Religion is one of the most dangerous things that could ever happen to society. Especially in regards to what they teach impressionable children. I was raised Catholic and there are many things in regards to certain "immoral" subjects I still feel guilty over. I can't walk into a store and buy condoms without feeling ridiculously ashamed (the same goes for masturbation, smoking, etc.) I logically know there's nothing wrong with these and sex, as well as self-pleasure is completely natural. I also know, rationally, that if I'm going to have sex contraceptives are the best route...Teaching abstinence doesn't work. Look at Sarah Palin's daughter Bristol for an example of this. That aside, the government (Bush 43) pumped a bunch of money into abstinence clubs across the school and the statistics showed that the females in the club were far more likely to partake in anal or oral sex. There's no moral there, in the eyes of the bible that behavior is just as wrong as vagina to penis sex.
Now as far as drugs go I don't really recall the bible talking about anything aside from drinking but even then it didn't talk about any of the objections I would have to drinking (and some drugs.) Which is the health perspective, I see nothing wrong with an intoxicated state of mind as long as you're not interfering with someone else's well being. However what the bible says is irrelevant, people have proven to pick and choose what they want to believe and the current Religious right believes all drugs are evil and bad. But again, there's no logical justification for this. There are plenty of secularists (myself included) who would argue that heroin is bad not because some celestial entity says so but because of how terrible it is for you and irresponsible drinking is bad because it poses a danger to others. There are real reasons for some of the arguments that are posed by the war on drugs but none of those reasons (which are primarily health related and not applicable to Marijuana I should add) are justified by the bible.
All the logic in that aside, I've stated several times before that in this day and age we simply cannot let faith dictate our morals. If we do that we have to logically accepted it when other cultures do as well, meaning when Muslim extremists fly planes into our towers we have to accept that is a moral action. We also have to accept the abuse of woman, the beheading of everyone and anyone, etc...all these things are apart of their culture and it all comes from religion. They're only using the same justification that we use to justify...well abstinence. This is the danger of letting religion, and not secularist ideas, dominate a society's taboos.
Sadly I agree that religion is something that will always be with us because of the simple question: how did we get here? It's silly though, we know enough now to know that the Bible, the Qu'ran, the Torah, are all fictitious. There's no way someone can rationally believe that the Earth is that young, that we managed to populate this quickly after the great flood (and that man fit millions of species onto a boat and lived to be nine hundred. Also something interesting about this, the Unfan and I spent an hour or so researching and doing math and Noah's family had to consist of millions of people in order for the Earth to have populated to the size it is now.) These things aren't just improbable, they're impossible and proven to be false. I'm very comfortable with not knowing and I think once everyone accepts that we don't know the beginning of our universe, the better off will be because at least will be without superstitions that only inhibit us.
Sorry to keep beating on, religion is a subject I can go on forever about. Religion does discourage critical thinking and logic (see above for proof of this.) It isn't a system of thinking that promotes individuality or anything. There's no room for intellectualism in a Church - as all the morals and ideas are already spelled out for you.
Religion probably has been the cause of most wars. Obviously most of the world (disregarding areas like the Middle East) doesn't fight over religion anymore but that's only because we've progressed beyond that in global affairs. A giant holy war over who's god is the right god now just wouldn't fly with the United Nations or anyone but there are still a lot of people in America (George W. Bush and Sarah Palin being prominent examples of this) who are so delusional that they believe, and are preparing, for the ultimate religious war. That's why there's this strong strong support for the state of Israel. They want everything to be ready for Jesus to come back. The Russians are supposed to lead some Muslim army full of infidels and whatnot against the Jewish people of Israel (backed by us of course.) It's a scary philosophy especially when you consider how everyone in our government is basically Christian and all policies point toward this way of thinking. I mean...it just blows my mind. I can't imagine how someone could actually get all jazzed about the end of the world.
I could go on more about this subject but I'll just stop now (I've already had to limit myself on certain points here) and say the reason I'm so passionate about Atheism and Agnosticism is not because I believe religion to be childish and false, but because of ideas like the one above. That philosophy in regards to Israel is one that is dominate on the national stage and it's horrifying. Religion is one of the most destructive things to ever happen to humanity.
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