Re: The Voice of Religion.

Below please find the latest version of The Voice of Religion.
..................................................................

THE VOICE OF RELIGION.

I bought a striking 500(?) year old painting of the Holy Family depicting
Holy Mary with the Christ child standing on her right knee. From the right
top corner, Joseph is looking down while holding a book. From the left
lower corner, the child Saint John the Baptist, is looking up at Jesus.

I already owned a gilded, framed icon showing the same scene, except that
Joseph looks down from the top left and John the Baptist looks up from the
bottom right corner. The difference between the two is that, in the icon
Mary looks like a loving mother holding her son. Whereas in the older
larger painting, Mary looks adoringly at the Son of God, who she has given
birth to. The former is a human, whereas the latter a religious rendition.

I prefer the human icon to the religious painting in that it is real,
whereas the latter preaches the Christian myth. For humans to assert that,
a woman gave birth to the Son of God because it was fathered by God, is
presumptuous. Mankind did not create God, God created mankind.

Any person, who claims to know what is on God's mind, is like a dog
saying/knowing what is on the mind of the human who bred him. A dog is not
human, no matter what its loving owner may think. This is why humans own
dogs, instead of the other way around. Nor can a dog preach that one of its
puppies is human because a man fathered it.

Most religions tend to be dangerous because their priests claim to be
spokesmen for God. This means that their parishioners must do as they are
told, because religious humans should obey the will of God.

As a result, more atrocities have been (and still are) committed in the name
of religion than for any other reason. Because no matter what one may try
and tell a religious fanatic, he knows he is right because he preaches God's
will. Consequently, anyone who disagrees with him is a heretic, who must be
saved from, or punished for, his evil ways.

In other words, the most destructive force in human history is not the
iconoclastic agnostic, but the self-righteous voice of religion.

Len Gaasenbeek, April 4th, 2007, Revised: April 7, 2007.
...........................................................


.

Relevant Pages

  • Darwins god
    ... God has always been a puzzle for Scott Atran. ... Atran has been struggling with questions about religion ever ... something beyond the reach or understanding of science. ...
    (talk.atheism)
  • Religion and evolution
    ... God has always been a puzzle for Scott Atran. ... about religion ever since - why he himself no longer believes in God ... something beyond the reach or understanding of science. ...
    (uk.philosophy.humanism)
  • Re: Religion and evolution
    ... God has always been a puzzle for Scott Atran. ... about religion ever since - why he himself no longer believes in God ... something beyond the reach or understanding of science. ...
    (uk.philosophy.humanism)
  • The Science of Belief
    ... God has always been a puzzle for Scott Atran. ... about religion ever since - why he himself no longer believes in God ... something beyond the reach or understanding of science. ...
    (uk.religion.christian)
  • "The Age of Reason" by Thomas Paine
    ... Religion. ... opinion might be to mine. ... I believe in one God, and no more; and I hope for happiness beyond this life. ... called Gentiles, or Mythologists, and it was those people only that believed it. ...
    (soc.rights.human)