Is religion a satanic invention?

Why do we have religions? They are based on an un-provable, improbable assumption – the existence of one or more supreme beings that look like us. What a strange invention. We use gods to explain things, assign blame and soothe our worries – why bad things happen, the origin of life, what can we do to have a better year next year?

These are all things that we instinctively need to explain. Our brains are geared to look for explanations and to recognise patterns. That’s why we have stereotypes and why we can read words that are jumbled up. Religions have developed as ways to help us try to explain the unknown by providing stories, rituals and meanings to the random fluctuations of the world in which we live. The belief in a god has been waning over the last few centuries as our level of knowledge and education has increased. It used to be heresy for one not to believe in a god or the church. Now, something like 25% of people in Western civilisation claim not to be religious or believe in a god. We no longer need the naïve explanations of religions.

Unfortunately, religions have exerted a lot of influence over the past 2000 years – and probably longer. They have been excuses for more and bloodier wars than anything else on the planet. Today, we have the holy war. Now there’s like an oxymoron. How can one believe in the philosophies of today’s religions and still murder people of other faiths? How can a church institute witch hunts, inquisitions, crusades and holy wars and call themselves good? It seems to me that religions are actually a satanic invention because they foster intolerance, hatred and violence. It is precisely their hypocrisy that makes fundamentalist religious leaders such good representatives of evil.

Maybe the communists got it right when they proclaimed that religion was the opiate of the people. It certainly makes them follow their leaders. One just has to look at what happened in Jonestown or at today’s suicide bombers or World War II’s kamikaze pilots to understand the inherent evil in these leaders and their beliefs. Those bastards are ready to let you die for their cause.

Then there are more recent atrocities like residential schools, sexual molestation, hearing God tell one to kill, banning homosexuality and gay marriage, trying to prevent evolution from being taught, banning birth control, even telling people what clothes to wear – the list of horrific acts is practically endless. Of course, churches have some good qualities, too. One only has to watch “the Bishops WIfe” to see that there are some entertaining movies about it. Taking all the good and bad things about religions into consideration, however, if religion was a drug, it would be banned from the market as being too dangerous.

I don’t really care if someone wants to believe in some supernatural cosmic muffin but it should be a personal belief not an organisation and not imposed on others. It’s appalling that we are subjected to overt religious symbols in the RCMP, a national institution, and that women be forced to cover themselves completely in Islamic countries. These are not necessary for sustaining a religious belief. They are cultural beliefs. If you want to wear a head scarf then, by all means, do so but do it because you want to not because anyone tells you to. If you join a group that has a uniform then you should understand that you have to wear the uniform. Get over it. When in Rome do as the Roman’s do. Keep your religious symbols in your home, in your temples or under your clothes if you wish and don’t impose them on others.