Σάββατο 31 Αυγούστου 2013

Blog no.6: Religion through an agnostic's eyes.

Dear few readers,

  Hello! First of all, I'd like to say a big sorry to the few guys who actually read these. I won't waste your time explaining the reasons behind my absence. I just hope you'll enjoy the following blog.
  So, me and some friends went to grab a beer in a bar the other night and got into a rather interesting discussion about religion. I'm aware of the fact that it's one of the most controversial subjects to talk about but if done correctly, it may change a person's view about the world. For starters, I'm obligated to say that even though I'm technically an orthodox christian, I personally classify myself as an "agnostic". For those of you that are too lazy to look it up, an agnostic is a person who doesn't believe that god exists OR that he doesn't exist. That's the simplest way to put it. Agnostics are basically people who need facts to believe anything, they don't base their opinions on faith, but solid facts. They are skepticists and difficult people to convince. Socrates once said "I know one thing: That I know nothing" which sums it up very nicely. Now for the reasons I chose to be an agnostic? I can't be convinced about anything. In some occasions, I can't even believe facts which might seem indisputable to most people. I believe that one cannot be certain about anything. That doesn't mean that I don't have an opinion though. I chose to have opinions on things that seem logical to me.
 Now that I've covered my position, I would like to say a few things from my point of view. I believe that religion was invented a long time ago because humans couldn't understand things that were happening in the world. Back in the time when cavemen lived, they believed that the god gave them the gift of fire. It was something new to them, something they couldn't explain with their facts and knowledge. Years later we found out that fire is created by some chemical reactions and a few sparks. Not exactly the most scientific way to present it but I guess it will suffice for the purpose of this discussion. Nowadays science has advanced so much that it explains a good part of what's going on in the world. Something that religion is credible for, is that people were sacrificing animals, food or even humans for their gods since those ages. To think that people still die for someone they're not sure that exists is unimaginable, yet it still happens to this very day. Aside from the explanation of inexplicable things and the brutal sacrifices, religion didn't have any other uses until the invention of Christianity. I won't refer to Hinduism or Buddhism, since I hardly know anything about these religions but I have done my research about Christianity. So, Christianity began spreading with the 12 "apostles" as people call them who were supposedly Jesus's students. Jesus is, in Christian belief, a guy who came to earth to save and help the humans. He is thought to be the son of God, though as I said before, I'm not even sure whether he existed or not. Either way, he seems to be a cool guy. He taught about loving your neighbor, helping others and such. There could be a book with instructions to "how not to be an asshole" and it would still serve the same purpose as far as I'm concerned. I'm not at all opposed to what Jesus stands for, but I think that someone with some self-awareness and logical thinking can figure these out by himself. It's true that people weren't very educated back in the day and having a mentor to help you understand what's good and what's bad was something good. My opinion on Christianity: it had some good points, it stood for some good values and it had the potential to make the world a better place. Thing is, since church took over the liberty of spreading "the god's words", it has gone to shit.
 To reason with what I said, let me explain. Christianity no longer stands for the values it was supposed to stand for. Now it actually promotes racism(mostly against homosexuals), fanaticism and sexism(against women). Not to mention the riches these "representatives of god" have for doing their duties for their "god". How come so much is invested in churches instead of philanthropic organizations? You will tell me: but church donates so much! Well, if it weren't for the gold scepters and the crystal chandeliers and the expensive BMW's they would donate much, much more. Religion has the ability to move masses, to teach people who are too naive to figure out by themselves to be nice to each other.Yet, it chooses to be the reason of most modern and ancient wars. The reason people of different religions hate each other.
 Of course there are exceptions, people who even though are religious, accept the others for believing in something different. Hats off to these people. Now for the rest who take their religion as the one and only rightful religion, I will say open your eyes. Look around, broaden your minds. We are all humans, no matter what our background is. And stop focusing so much on religion. God is not responsible for your fuckups, nor is he the one who deserves credit for saving your life or for the goods you have. Instead, thank the people who worked hard to provide you with these things. Just to make myself clear, I'm not attacking Christians. Same things apply to both theists and atheists. Being an atheist does not make you by any means more intelligent and it does not give you the right to bash one's religion. I respect you for whatever choice you've made, as long as you're not an asshole about it.
 To sum things up, I would recommend you to think positively. Cherish every moment you have because truth is, the only person you have to depend on is yourself. Don't waste your time hating and arguing with people. Life's too short for that. Instead, use your brain and think logically. As for me, I always try to follow these instructions. As long as you're nice to people, no religious people should be able to blame you. And if they do, they're not worth it. And my quote for the day comes from a movie called: "Ferris Bueller's day off". Yeah I know that the film is about a guy who skips school to have a day with his girlfriend, but it has a great meaning to it! "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in  a while, you could miss it". Until next time, farewell my fellow readers.

Yours truly,
Stelios Zesiades

P.S: Stay in school, don't do drugs! Unless it's medical marijuana. If so, be my guests.