My problem with religion: A question with more than one answer

Be the change you want to see in the world.

• Mohandas K. Gandhi

I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ.

• Mohandas K. Gandhi

Over the years, a few people have taken me to task over what I’ve written about my antipathy for modern Christianity in particular and modern religion in general. I can understand where they’re coming from, I suppose; it’s difficult to write about religion without offending anyone…and so I’m not going to worry about that. I just have something to get off my chest, so I figure that if someone chooses to take offense…well, so be it.

By no means am I anti-religion. As a Buddhist, I have a belief system of my very own, one not predicated on conforming to external rules and looking outward for answers. Perhaps that’s part of my conflict with modern religion; I tend not to stay within the lines, so a one-size-fits-all theology is something I find confining and an exceedingly poor fit. The other part of the equation (and while I tend to focus on Christianity, I feel the same way about Islam and Judaism) is that so many who profess to follow a religion use that religion to prop up their fear, ignorance, and prejudice. It’s not about living one’s beliefs; too often it’s about using those beliefs as a means of elevating yourself above other, “lesser” mortals. Religion in this sense is less about salvation or redemption than it is about condemnation, discrimination, and oppression. The fact that so many millions have been massacred in the name of religion over mankind’s long and often sordid history can and should be taken as an indictment of doctrinaire intolerance. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam are at their core religions built on solid foundations of peace, love, and tolerance. That so many have chosen to build their faith on the soft sands of hatred, bigotry, and zealotry is not an indictment of their faith; it’s an indictment of themselves.

How ANY of the following headlines be held to be examples of people living their religion as it was meant to be is beyond me….

• Kentucky Gov. Cuts Education Funding While Preserving Tax Breaks For Biblically-Themed Amusement Park

• God Tells Robertson that ‘Radical’ Obama will Bring Down America

• Atheist Faces Jail Over ‘God Doesn’t Exist’ Facebook Post

• 8 GOP Primary Moments That Would Make Jesus Weep

• Santorum Wins Backing of Fringe Religious Right Leaders

• KANSAS GOP SPEAKER APOLOGIZES FOR EMAIL ‘PRAYING’ FOR OBAMA’S ‘WIFE TO BE A WIDOW’

• Jewish Newspaper Publisher Apologizes For Obama Assassination Article

• There Can Be No Interfaith Dialogue Between Muslims and Christians

• Why Many Evangelical Christians Are More “Un-American” Than US Muslims

• American Family Association and Family Research Council Proud to Stand with Anal-Obsessed Pastor Patrick Wooden

• One Nation Under God: Do You Need to be a Good Christian to be a Good President?

• Christians Must Go On The Offensive Against Islam

• These MegaMinisters Make MegaBucks

• Matthew Hagee Blames AIDS on Victims, Warns Against ‘The Deception of Separation of Church and State’

Rather than go off on a long, involved discussion of why I have a problem with modern religion, I though it might be a good idea to employ a few visual aids. After the jump, you’ll get a graphic representation of why I have such a problem conflict with so many of those who use religion to divide, degrade, and demean those who think and believe as they do.

It’s not religion I have a problem with, it’s the religious.

Sometimes, a picture really IS worth a thousand words….