Man and Religion

There are too many people praising gods in this world, and very few appreciating their place in the universe. We should not look for god's existence but live the life that is given to us, for what is more beautiful to understand your place in this world without having to fight the fear of hell or the challenges to reach heaven?

If man lives by his virtues, bestowed upon him by morality, evolution and cultural and social development, and avoid any religious shackles, he would be truly free to live a good life, in which truth and compassion prosper. There would be no more excuses to fight in the name of gods or to create castes based on the idea that we are born according to a holy plan. There would be less poverty, for religion is not the tool to solving this problem. It is not religion that helps a dying man, but a loving heart, and these are found in every race or ethnicity. You do not need to be recognised as a saint to give all you have to those in need, for compassion is an emotion nurtured by family and not by religion. 

Religion is based on ancient ideologies, most of which break down in our modern society. They tend to help people aggregate in groups with the belief of a powerful ruler looking upon them. This helped quite a few tribes in the past to rebel against their tyrants, but what relevance does it have today? Politics is very similar to religion, for it is the art of influencing people. A society does not require religion to be controlled, nor does it require religion to give people a common goal. 

Education is an important factor in spreading religious ideology or eradicating it. Science is the step towards becoming more keen to learn about our surroundings and our place in it. When children learn, at a young age, to wonder and ask questions about what they see and cannot explain, they will grow to realise that religion has no sense in their life. The the beauty in their lives far outweighs the need for believing in a deity, because for them, the important fact is to be able to appreciate the beauty around them, and not waste time wondering about what could have created it. 

This is not to say that spirituality is not important. It must be made clear that spirituality and religion are two separate philosophies. I believe that spirituality exists because of the way we are built. The universe is chaotic, but life is order. Whenever we see order, we tend to associate it with life and benign feelings. To learn that our Earth is so tiny, and how life emerged on our planet and how distant we are from anything else out there, gives us a sense of unity and of purpose. We strive to maintain our species without destroying our planet, for there is no god to help us do save it and prevent us from becoming extinct. 

We are fragile little aggregates of ordered molecules created from a soup of chaos, living on a speck of dust in the vastness of everything that is. It would be a pity to waste our time to live without knowing this fact and without fighting to learn more about the beauty of everything around us.