Alternatives to religion and rituals:
You are an intelligent human being. Your life is valuable for its own sake. You are not second-class in the universe, deriving meaning and purpose from some other mind. You are not inherently evil—you are inherently human, possessing the positive rational potential to help make this a world of morality, peace and joy. Trust yourself. –Dan Barker, from his book, Losing Faith in Faith
Find peace within yourself. Religion trains us to look beyond ourselves, up into the heavens, or the houses of clergy to request and be deemed worthy to receive peace. We need no one’s permission. Peace is within.
Congregating in buildings to worship with others is for some a ritual that provides a sense of community. The buildings are often beautifully ornated and staged with theatrical presentation and participation. As well, museums and theater companies provide ornated buildings with theatrical presentation and participation. They serve to present the history and efforts of humanity. They pay taxes, improve community landscape, educate and entertain.
Zoos, botanical gardens and amusement parks are community places where the human spirit is often at blissful peak. If you have them in your community, support them and enjoy them.
Community and national parks provide observation of the grandness and beauty of all things. (Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?— Douglas Adams)
Most of us grew up with holiday memories that includes special sights, sounds and smells. Many people stay stuck in religious modes for this purpose. Within most religious holidays there are mythological and pagan rituals. Enjoy a Christmas tree, it’s a Germatic pagan ritual that has nothing to do with Christian religion.
13 Comments
February 20, 2008 at 8:33 am
Is there anyone out there who just believes in god-and nothing else? Belief in God, belief in truth, justice, peace, equality, working together for one cause, gods love? it is so simple, yet people have made it so complex. Jesus was of god-we all are. He came with God’s message. People twisted it and worshipped man. That is blsphemous to me. To sit in church and listen to some sects interpretation makes me feel suffocated. God is everywhere in everything. I do not understand why no one gets it. Searching the net to find like minded people is tiring. Seikism is close, but the whole hair thing is rediculous-and it is explained it is to separate from hindu and muslim. If we all sought out gods love, we would be one. Good against evil will be easy because there would be only love. Fight evil with love and love will prevail(not really because people are so full of evil, so lost in worshipping man, or following this man, god is lost in them).
March 30, 2008 at 4:52 am
You take to much stock in the power of man. I would rather live my life like there is a God, only to die and find out there isn’t, than to live like there isn’t then die and find out there is.
May 19, 2008 at 1:37 am
Believing in God costs you nothing if you’re wrong, but gains you everything if you’re right.
August 2, 2008 at 4:17 am
Life is full of choices. When all is said and done everyone does take a side. Just saying no to religion does nothing to change that. The simple fact is that those who say things like that are the ones who often end up being the perpetrators to the worst kinds of crimes against humanity. Just look at communist Europe in decades past. They tried hard to just wipe the slate clean and did so by killing millions of religious people. As an Orthodox Christian I know God created us to live in perfect communion with Him and with others in love. God created love and is love Himself. Those who don’t have faith in God are missing out on something wonderful and are at odds with there own real selves. As for Christmas trees or Easter eggs or any other borrowed tradition Christianity has adopted, it too was done so out of love for those who came to God from non Christian Cultures. Rituals of my Orthodox Christian faith strengthen my faith, it excersises the body, soul and spirit and is done along with the millions of faithful around the world and through the ages. It makes church a beautiful reality of Gods kingdom on Earth. The kingdom we are all invited to be a part of that will one day soon be the perfect place for all who wish to be a part of it.
August 19, 2008 at 8:56 am
Do unto others as you would have others do unto you – just follow this and no one will ever have any need for religion. The need to believe in some higher power, however, is a basic human need and cannot be taken away. One needs to know and appreciate the diffrence between religion and faith. Faith is a human necessity but religion is not.
September 22, 2008 at 5:52 am
Believing in a god is no different than believing in dragons, aliens, and ghosts. Religion is control by fear of punishment and hope of eternal existence. I choose freedom of the mind and soul. Freedom…
October 8, 2008 at 11:46 pm
really, all evidence points toward there being a God. I agree with Sam and Jeremy, but my own life experiencs and those of many people I know point conclusively to an all loving God, not just that the universe somehow created itself and as such our existence is pointless.
October 12, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Doreen, you might be interested in checking out the Baha’i Faith. It appears to resonate with what you’re saying.
October 14, 2008 at 2:56 am
Religion is just how humans deal with the fear of death.
November 8, 2008 at 10:04 pm
Sam, if I may, http://cectic.com/082.html
December 14, 2008 at 6:02 am
the bible is one book, written long ago. it’s an interesting, odd book. let’s leave it at that.
April 16, 2009 at 6:56 pm
It is amazing that so much of ones life is put into a book or on the words of several men; alas I spent 40 years of my life as a Catholic and as a priest and believe me there is nothing like a good eye opener when you’re on the inside.
For example, I wonder how many of you know that the Bible is heavily edited or that it is rife with inconsistencies that a child would/should question. Missing pages (that are not missing at all but have been omitted) which have never been released for translation. Or the dissection of the so called word of god by different factions of Christianity, Islam and Judaism just because it did not suit their purpose.
According to the “religious” god is not a god of confusion… well it beats the hell out of me what he’s trying to achieve? Oh sorry I forgot one does not question your god? Well as a mature person I would question not only his logic, but also his modus operandi, and his mental state.
I would also question the lies and tactics religions have used to reign in their children and obtain more absolute power; Crusades, Inquisitions (did Hitler achieve anything less I wonder, was his not an inquisition of sorts), the excommunications, Cathar genocide, Jihads and fatwa’s, fake iconography, relics and documents, i.e. The Turin Shroud and the most famous fakes of all the Donation of Constantine upon which the Vatican bases it’s legal standing as an Independent Sovereign State. This is the same religion that insisted the world is flat and punished a genius for stating otherwise; the man was tortured, imprisoned and then censured. The same has happened in the other mainstream religions.
I could probably say the same about other religions but not having been one of their adherents I am not able to comment with any conviction or certainty but I’m sure it’s the same.
All mainstream religions control their people through a “holy book”, prophets and its clergy. This same book and these clergy have also been used and are responsible for what one can only consider as genocide in this day and age.
Frankly, after having been a devout Catholic all of my life, a graduate Theologian and Jesuit priest I’m disgusted that as an intelligent being I allowed myself to be brainwashed by mainstream religion, and for what? That I become a better person? I’m already a good person and I can continue to be an even better person without the prejudices towards other faith and beliefs that so many faiths express.
It’s about time the Christian kill Muslim kill Jews radicals sort their lives out, leave people with Freedom of Choice that their god (same god) apparently gave us… And let us live in peace, stay out of our personal lives, our legal systems, our places of work and sort out your own house before you attempt to sort the world.
To be a good person you just need to be true to yourself answer for your wrongdoings to the person whom you have wronged or to the civil authorities if that be the case…
If you think that by going to church every Sunday that you are a good person you truly delude yourselves… Some of the most bigoted people I have ever met were some of my own parishioners.
I could go on for ever… A god of vengeance, a jealous god, a genocidal god and a manipulator of mankind… not a bad achievement for a non existent deity…
May 28, 2009 at 3:31 am
I encourage open minded individuals to see the new documentary RELIGULOUS with Bill Maher. I personally agree with his idealogy on religion.