I’ve been reading this book called The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Basically, the entire book disapproves of the concept of god and meticulously disproves the existence of it.
Why do people believe in god? Why do people blindingly believe in something that has never been remotely proven to be true? Why do people waste so much money and time on religion? Why is it okay for people to do hurtful things as long as they’re in the name of religion? Why is it frown upon to lose faith rather than being celebrated as an achievement of freedom? Why do people get penalised or worse, killed for not believing or adhering? Why do some animals get discriminated because of fools who mistranslated some religious scripts? Why don’t religions get on with time?
Why burn offerings to your god on the side of a road where parking is already scarce and pollute our already ailing environment? Why taint my Chinese New Year celebrations by giving me a red greeting card which includes description of how the colour red signifies the blood spilled by the son of god? Why can’t I walk my dog in peace without getting dirty looks?
I once worked with a girl who stressed out so much because her mother would pressure her into spending hundreds of Ringgit into buying offerings to be burnt away. This is a girl who earned so little she couldn’t fix her car or sometimes, make payments for the car loan. Apparently all these issues did not matter to the mother.
Will the world be a peaceful place if everyone had one same faith? Does religion cancel out ill thoughts and human’s thirst for power & money? Seriously? Lets say it is possible to convert EVERYONE on this planet to one religion, then what? Will there be no more suicides, gossips, bribery, murders and rapes? Do religious people truly believe that having one single whatever faith will make the world a better place? If you answered yes, I can understand why you’re religious in the 1st place.
I mean all of us non-religious people could probably answer all the questions above, but the book truly explored them and more.
According to Dawkins, some people are religious because apparently religions teach one to be moral, ethical and the whole shebang. But it’s pretty obvious that you don’t need a religion to impart these qualities into a person, right? I mean personally, none of my parents are religious but yet I’ve been taught to be considerate to other people and to stay away from crimes basically. So why don’t just cut out the middleman and get straight to attaining those qualities?
You may argue that there are people who practise religions the wrong way and shouldn’t be clumped together with people who practise them properly. But you can’t deny that all these instances of stupidity and inconsideration did begin with a blind faith in a delusion, no?
