subject: The Stifling, Claustrophobic, Neurotic Results of Religion [print this page] The Stifling, Claustrophobic, Neurotic Results of Religion
The horrible slayings at the New Life Evangelical Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and the suicide of the young shooter is a heartrending and sad story. To me, his emails prior to the tragedy begged for help, as he apparently found himself enclosed in a world that left him with no room to breathe or even think on his own. He felt trapped, alone, and I'm sure guilty as well with no alternative except to take his own life and make a point about his frustrations. His saddest words, I thought, were a child's words, innocent words; he wasn't permitted to read Harry Potter or watch the Smurfs.
Guilt, repression, fear, hatred, judgmentalism - these tendencies exist regardless of what religion we profess. Whether we are a Jew, Hindu, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or one of the other 4,000 different religions in the world, these negative penchants are buried deep in the religious psyche.
They can't help but develop; look at how religion is sold - by intimidation and fear. If you don't do what is demanded, if you sin or get out of line, there will be dire consequences including burning in fire for eternity. That's a pretty serious threat! And people, especially young children, take it seriously.
Because children take it seriously, they become fearful (who wouldn't) and act according to the religion's dictates. Repressed fear, however, has a consequence; fear turns into hatred, but because of a psychological twist that Church fathers are far too familiar with (and use), the hatred of the faithful is channeled toward non-believers and different sects.
This breeds anger and judgmentalism between opposing religions, and as a result, we naturally kill each other. Before it comes to that, however, we do a lot of damage to our children, regardless of what religion we belong to. The children believe that what is drummed into them is truth, and if they find out later that this "truth" is nothing but assumptions and theories, there are repercussions. The repercussions can be that their fear turns into a hatred that instead of being directed toward an opposing religion, is aimed at their own. (" Monday Morning Insight " says that 88% of Evangelical children leave the church after high school).
Let's face it; organized religion is an attempt to organize the truth, and truth can never be organized. Truth is to be experienced by each and every one of us; we are not made to be told about truth. Our saviors, our enlightened beings indicate one thing by their actions; They suggest that we look within! Look within! God is within! But unenlightened followers only know how to look without; at their holy books, at their rituals, their churches, their cathedrals, their preaching, their dogma, and the results are what we see in the world now and have seen for thousands of years; people killing each other over religion.
Organized Religion is an after-the-fact theory. Religion is only a theory, not truth; that's why we can never argue religion, and unenlightened people trying to make sense of an enlightened person's teachings invariably get it wrong. They haven't a clue about what that enlightened person was trying to say. Too uninspired to do the heavy lifting themselves as the enlightened person did, followers take a big shortcut - they preach as if they have experienced the transcendent themselves, as if they know, they even become self-righteous about it, and they make sure that their children remain just as confused . . . as the blind continues to lead the blind.
What we saw in Colorado Springs is only the tip of a slowly emerging iceberg regarding our children. Why can't we love them instead of programming their beautiful minds as if we are programing machines . . . computers? Why can't we allow them to go their own way? Why are we so afraid that we will in some way be diminished if our beliefs are proven questionable? What kind of a prison have we made for ourselves, and even worse, for our helpless kids? Why can't we raise our kids by giving them examples of the foundations of religion, such as compassion, love, generosity, openness, and all the things that Christ stood up for, such as the poor in spirit, the ones who mourn, the meek, the ones who hunger for justice, the merciful, the pure of heart, the peacemakers, and they who suffer persecution for justice sake - rather than brainwashing our kids with guilt, repression, fear, hatred, and judgmentalism?
If any young people are reading this, don't ever feel that you are all alone and that no one understands. Plenty of people understand. And as you make your way through life, you will meet these people, and you will become a broader person and understand things from a much different perspective because the world is becoming wide open for you.
No one can keep you imprisoned any longer. Get on the internet; read all that you can about everything, all the different opinions and ideas; the pros and cons. Meet and socialize with people from all over the world, get to know and understand their culture, their religions, their hopes, their dreams. You will find that they are no different from you, only wanting happiness and respect for what they are.
In the end, it comes down to whether you love or hate your neighbor. If you take time to understand your neighbors, there is a better chance that they will understand you, and become your friends. The world and all its different religions have been killing themselves for thousands of years; will your generation be smarter than that?
