Religion Never Hurt Anybody

What would you do for your children when they're sick? Probably anything, right? You'd take them to the finest doctors, pay whatever it cost, you'd see as many specialists as possible. Even if it was something fairly common like asthma, if your child was suffering you'd do whatever you had do to, right?

So you can also probably sympathize with these parents who had their daughter beaten bloody, impaled with a red hot poker and left paralyzed for life in order to exorcize her asthma demon? I mean, anything's better than asthma, right?

This is what faith based decision making leads to in its most extreme cases. No tests are done, they simply declare the poor girl cured and continue on. Well, what the fuck happens when her asthma flares up again? They'll move the goalpost and say something like "her faith wasn't strong enough" or "she did xyz and allowed the demon back in" And an entire community looks the other way.

This is why religion must not be allowed to grow uninhibited. It must be opposed for the sake of little children who have no say. Faith healing over modern medicine is not a phenomena specific to foreign, uneducated lands.

Case in point.  Now, they certainly didn't beat the poor buy into a paralytic state. But he fucking died. The child is dead from an easily treatable condition because people choose faith, a method which has never passed any test, has never accomplished any measurable result in anything it was applied to and they picked it over a fucking doctor because a really, really old book made them feel guilty about trusting reason and scientific efforts.

No, but people need religion, right?

Skepticism over Religion

This is a very over-written subject, I know, but so what. This is what I'm going through and I thought I'd start a blog to get my thoughts out there for anyone else who may happen to respond to it.

I'm a former Christian. An ex X, if you will. I feel the judgment and harsh looks just by typing such a phrase, but that's exactly the kind of reason that I need to get away from it all. It's not an accepting place, nor is it logical, evidence based or in the least bit scientific.
I think organized religion really serves to be more of a form of repression in modern society. Maybe in all society ever, but I don't know enough to make that claim directly. What I do know is that it breeds an attitude of insecurity and fear to make its followers feel that they simply cannot survive outside of it.
It's true and that's it. And if you question it, you are showing a lack of faith, of trust. Faith after all, is not about knowing or understanding, it's about believing. If you can find a way to make it all seem sensible, then that's what matters. That it seem sensible. It doesn't have to stand up to further questioning, it doesn't even have to make sense to anyone else. It's about pacifying skepticism so that it doesn't grow to be a threat to your faith.

I used to think Skepticism was a dirty word! How ridiculously brainwashed was I? Not even allowed to ASK about the thing you believe. I've heard it said and it's my new favorite mantra, if you will. (and you will)...
The beliefs you hold most dear should be the ones you question the most.

Isn't that beautiful? It's so true. If you really REALLY believe something to be true, then you should do everything you can to disprove it because that's the only way to know that it holds any water.
You may think your boat floats, but you still have to put it in the water. You may think it's unsinkable, but you still need to sail it in a storm. You may think its the best boat, but it should be compared to every boat you come across and remeasured. This is the only way to be sure, and even then it can never be 100%. Its about trusting your boat until another one comes along.


note: if you're Canadian and reading this, I'm talking about sailing vessels not the word "about".