Religion: A tool of the tyrants?

Whether you believe in Allah, Shiva, Jesus, Buddha, or are still awaiting your messiah (Excuse me if I left anything out, Im not very cultured in this arena) there is one unmistakeable truth behind all of the founded religions:

The fair and equal treatment of your fellow humanbeings, "Treating others as you wish to be treated yourself" per say www.jcu.edu...

Where then, is there a clause that states you may use your belief and faith in your God or Goddess as a tool to oppress and destroy those who do not believe in them. I'm having a hard time finding this myself, and this is why I come to the ATS community.

This may not be a true conspiracy theory, but I wish to ask you all of your true feelings on religion. Has it's meaning been lost to those who wish to wield it under the banner of war? Is there nothing we can do to stop it?

What can men do in the face of such reckless hate? I for one believe that we can, as the ATS site trumpets, deny ignorance. Learn and practice your belief truthfully, and know that your God does not wish the death of millions on his or her hands.

So I present this question to you, the ATS community: Has religion been all but lost to those blood thirsty tyrants, or is there still something to hope for, something to believe in?

one of the main reasons I did not like orginized religion was becasue of what yo uare talking about. The fanatical leaders who used matters of faith to justify and encourage war.

thankfully, these are jsut a small number of faithful that do this and the majority of belivers choose a "Do no harm" approach to life

I believe religion has been weilded by tyrants, and casue great pain to soceity. Personaly i believe organized religion has brought about more pain than pleasure to the human race. "The idea of god has been imprinted by natrue" everyone needs to search for god themselves, it is the weak sheep like people who fall under the dogmas and beliefs of others, as they are not strong enough to create their own. Very nietzscheish. Bring on the super man lmao

I dislike organized religion as well; I personally feel that it has done far more harm then good. Also, I agree that religion has often been abused and exploited by those in power to further their own agendas, it can be a very powerful tool if wielded properly.

However, I feel that most organized religions themselves create many barriers and obstacles towards attaining peace with your fellow man, especially if that fellow man happens to have beliefs independent of your own. For all the good lessons taught in various holy books, they are also laden with calls to smite the infidels and destroy all who oppose the righteous. This also results in them being very contradictory, and brings their validity into question, but that’s a different topic entirely.

Sadly, I feel that organized religions have become far too corrupt and misguided, and regardless of their intentions, are becoming less and less compatible with society as a whole. I would even go as far as to say that if not already, soon organized religions will become a liability, a danger that will threaten the peace and security of all.
I personally feel that most organized religions will be replaced by a more personal spirituality in the not so distant future. This bodes well for us all, as it will remove many barriers and divides that exist today. How soon this will occur is certainly unknown, but I feel that organized religion is on the decline. Many people are becoming more aware of the defunct practices and ideals of these dogmatic beliefs, and are unwilling to believe in such hypocritical and regressive systems. I know that this statement will probably raise the ire of many of the devout on this board, but it is simply my opinion, and nothing more. Anywho, that’s my little rant, I hope it gave sufficient insight into your spiritual inquiry.

I'm not gonna debate whether organized religion is better than individual religion but I do have to point out that without organized religions who would donate food to the homeless, house alcoholics, give clothes to the needy and toys when its the holidays? Organized religions for their theological warts do a good job of making positive social change.

Wal Mart gives to the needy. So does the Salvation Army, Red Cross, Good Will, and many other organizations. Religion isn't the only force that gives to the needy. Anyone walking down the street can give someone money. Poor people are not dependant on churches and God.

I also disagre with organized religion. I like a lot about history and one of the things I dislike, especially with Christianity, is that so long ago "Men of Gods word" MADE the Vikings convert. They burned down all of their temples and writings. Only a few exist today by some miracle.

Originally posted by Conquistadork

Where then, is there a clause that states you may use your belief and faith in your God or Goddess as a tool to oppress and destroy those who do not believe in them. I'm having a hard time finding this myself, and this is why I come to the ATS community.

The only way anyone can justify their own hate within them is by their own fear of loosing that which they love.

In other words: People can only justify their hate for someone within their own mind by their perception that that which they hate has the potential to deminish or take something they love away from them.

So, to answer your question:

Where then, is there a clause that states you may use your belief and faith in your God or Goddess as a tool to oppress and destroy those who do not believe in them?

Obviously their faith does not supply them with the necessary tools to overcome their cowardly perceptions of fear. They demonstrate with every hatefull and vengefull act that they are inept to resolve their own fears within their heads prior to having to manifest their fears in our shared reality. They manifest these fears ultimatley because they are selfish and a slave to their own fears. They are cowards, cowards whose God is not sufficient enough. That is how i feel about it, anyways.

Has it's meaning been lost to those who wish to wield it under the banner of war? Is there nothing we can do to stop it?

Since most people are still operating with dysfunctional genetics (the instinct of "Self Before I Serve anything or anyone" aka "Self Preservation") then they can really only see two options (usually):

1) Serve Conquerers
2) Conquerer Conquerers

From the above posts it suggests to me that there really is NO NEED for religion in any shape or form. The only people who use religion are either power hungry individuals or weak individuals who need the safety net of a deity to hide behind.



G

I feel that the need to have something to believe in will always be an important part of our social structure. I can't see a world that functions without the belief in something greater than you, because it is that belief that instills hope and the will to continue on in those who question the point of it all.

My concern is, is that belief being twisted by those with their own agendas and being used against us?

Granted the need to believe in something is important to us but it doesn't have to involve religion or gods. We need something that allows us to grow and extend our boundaries of knowledge etc. I find however that religion to be the exact opposite of this, restrictive, prohibitive into censorship in a big way.


G

Remember: The Crusades, Pogroms, Ethnic Cleansing, Ghettos, Concentration Camps, The Inquisition, Holy War, The Children's Crusade, Jihad, Genocide, Dehumanizing The "Noble Savage," Jim Jones, etc., etc., ad nauseam.

Originally posted by shihulud
Granted the need to believe in something is important to us but it doesn't have to involve religion or gods. We need something that allows us to grow and extend our boundaries of knowledge etc. I find however that religion to be the exact opposite of this, restrictive, prohibitive into censorship in a big way.


G

You see with that though shihulud, if you're alluding to science as a possible answer, is that anything can really be used to misinform people and further your own goals. You only need to look as far as the Nazis and their genetics programs to prove that they were a superior race. Even though most of the information was falseified, not to mention absolutely ridiculous, the masses still believed it because their "great leader" claimed it to be true.

Will we be stuck with having to accept the manipulation or is there something we can do about it?

Originally posted by Conquistadork
So I present this question to you, the ATS community: Has religion been all but lost to those blood thirsty tyrants, or is there still something to hope for, something to believe in?

Here are some of my thoughts from a thread of mine entitled "Religions only true conspiracy!!!! This is the Holy Grail":

Within the recesses of you subconscious psychi resides a portion of your mind that has a will to always remain true to you, no matter what. This portion of your mind is the subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is capable of calculating at a rate of 400,000,000,000 biths of information per second. Yet, the concsious mind only calculates at a rate of approximately 2,000 biths of information per second. What is happening in the subconscious mind that prevents you from utilizing the 400,000,000,000 biths of information being calculated per second?

You were introduced to the concept of "Phi".

"Phi" is a mental virus that acts as a catalyst to the subconscious mind,

"Phi" is a concept introduced to mankind from "messengers" which once introduced to a mind with the intentions of always remaining true to your mind, then divide the mind as a defense mechanism.

But, the portion of our mind that remains true to you also calculates all unknown variables, as our genetic disposition instructs our subconsciouses to do. So, all our fears of all our unknowns are constantly being assessed and re-assessed, taking up the majority of our own minds due to our fear.

As your subconscious mind (Where your true self resides) calculates "Phi" expenentially it consumes the conscious mind, effectively making people more "ignorant" and controlled (by their own fears).

Religion's purpose (aside from God truly existing) is to condition the conscious mind to program the the subconscious mind to accept that this no longer needs to be known to survive (as our minds will continue to quantify the unknown expenentially in order to survive). The mind percieves that knowing the unknowable is necessary for survival. But, is it?

Religion is anti-Phi, but the spirituality remains interconnected to all, because "Phi" causes the mind to fractionalize infinity which serves as a catalyst for the big person listening to the little cells, and the little cells listening to the conscious mechanisms within the cells, and the conscious mechanisms in the cells listening to the very little peices, the consciousnesses of molecules, atoms, and ... .. . . .

These are just some of my thoughts.

How did you come to learn all of this Esoteric? Links would be greatly appreciated, that's some rather mind blowing info right there.

Much appreciated, and a very well made point.

The US governmenr certainly finds religion useful by giving them tax-exempt status. Even the founding fathers saw the need and beinift of a society with chruches.

Yes, sometimes bad things do happen. But that is normal when you live in a world full of sin