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Religion is a controversial topic, and I’d like to preface this article by saying that it is not my aim to belittle or diminish anyone’s beliefs. My problem is not with faith but with religion as an organization, which has been used as a means of control, to pit people against each other, and to incite terror and war. Religion in this context serves the purposes of many various global elitist agendas.
Religion is also confusing, to say the least; within several different religions exist different ‘sects,’ each with their own teachings and version of the ‘truth’ and how to live one’s life. Within Christianity alone, there are multiple versions of the Bible, and teachings that contradict one another. What one religion says in one part of the world may directly oppose what another says in a different part of the world. This alone is a recipe for feelings of confusion and isolation for anybody who is seeking ‘the truth.’ If various religions preach different ways of life and truths, they all can’t be correct, can they? I guess that’s why they call it faith.
Below is a video of Jon Shelby Sponge, a retired American bishop of the Episcopal Church, discussing these problems. He argues that religion is a business and it is used as a control mechanism (and he’s not the first insider to do so). We can see this happening most clearly in the rise of Islamophobia. Islam has been turned into a scapegoat, a target at which we can direct all our fears and anger, and an excuse to invade other countries and create a more intense global national security state. But the truth is, Islam has nothing to do with violence or terrorism. These manufactured fears are all part and parcel of ‘false flag’ terrorism, which you can read more abouthere if you are unfamiliar with the concept
In the video, Sponge affirms that “religion is always in the control business, and that’s something people don’t really understand. It’s in the guilt producing control business.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkaH3hEmV3M
He then goes on to describe the problem with religion as an organization:
Every church I know claims that we are the true church, and they have some ultimate authority. . . . The idea that the truth of God can be bound in any human system by any human creed by any human book, is almost beyond imagination for me. God is not a Christian, God is not a Jew or a Muslim or a Hindu a Buddhist; all of those are human systems which human beings have created to try to help us walk into the mystery of God.
He is describing the difference between faith and religion. I myself have explored multiple religions, and have discovered teachings within all of them that deeply resonate with me. I’ve also found teachings that don’t resonate at all. I don’t believe one religion has all the answers.
Using fear to coax people into a certain way of life or belief system, just like the Bishop mentions above, seems to be common practice in nearly every religion, and that certainly doesn’t resonate with me.
The history of the church itself is problematic. Whether it be the church’s role in the First Nations Genocide here in Canada, or the European crusades, the church has a history of forcing their views upon others and of condemning science and new discoveries.
Furthermore, as the Bishop says above, people need to accept responsibility for the world. If we simply leave global change in the hands of God, we remove our own responsibility and agency in this world. If we want to change the world, WE have to do it. After the Paris terrorist attacks, the Dalai Lamai expressed this as well, arguing that it’s not enough to just pray. We must take responsibility for our planet.
We are also dealing with texts that are very old, and considering there are multiple versions of various texts, all of which have likely been manipulated, changed, and distorted over the years, I find it difficult to accept any one without question.
Another point that turns me away from religion is hypocrisy. Many people claim ties to their faith yet know very little about its tenets, and fail to follow what they claim to believe in. This is commonly seen within the ‘spiritual’ movement as well, which can be seen as another form of religion in itself.
When it comes to religion, I believe you have to do your own research; you have to read the books and examine the teachings for yourself. Use your own head and find what resonates with you instead of allowing yourself to be indoctrinated and letting someone else do your thinking for you. These texts are open to interpretation; it’s up to you to find meaning in them and apply it to your life. You can still believe in God and not be religious. Religion is a manmade construct, and I think if God were to suddenly appear somewhere, he or she would have no idea what religion even was.
Religions as organizations are going to have to change. New discoveries are constantly being made that are challenging long-held belief systems. We cannot grow if we refuse to have an open mind and accept new possibilities about the nature of reality, and it’s childish to hold on to old belief systems just because they are familiar.
I personally believe in the soul and other non-material phenomena, as well the idea that life does not end here on Earth, and I believe there is enough evidence in various forms, aside from my own intuition and gut feeling, to support this stance.
What about you? What do you believe? What it all boils down to, for me, is respect. We must learn to respect each other’s viewpoints about ‘what is.’ We need to work with each other and accept our differences so we can focus on helping the planet, our shared home.
“It’s a mark of an educated person to be able to entertain an idea without accepting it.”
What do you think about religion and what Sponge is saying in this video? Do you agree or disagree? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below.
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finally the age of truth is dawning
LOLS! @ Neoamor! well said, Agreed! time to get to work, take out the trash and clean the house. Our home; Earth.
You’re “God” I’m “God”… There it is.
Lets work together and spruce up the ol’ homestead shall we?
Your words: “What it all boils down to, for me, is respect. We must learn to respect each other’s viewpoints about ‘what is.’ We need to work with each other and accept our differences so we can focus on helping the planet, our shared home.”
That’s all there is.
That is all that I can do in my world, knowing that we are all connected and that what we see in others is what is in ourselves. My only way to change my experience is to leave the differences behind and just be respectful of each and every person that I come into contact with.
I believe! I also believe that religion is man made …and when we step out of that control and look at the world and all contents we can see a greater picture. We fear stepping out, but I did. I’m a better person by accepting everyone for whom they choose to be. I do this because I know there is God, a greater than we and we are all connected no matter our chose of practice. Love you and you and all of you as we share energy and force. I imagine the day we truly come together ?
I believe what all religions can agree upon is simply this — and here is the SECRET: Express unconditional love, compassion, forgiveness and gratitude in your everyday life towards everyone, and you will do well, be loved, be happy and will grow spiritually. Namaste!
This is about religion and the way scifi takes us out of our comfort zones, in church also.
www.archive.org Search for “FFRF 2009 National Convention – Ursula K Le Guin – Emperor Has No Clothes Award”
Ursula presents a wonderful view on this famous Anderssen fairy tale, after receiving her reward for her oevre of science fiction and books for children, even poetry. She points out how we human beings walk around naked, metaphorically speaking, ignoring our vulnerability, the sharing of our recovering from an ignorance that we are spiritual beings having a physical experience.
I’d like to recommend her book The Dispossessed”, for its relevance to this topic of religion as well as to the topic of Disclosure.
…And then there’s the fairly recent book ‘Caesar’s Messiah: The Roman Conspiracy to Invent Jesus’ (by Joseph Atwill) that makes a strong case for Josephus, a Jew who became the royal historian for the Roman Flavian dynasty, having created the Jesus of the New Testament in order to set up Vespasian’s son Titus as the Second Coming of the Messiah for the Jews, who were causing Rome so much trouble in Judea, and thus hoping to get them to settle down and be good subjects of the empire. And then there’s the book ‘Christ In Egypt: The Horus-Jesus Connection’ (by D.M. Murdock) that details the many similarities between the New Testament figure & story and previous religions, in particular the ancient (even in those times) Egyptian religion of Osiris-Isis-Horus. And so it goes…
Yes, religions are Man’s creations. So we need to look elsewhere for actual Truth. And I for one have found it in such areas as Near Death Experiences (NDE/OOBE), and many evidences for reincarnation. And ultimately, by going within, and cultivating my inner connection with Spirit. Which tells me, simply, that ‘the universe has Purpose; and that purpose is Good’. And that’s enough for me to live my life by. With meaning. And compassion, for the human experience.
Although I’m educated during childhood with hell and damnation on the background, I’ve always found wise people in the church, where my father was a minister. Still, to this day, I know people who sincerely praise the Lord and accept human beings around them for who they are and not for what they do.
To experience your own father in an unholy shine is a deep impact, as you can imagine maybe.
To grow up and release that childhood imprint takes a while. I guess I was lucky to be pretty much psychic too, from a young age, so part of me could look through all that jazz. That helped me tremendously in looking through so many veils, later in life. Including mine, lol.
How refreshing to read the Truth from the courageous Bishop Sponge.. There’s more! Jesus, his Grandmother, Mother and first cousin Pontius Pilate were all born in Scotland. Jesus travelled widely, receiving initiations in many different faiths, including the ability to transcend death according to the Egyptian rites. He was not ready for his date with destiny in the Middle East until he was a mature man – which is why nothing is written about his early years. All the carefully corroborated information you could wish for is contained in “Vision of Albion: The Key to the Holy Grail”, strap-lined Jesus, Mary Magdalene and the Christ Family in the Holy Land of Britain. It’s available online from www.sacredconnections.co.uk. The true Church of Love, in the the esoteric Johannine tradition which recognised that Divinity lies within all of us was foretold by the Cathars in 1244 in “The Cathar Prophecy”. The exoteric Petrine tradition we see today brain-washed humanity into believing we needed intermediaries to connect with the Divine. Go within, connect with your HIgher Self, connect with your heart (which has intelligence) and that small voice within will answer you. With love to all out there.
And I enjoyed the article.. Thank you. He is pretty well known in the Progressive Christian community… A smart guy.
I knew it all the time!