Warning, you may not like this post

I have been listening to The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams and it has really stirred up some old thoughts that I have not had in a long time.

On a side note, I have really begun to enjoy listening to books while I am driving to and from work. It really helps the trip to sail by and makes it much much less banal than it would otherwise be.

Back to the topic.

I had a thought, while listening to TSoD this morning. The thought was this, if there really is a god, or gods, why don't animals worship it too? This may seem horrifying to you. But, think of it this way. If god, or gods, created humans to inhabit this universe, why oh why would it have created ONLY us to be aware of this fact? I really doubt that that is the case. If it were, I am sure that all being would be require to worship god.

This brings up several things I thought of, and asked people, when I was a child. Things like, what happens to babies when they die, because surely they are not aware of god and could not have been saved. Or what about people who live in some remote place who have never heard of god (I am speaking of the terrifying Christian god who, according to my grandmother, condemned all non-believers to immediate fiery hell), what happens when they die? If god created us, who created god, et cetera, ad nauseum.

All of these questions I started asking my grandmother around the age of 5. . . she did not preach to me about god so much after that.

Why did I stop believing in the god that I was raised to believe in? Well, that gets complicated, but I will try to keep it simple. I was very unhappy with my life. I prayed very hard each night, unto tears in fact, for my life to improve. It never did. This made me doubt what I already questioned to the point that I gave it up. This was also spurred on by my reading of Asian philosophy and books about other religions.

I realized that what I had been taught, did not make a damned bit of sense. I, even now, cannot fathom how people can delude themselves into these belief systems.

I have for a long time now been saying, whatever you believe is what will happen to you. My idea with this is that if you want to believe that there is a flying spaghetti monster god then knock yourself out, but leave me out of it. I do not care what you believe, that is your right as a living being. I get angry when these religiously blinded people try to pawn their religion onto me.

Another factor of my whatever you believe is what will happen to you. belief is that all religion is ultimately completely personal. If you go to a church, or a mosque, or whatever, the person sitting next to you does not believe the same thing as you! Let me state that again, the person sitting next to you does not believe the same thing as you. Think about this. If you really were to talk to the people in a church and ask them what they believe, and they were to give you completely honest answers, not very likely as that is, they would all tell you something completely different.

Humans are all different creatures. We all have, to some degree, different ways of thinking about and viewing things. This applies to religion as well. The same group of people you interviewed would more LIKELY tell you the drivel that their church leaders spew forth.

If religion is so personal, why are there churches? Because some smart people have made it so that churches have all of the "answers" and they use these answers to control people. Who would not want a cushy job that provides you with everything you need, for no real work at all? Smart fellows, those who setup religions. What better way to control people, and not have to actually work for your own living?

I know that some of the people who read this may find this post offense. Please keep in mind that this is my blog and I can say what I want. . . and you can too in your comments, however I may have to moderate some comments if they get out of hand. This is not to discourage comments however! I want to know what people think about these sorts of things. I also want to do this without insulting anyone.