surreal thoughts

A man without a religion is generally called an atheist. This is not necessarily so, some people do believe in the existence of God, but do not believe in religion. Some people can be irreligious, but still believes in the existence of God. They should not be called atheists.

Why a man chooses to be irreligious?
I am 26 years old at the moment. I was baptized a Catholic since baby, in Indonesia, a country with Islam as the major religion. I must admit that most of my understanding about God and the existence of God came from Catholic education. I went to a Catholic elementary school and went to state school afterwards. During my life on the society, my view about religion is changing.
From my religious education, I developed some kind of “platonic love” for my friends which consist of various religions. On the other hand, I also learned about a doctrine which pronounces the religion to be the only way toward salvation; although Catholic Church also accepted that there is salvation in other religions, but most biblical religion accepted the doctrine literally.
I simply can not accept the doctrine that implies that my friends and I will not be saved together in the afterlife. On the crossroad between religion and humanity, I stood. Therefore, I question the meaning of salvation, I question the afterlife, I question god, and I question religion.
From my point of view, I see religion as a way, a mean to establish a relationship betweem human and The Creator and a system of beliefs, symbols, and patterns of human behaviors derived from tradition and culture of the birthplace of the religion. But now, religion is failing and I think religion control on humanity should end.
Failure of religion from my point of view as a humanist:
1. Fail to see human race as a part of the universe; instead religion tends to be a human claims about themselves and about god. Some of the most unacceptable claims are:
- that human is the most precious creation of god (arrogance of human)
- god loves human, listens to human, even act as a slave to fulfill human needs (humanizing god)
- most of the major religion teaching are tainted with sexual chauvinism (men are created before women), and in daily ritual practices, women are considered as the second gender.
2. Other implication of failing to see human race as a part of the universe, religion failed to acknowledge the extra-terrestrial life. Extra-terrestrial life existence, in my opinion is highly possible:
- considering UFO sightings all over the world.
- considering the number of stars, the probability of the existence of other solar systems which have similarity with our solar system, and the probability of the existence of an earth-like and habitable planet. (I don’t have the number, but I still do think that extra-terrestrial life exists.)
3. Religion is passed to the next generation as a legacy, not a choice by divine guidance. Therefore, the growing number of adherents of the major religion only indicates the population’s growth rate. If a certain religion wants majority domination in a certain area, they would only have to tell their adherents to breed more, then in some centuries majority domination would come. In other hand, if the major religion wants to eliminate this threat, they only have to commit genocide or in a more subtle way: suppression and conversion.
4. Most religion teachings failed to see human actions as system for a better level of humanity. They simply embrace “good” and despise “evil”. They cannot see that human actions, whether it is good or evil are meant for the grace of humanity. They only see human black and white, rather than grey.
5. Most religion has rules that conduct the manners and the relationship between men. Some would find this restraining and cruel against virtue and against humanity.
6. Most religion encourages prejudices, and maltreatment against unbelievers. Induces war and violence (against humanity). And claims that there is no salvation in the afterlife for unbelievers.
7. Most religion considers temptation as a threat that must be destroyed, avoid, not an obstacle to face as a mean to empower the adherents’ faith. This is also a set back in the development of humanity.
8. The teachings of religion are claimed to be timeless, but this is inconsistent with the teaching about the fate of the people prior to the birth of the religion, in the afterlife.
9. The teachings of religion are claimed to be timeless, most of large religion claims that there will be no more prophet, they will never acknowledge another prophet, although in their teaching, prophets are sent in the moment of chaos, such as nowadays, and the years to come. They have closed the possibility, and their teaching will be considered true eternally, with the changes upon the world.
10. Science and religion are outcomes of humanity development, yet religion is an inhibitor factor in the development of humanity, in contrast with science which enhances the development of humanity.
11. The story about the creation of the universe in the teaching of most religions (especially Abrahamic Religions) is misleading, dangerous and often leads to misinterpretation.