is little more than a device to appease the worried minds of those who’d rather not, or can’t bare to, think of a logical way to approach their own mortality. But I’m a jackass, so who cares, right?
Pope Warns of Evils of Freedom, and Happiness
I heard the Pope mention today, in this NPR segment, the following:
It means overcoming the … separation between faith and life, and countering false gospels of freedom and happiness.
The omitted part in the ellipsis is simply because I can’t understand him, I believe he either says “even” or “evil”. As a person who finds religion disillusioning and Catholicism particularly evil and heretical, I certainly can agree that the Church is not interested in humans finding either freedom or happiness.
Revisiting Paganathanism
For those of you who haven’t been diligently reading since my blog’s conception, you may be unfamiliar with Paganathanism, and you wouldn’t be alone. The religion was founded by myself and is loosely based around the universe as a whole, with final determination of morality and codes of conduct determined ultimately by a board consisting solely of myself. As the religion is generally only practiced by myself, there is little controversy from either the teachers or followers. However, much of the ritual ceremonies practiced are heavily influenced by my beautiful wife, and Paganathanisms only goddess (highly figurative, of course), and at times by my most promising, only student, Mr. Tristan David, whose wisdom you might know from the Tristan Davidism chronicling. But enough posh-wash over semantics, today I would just like to made a brief and important statement from the ongoing annuls of Paganathanism.
Thoughts on Crosses
I found myself wading in a pool of Wikipedia today, reading up on Easter which got me to thinking about Judaism and wondering what differences there might be in their version of the Old Testament which lead me to an article which claims that in the 2nd century their was a small movement to eliminate the Old Testament, and even books of the New Testament which quoted their previous counterpart, from Christianity all together. I wonder how vastly different the world might be today if such a powerful religion had been anchored more around the teachings of Jesus, that happy beard-slinging hippy, rather than the dauntingly frightening wrath of God, laughably unscientific history of the world, and several important chapters about who begat who.
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