One of the things I think about a lot is the nature of religion: Why do we humans persist in believing things where proof is not only not required but actively considered irrelevant? More importantly, why do we allow such beliefs to continue to spread when we can see the untold deaths and human misery that these ideas have unleashed on us over the millennia? It was something that just didn’t make sense to me…but then, I realized why: Religion is just a sort of mental tool, a psychic submission hold, one that our brains happen to be very vulnerable to. Thus, like all tools, it is neither intrinsically good nor intrinsically evil: It depends entirely on how it’s used.

Extrinsic Uses

Religion at its worst is when it’s used by others to exert control. This is where the worst excess of religion arise from: Kings, popes, vicious theocratic leaders who exploit the power of religious mania to motivate people for their own ends.

This is what gives religion a bad name.

Intrinsic Uses

Religion, in my mind, is at it’s best when people use it as a tool to better themselves. I have one friend in particular who I greatly respect for his ability to motivate and discipline himself, using his religious convictions. This is something I can respect.

To what end do people apply this though? While some people use the motivation it gives them for noble goals, many others do not, abusing this useful tool to make them do some pretty bad things…but I feel that, if closely examined, the roots of these bad things lie in previous extrinsic uses of religion or some other mental attack against them (am I arguing that people are intrinsically good until some other force acts on them? Perhaps…a question for another time).

I’m not sure I really have any sort of point here. I’m just glad I managed to come to an internal conclusion about why I so virulently dislike most forms of organized religion, yet very much enjoy the company of those of my friends who happen to be religious: They are the ones who have a religion that jibes with their existing moral code, and they simple use this as a way of coercing their mind to do the right things; just another form of enforcing discipline.

Hope this didn’t offend anyone I know!