? - Who Needs Absurd �Beliefs� - ?

Reflections of an Octogenarian.

Religiosity? � Throughout life, I�ve never regarded this subject as deserving of any serious thought - - -

However, with quietus in the offing, the excessive religious coverage in the media inevitably agitates the neurons.

Of late, these irritants have provoked a deep re-appraisal - - - that has utterly confirmed my basic intuition!

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Logical conclusions after a lifetime of listening inadvertently to the delusive portents of various �Faiths�.

A simple story. No need for the meandrine moonshine of �erudite intelligentsia�.

Just take yourself back in time & examine unvarnished facts.

Please acknowledge that the primitive mind was bound to generate quite naturally, mythological imagery of an Elysian nature.

Also, one must accept that the relative ignorance of early Humanity, coupled with understandable fears of the unknown, provided those individuals seeking power over their fellows - a natural human trait - with the conditions to set up as Medicine-Men - Witch-Doctors - Sorcerers - Soothsayers - - - et al, all claiming to have insights & contact with a �power� - of sorts.

So began the blight of Shamanism - - - leading on to airy-fairy religions.

As time unveiled the past, these facts have not been fully appreciated; hence - The ensuing rash of religiosity has not been branded for what it really is - - -

An early conceive - of ignorance & apprehension - - -

Perpetuated thro millennia by IMPOSTORS - Preying on credulous naivety.

The natural process of evolution, via many devious pious paths, has now landed us with the present crop of Archbishops - Ayatollahs - Rabbis - Popes - Imams - JWs - & a host of other hypocritical sect leaders, incessantly brainwashing the largely unthinking masses with their ridiculous & childish �Holy Beliefs�.

The Billy Grahams of the world, gifted with gab & showmanship, use their �bewitching powers� to prey on the gullibility of the artless.

Yes indeed, in modern form, the Witch-Doctors are still at it! - - - Mountebanks All!

With it�s initiation as above, religiosity can�t be recognised by any sane person to have the gravitas necessary for any authentic �Belief�. Seeking reality is anathema to the pious ones. They critically comment on facts of life that are painstakenly unearthed by the practical hard-working talents of seekers of truth. Knowledge of physics & biology would never have advanced if left to �Holy� men.

Sun would still be orbiting Earth. The dim past is their�s, with mystical rites that are still prevalent, albeit with modern trappings.

They are an absurdity! Their endeavours to exalt religiosity by the erection of ever more imposing �Places of Worship�

merely highlights � Monumentally � the benighted phases of Man�s past. - - - Hell�s Bells! - - - What a shambles!

Weighing up the World-wide situation, a substantial proportion of Humanity are unable to let go of their forebears� primitive �belief� in a Creator that demands a daily dose of supplication. A person�s specific �belief� is dictated by that part of the globe from where they originated; a simple inheritance of the parents� unreal ancestral teachings, largely unquestioned! No need to be a �Religious Scholar� (what a fatuous preoccupation) to comprehend why all of this utter humbug survives.

Persistent indoctrination over millennia leave the susceptible with feelings of unease when they attempt to ditch the ingrained silly �beliefs� inherited from similarly misinformed forebears. Most take an apathetic route & run with the various childish theosophical myths passed down through the generations via pious, shallow-thinking naivety - preferring illusion to reality - fantasy to truth.

It has always been decreed that acting on evidential communal common-sense, ie, utilizing everyday experience & research is the only way forward.

The need to consult Biblical, Qur�anic, or any other ancient crap-laden fairy tales in order to pursue a decent & considerate existence beggars belief! Ethics evolves naturally.

The facts listed above are beyond dispute � Theism? / Divinity? � All absolute Man-made hokum!

Any thinking person realises that the Universe is truly an awesome Quantum / Astronomical creation.

As part of that creation, our attempts at it�s full understanding seem futile.

Probing the Atom or �Heavenly� space & we�re contemplating Infinities.

Fouling up our minds with a rag-bag of archaic religiose twaddle does nothing to help enlighten our ignorance!

Anyone taking this farcical subject seriously has to be absolutely pickled in traditional folklore and/or in a sad mental state. Using it�s bogus validity for an easy living and/or monetary gain it�s impostrous practitioners must have no damn conscience at all.

Far too much reverence is devoted to the abstract of religiosity. Vast volumes of impotent bombastic rhetoric has been generated by self-righteous con-men who use their dominant & deceitful acumen to sublimely charm others to wander in an unreal �Spiritual Wonderland� that is totally unworthy of any honest contemplation! > > > > > > > >

A rational response to the �standard� questions posed by religious organisations.

What is the point of life?

Need there be a �point�. Nature instructs all of life to reproduce; to what end, we just don�t know & it�s most likely that we never will. We can speculate, but are very far short of the necessary knowledge to form a valid judgement!

Certainly, life�s purpose cannot be identified by any ancient decrepit �Belief�!

Nature, red in tooth & claw, is pitilessly indifferent to an individual�s quality of life; the fittest for any environment will prosper. Individual quality of life is a lottery. We have arrived & must make the best of it.

Self-deceivers pray for Ethereal help; none is discernable - - - Quite definitely a DIY job!

We live, utilising facts that the experience of life plus research, provides!

The paralogism of religious charlatans can�t match the knowledge we now possess, scant though it be.

Mystical Theosophy is drivel of the first order.

What happens when we die?

Starkly, when the brain ceases to function, that �being� ceases to �be�.

The motivation driving that unique combination of elements is no more!

A �Spiritual Future� ????? - - - Pure self-indulgent fantasy!

The chemo-electrical activity of the brain � the mind � is capable of generating any illusive mirage.

If that imagery is not backed up by factual proof, it remains a fantasy.

To give any credence to life after death, one must be round the bend, if not well up the straight!

Natural cognition (common sense), affirms life�s future as solely dependent on reproduction!

Is forgiveness possible?

With almost limitless mutations possible, genetic functioning can be expected to produce individuals with characteristics of an exceedingly complex gradation, in a myriad of aspects � eg - - -

Brilliant to Thick � Jovial to Morose � Benign to Sadistic � Hetero to Homo � ad inf.

Religions provide a very accessible dump for the guilt generated by the various indiscretions to which all humans must, in some respect, be victim. Humanity�s make-up is far too diverse for perfection.

Do not kid thyself � No one is immaculate!

Those gifted with conscience & a degree of �normalcy� just have to live with the unfortunates & scallywags � amongst

whom - the �Con Men� - enjoying a very comfortable living with their pretentious �Divine� prognostications!

Further thoughts

With the barbarous & brutal acts of differing factions, the mutiplicity of silly �Beliefs� has always been a handicap that

humanity can well do without. - - - Common sense must prevail!

As the sponge-like mind of an infant readily absorbs info, authentic or fallacious, in teaching the necessary basics of life, the follies of illogical & delusory religions should be emphasized - - - Strongly!

Offspring should be brought up from birth unprimed with needless pestilential �beliefs�. - - - Glaringly Obvious!

Preachers pontificate on a subject so �Holey�, it is artlessly transparent. Visualise it�s benighted origins & it�s quite obvious that the early human mind was bound to generate mythological imagery of an Elysian nature & from there, receptive fanciful minds took over. �Beliefs� were surely born of ignorance & fear of the unknown! With this realisation, why can�t we all recognise simple basic facts & treat all �faiths� of today as ever they really were - - -

A continuing evolution of irrational early thought.

In this more enlightened age - Pure Phantasmic Godswallop!

The Rt Rev Fred Flintstone & his equally-misguided confederates of all other �Faiths� should have dug themselves out of the Stone-age long long ago!

The Past is unveiled thro Time!

Let�s all Profit from it! - Not Perpetuate it! - - - - A m e n

Bill45690, it seems obvious to me that you are really not a postmodernist. While extremely attacking theology and religious believes, you wordily speak of science, truth, technological advancement and the apparent benefits that they have bought to our lives. Yet, - just to mention some - were the scientists saying that non-white men (Jews, Gipsies and homosexuals alike) were biologically inferiors; it has been the technological advances of modernity and the industrial revolution (and the beliefs associated with them) that allowed two world wars (included the holocaust) in the last century and finally 'truth'. You speak of truth as if it is a tangible thing/fact and is associated to reality; perhaps, I believe that if anybody can define truth, it automatically means that s/he/they is/are wrong.

I believe that truth is for one place and at one point in time, all the rest is history and therefore interpretable.

I try to live thinking that I do not believe in anything; yet, this is an unstoppable belief. I do not feel wrong I do not feel right, I just am. Thus, I listen, learn, think and respect other points of view and believes.

Now, I agnostically believe that religions - right or wrong - were and are at the basic foundation of our social existence. I can be critical about religions only if I can have a vogue idea of what they are and represent.

This is the reason why I believe that any book on theology and religions is as important as any other manuscript.