Yes, tonight’s www.maestrosync.com post contains more of my thoughts on religion. I think this one is quite coherent.
Suppose there is a God. There’s very little indication for us here on Earth of who this guy is or what he might want. We have are texts that purport to the word of God, but most of these are contradictory, so most of them have to be wrong. Of all the major religions in the world (because they contradict each other) at best one is right. With nothing else to go on, it’s completely unreasonable for God to expect us to find his commandments, let alone fulfill them.
All things considered, religion seems like a futile pursuit. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with searching for answers—it’s something we do and it’s something we should do—but my own search has lead me to the conclusion that religion only offers lies and uncertainty. Considering that the odds are not just low, they’re completely unknown, why bother with it?
Also suppose one of the holy texts out there is the correct and true word of God. No matter what religion this is, the majority of the people in the world don’t subscribe to it. The majority of people in the world are condemned to eternal damnation* just because they picked the wrong book. As far as I’m concerned, that alone rules out the possibility of a truly benevolent God. Trying to twist the concept of benevolence or love to suit this scenario would be robbing the word of all meaning.
In the end, the best you can do is live a good life by your own morals and standards. If there’s no God and/or nothing after death, nothing lost. Otherwise: if God really is all-loving, you should have no problem getting a good afterlife, without missing out just because you didn’t pick the right religion; if he is not, what can you do?
* This does depend on the religion, but they’re certainly missing out on subscriber benefits of some sort.
“All things considered, religion seems like a futile pursuit. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with searching for answers—it’s something we do and it’s something we should do—but my own search has lead me to the conclusion that religion only offers lies and uncertainty. Considering that the odds are not just low, they’re completely unknown, why bother with it?”
“In the end, the best you can do is live a good life by your own morals and standards.”
I find that many people want and/or need religion. Sometimes our own morals don’t provide the motivation necessary to cause action or change. No opinion here, just an observation.
Certainly, many people want religion, but do they need it? Are someone else’s morals preferable to our own?