Religions' Sin.

In the spirit of annoying people of all creeds and manner of backgrounds, I'll say something now about religion. Those of you who have read my profile have no doubt observed that I'm listed as an atheist. This is in fact correct, technically speaking, from the manner that I'm not all that interested in whether or not god(s) exists. I'm not even agnostic, because I don't care to even make up my mind on that particular subject. It's not worth consideration, contemplation or any other mental exertions.

But while this is a good source for what I am not, what I am is observant. I've noticed a peculiar stain upon the practices of religion, and a disturbing lack noticed of obvious parallels. What I am about to say should not be taken as that your religion is stupid, it may very well be anyway, but rather that it is misguided in its practice.

Back in elementary school, those of us with a moderately decent education covered some mythology, often Greek or Roman, maybe a dash of Norse or Egyptian. In any case, there are alot of stories, family trees, etc. What apparently nobody grasps is that any mythology is basically alot of made up stories. While we may have taken a good deal of interest studying this mythology, drawing up reports on the Titans or Thor, no question is raised about the sound validity of our own mythos. I say this because there are still large tracts of our country that teach intelligent design right along side Darwin, because there are still lots of people who take things very literally, as though it really happened just that way, and because the consequential religions often seem far too focused on the ritualistic aspects, rather than the actual practice of religion, the philosophy behind it.

Rituals and rites of religions spawn from a time where man feared and did not understand the elements. If farming went well, gods had smiled, feasts were offered to keep it that way, etc. These rites have nothing, or at least not much, to do with being a virtuous person in and of our own volition. They have more to do with keeping the gods happy so they don't meddle in our affairs. The present rites and rituals as I see them are little more. They do not instill any major and valuable lessons as to the nature of man, as to how to conduct one self, or how not to. Its all designed to be a show and tell for the particular church, more like a magic show. Maybe a sermon or the like is designed to impart some wise counsel. But the rites are just mythology. I believe its high time they went out the window. They are not relevant. Teach and preach to the sufferings and improvement of peoples. Don't give me any crap about transubstantiation, resurrections, and original sin. Tell me how I can be a better person, with or without this spooky father figure. I find major flaws in a religion that says I am screwed (in the afterlife, another interesting myth by itself) if I don't participate in these weird rites. I find credence in a religion that tells me how to orient my being and spirit toward others. Not through imitation, but also introspection. Doing as others do is not enough, it must also mean something, spark some passion of life, how else will we know what to do when we encounter the unknown. We must purge ourselves of this mythology, so that we may have more of what we need in life.

Real faith relies not on believing everything we hear or read, but practicing and growing into what we believe we should or can be. I find that with all the advances in technology, we're not any better as people. We're disconnected, afraid, and embittered. We are missing what religions were intended to offer us, not rituals, but processes of orientation toward others. Serve mankind, quit wasting time on serving God with these ridiculous rites, you will accomplish more for whatever your god is by practicing actively.