Flower,
have you read Mere Christianity? It's a wonderful (if dry) book by C.S. Lewis. He expounds what he believes are the virtues and downfalls of Christianity. Indavertantly, C.S. Lewis has made me an athiest. Why? Because of the way he portrayed chrisitans in it; as closeminded, abject people.
Are all chrisitians this way? Of course not. Are many? Yes.
Religion itself is divisive; it stirs up the kind of religious egotism we humans could as soon live without.
In becoming an athiest, I asked myself, why do people become part of religion? People who've been in a religion for a long time would say 'because they love God.' In some isolated cases this may be true. But, IMO, more often than not, people join religion for selfish reasons; to entice a religious mate, to give their lives structure, to give themselves impetus to do better, so give them purpose when they believe they can have none without a God in their lives.
Some people become religious to change bad habits, or to control others. Some religions are totally based on the improvement of the body, or mind. This in itself is good, but in the end removes the love of what should be the most important thing in our lives...people.
Most religions stress the need to cut ties with people 'who tempt us' to do bad. I'll tell you what, though: I've never met one totally 'good' person, nor one entirely 'bad' person. Religion has made those types of boundries, though, which can explain all of the hurt that religion has caused-it all comes from labeling people....you know the labels ....unchristian......infidel.....debased......
Words like that immediatly put a barrier between us and other people. That's why a lot of religions who proselytise are hell-bent on 'reaching out', because communicating in a civil fashion with people they find morally inferior is difficult for them. Such are the traps of modern religion.
Let's not forget the prohpecies, wars, and many other atrocities that are attributed to religion. Is it necessarily religion's fault? No. But wicked men will always use something the general populace consider 'good' to control, or appease them. Hitler did it with the Catholic church. Any religion can be bought.
Sorry if this offends or makes you feel uneasy, Flower. Some roads aren't easy.
ashi
