Religion: An Illusion That Works Well - Religion - Nairaland
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| Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by shehuolayinka(m): 10:57pm On Dec 15, 2016 |
Someone, few months back on Facebook, wrote on how she encountered someone who claimed the teachings from the Qur’an, has been what had kept him stay away from committing atrocious crimes, like murder, rape etc. A friend, also once told me, how the teaching in his church, has been the reason he keeps a good character, The fear of ending in hellfire, the suffering that comes with it, gives him the creep, this he said makes him act good. Also a close acquittance also attributed his changing of lifestyle to not wanting to end up in hell. A woman in my neighbourhood, had just lost her only child due to her carelessness and stupidity; the next day, when mom and I, paid a condolence visit to her, she made the popular phrase of “God gives and takes” and in her presence, I almost burst into laughter, controlled myself, but later at home, snarl at her stupid excuse, knowing fully well her carelessness, was the reason her child died. I was a bit stupid though with that… the woman, just needed someone or something to rest on, a solace and the jargons in the history book, (Bible) was just the thing. These are part individual reasons though, but my recent thinking, has been, religion, has a purpose, plays an important part in the way the Nigeria is. In all that has happened, since it introduction, something good, certainly has come out of it. Though made us more gullible, in which our government... I have been fortunate to encountered or come across people who one way or the other, changed their abhorrent ways of life due to what they claim is in the Qur’an and Bible. Whether true or lie, don't know, don't care. Though, My take on it, still stand: people rush to church and mosque, due to the fear of unknown; what could be become of them after this life. My crazy thoughts, originate from a seemingly living everyday life and the fast growing acceptance of the Atheistic beliefs in Nigeria. Though, We know how some had bastardized it, But Religion, seem to append decorous in some, with stories of what to expect in afterlife. I ask if some are capable enough, to know the difference between right and wrong? The ethical values; are they able, without any help, decide for themselves? Are some able to understand the concept and use of their head? The questions, keeps on popping on and on. What will the world be, without religion? How would the world, have been like, if religion hadn’t been created? To know the reason for its purpose, Jim Muir, in his March 2009 article about the “full story behind the Islamic State group; explained that religion, came out as means to have order in a harsh environment, albeit I still think, the intention, goes beyond that, goes beyond command, order or authority, but to give people, mostly the mentally weak, something to help them through hard times, “relief”. It may not have been the creators intention, but it has been one the reason I see it to be. "Like Christianity six centuries before it, and Judaism some eight centuries before that, Islam was born into the harsh, tribal world of the Middle East. "The original texts, the Old Testament and the Koran, reflected primitive tribal Jewish and Arab societies, and the codes they set forth were severe," writes the historian and author William Polk. "They aimed, in the Old Testament, at preserving and enhancing tribal cohesion and power and, in the Koran, at destroying the vestiges of pagan belief and practice”. One thing is certain: is that it fills a void. With religion, People have something to hold on to, it gives hope and allow the weak to believe. Forget about the way it’s being practised here; one thing I have noticed and understand, is that it fills an empty space. A child dies, its mother looks for something to hold on to, something to believe in that her baby is somewhere nice, when someone parents dies, his/her believes is that they had gone to be with God or gone to heaven. Believing that there is an afterlife, gives some the desire peace of mind. A barren woman, keeps the hope, a jobless man, believes a day will come, he would be gainfully Employed. A father keeps the hope, that his wayward son or daughter, would one day leave the lifestyle and become better. Your child is sick, it places the hope on you, that he or she would get better. Some are not that just strong, to accept some life situations, the space created, is what religion does. Some are said to be weak mentally, physically and emotionally; and religion tends to be where they could find solace. Also, a famous quote, by one of the founding father of Socialism, Karl Marx, said “religion is the opiate of the masses”, he was able to give reasons, to why people accepted religion, mostly in third world countries. and why religion it seem to work with some. Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is required for their real happiness. The demand to give up the illusion about its condition is the demand to give up a condition which needs illusions. The quotation above, meaning could seem elusive, but Austin Cline, Agnosticism & Atheism Expert, was magnanimous enough to explains Karl Marx critique of Hegel’s philosophy of rights: “he said: religion’s purpose is to create illusory fantasies for the poor. Economic realities prevent them from finding true happiness in this life, so religion tells them that this is OK because they will find true happiness in the next life” . Although this is a criticism of religion , Marx is not without sympathy: people are in distress and religion provides solace, just as people who are physically injured receive relief from opiate-based drugs”. For Marx, the problem lies in the obvious fact that an opiate drug fails to fix a physical injury — it merely helps you forget pain and suffering. Relief from pain may be fine up to a point, but only as long as you are also trying to solve the underlying problems causing the pain. Similarly, religion does not fix the underlying causes of people’s pain and suffering — instead, it helps them forget why they are suffering and gets them to look forward to an imaginary future when the pain will cease”. The question, still remains, will Atheism be able to help everyone or fix the world problem? will the world become peaceful if religion is to be extinct? Will wars end or will some people who have claimed religion to be the impetus for their despicable actions, stop? No I don’t think so. Religion, just like science, has done harm and good to this world. Will that void, be closed? Maybe. Some are good in accepting whatever life throws at them, why some are not. If one thing Nigeria Atheist community has shown: they act like a loose cannon, with their mouth. Insult, seem not be far away from them. My beliefs still remains, I still remain a Deist and a Humanist. The way I see religion still stand: as a means to swindle gullible and undiscerning people. 11 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by Thebrightest(m): 11:07pm On Dec 15, 2016 |
First to comment |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by Nobody: 11:11pm On Dec 15, 2016 |
Nice write up but the atheist diss at the end (why na). Also wouldn't say acceptance of atheists fast growing |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by Nobody: 11:45pm On Dec 15, 2016 |
I am also a Deist... nice to know there is one on nairaland. The religion section is majorly Christians, Muslims and Atheist dissing themselves. |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by shehuolayinka(m): 11:47pm On Dec 15, 2016 |
NubiLove: You are right bro. Nice to know, I have some like me on nairaland |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by plaetton: 12:09am On Dec 16, 2016 |
Deism, agnosticism, and other isms that distance themselves from Religion, but refrain from calling themselves atheists are fine and dandy. But these people are merely people in halfway houses, recently released from the mental prison of Religion,, being rehabilitated for full MENTAL SOVEREIGNTY. Atheism is an acceptance, an eventual acceptance of the full repudiation of the God-Spell. Now, the important thing is since atheism is neither a club nor a philosophical proposition. And neither does it offer any rewards for membership. Therefore, what matters is that the individual divest his/her mind of debilitating, toxic nonsense from the Stone-ages, any by becoming self-aware, employ the faculties of his rational mind to fully reflect the real attributes of homo sapien sapien, the thinking man. 3 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by hopefulLandlord: 12:16am On Dec 16, 2016 |
shehuolayinka:I lean towards disagreeing with this, let's assume there's no religion idea or god idea for a moment; Murder? There's only so many murders you'll commit before you're caught and hauled off to spend the rest of your life in Kirikiri or face firing squad and that's if jungle justice doesn't get to you first There's only so much rape you can carry out before the long arm of the law catches you and you're ostracized, jailed, killed, murdered in revenge I think its high time we give societal laws its due as its much more effective in keeping people good than some promise of afterlife punishment In addition, this "holy laws" are hardly effective because you'll hardly see many of so-called religion adherents live strictly by the code of the book, I've witnessed Muslims have sex with minors and then take a plastic keg to wash their penis which to them is like washing sins away; plastic kettle, water and someone words to your god is all it takes to wash your pedophile act away, something that could land you long term sentence by most societal laws This is one of the critic of religion, no matter how huge your sins are, you can always "wash" it all away by talking to your imaginary friend Let us imagine what the society would be like if we wait for an agreed-on god to punish wrongdoers? and such idea of Quran preventing murders actually fall flat when you look at certain Muslims killing in the name of Allah, so what supposedly prevents your Facebook friend from killing anyhow is also empowering some others to kill! terrorists use one religion or the other as their reasons for the destruction they're doing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrea_Yates Andrea Yates believed killing her children by drowning is doing the work of the Lord Robert Lewis Dear killed 3 children and believed he was sending them to heaven and those he killed would thank him for what he had done when they meet in heaven mental illness exacerbate religion? Is there a difference? One could make a case for religion-as-a-mental-illness. And thats not meant as an insult to the religious. Religion does alter and influence behavior. Sometimes the alteration is harmless or even beneficial; but in a lot of cases, it affects perception of reality in a fundamentally negative way. To put it into perspective; if a man states that he believes that Superman saved him from a fatal car crash; he would be most likely considered mentally ill. But if another man claimed that the hand of god saved him from a similar car crash; he will be considered as a blessed person. Some would argue that religion is socially acceptable mental illness... I wouldn't go that far; but there is a solid case for such an argument... I've always asked theists this question "if your god commands you to kill someone, would you do it?" Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction. Blaise Pascal Give societal laws it's due, its far more effective in keeping people's behaviours in check than any divine law that's slow and unsure
I've observed people like this say this to appear faultless but kick themselves when they're alone knowing its their stupidity that's responsible And words like these makes it look like you're never in control of any part of your life Let's paraphrase those words "God gives success and taketh it" "god gives health and taketh it" "god gives wealth and taketh it" "god gives intelligence and taketh it" "god gives goodluck and taketh it" "God gives peace and taketh it" "god gives .............. And taketh" This leads to a self fulfilling prophecy where one relaxes thinking everything is never in his/her control as god can decide not to give you no matter the efforts you put in and God may decide to give you even if you put little to no efforts; this is usually buttressed by testimonies in several chruches, I had cancer and god cured me, they'll conveniently leave out the part of them flying abroad for chemotherapy, the part about taking expensive drugs, the part where they've squandered their wealth and wealth of family and friends in order to attempt to treat/cure that disease, take Oyedepo's wife's story who flew abroad to treat herself while Oyedepo made it sound like all they did was pray This leads to the listeners who are in the same predicament to put no effort because they can pray to god and miraculous cure would come, some HIV patients even believe that they've been cured and they stop taking their ARV drugs which by the time they realise the sheethole they've dug themselves into, its too too late
Atheism is here to stay, internet and education is what would eventually kill every god idea The simple fact that we abolished slavery despite almost every god especially Yahweh not abolishing it shows our morals come as a way of survival of the human race If I'm the only person in the world, I won't need any moral code, any law to live by, I can sheet anywhere, piss anywhere but once you form a society, laws and codes need to be made
This question would remain unanswered till atheism becomes acceptable the world over
There's no polite way to tell someone that they've dedicated their life to folly Deists also poke holes in religion and god ideas, Nairaland is testimony to that fact 13 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by KingEbukasBlog(m): 12:59am On Dec 16, 2016 |
plaetton: lmaoo  . Atheists in Confucianism venerate spirits and pray to them while atheists in Wicca use magic and incantations . Atheists in raelism are waiting for the Elohim - an ancient alien civilization - to pass judgement on Humans  . Atheists in Buddhism believe there are different planes of existence and in some planes different creatures exist , they also believe souls journey through these planes  . Astral projection , telephaty and pyshic power are part of doctrines in Buddhism, an 'atheist religion'But somehow just somehow believing in a creator of the universe means you are a looney ? Wow ...just wow !!! Please read this and stop this bs sir abeg : https://www.nairaland.com/3500235/must-read-god-without-religion Your jeremiads against religion are now boring  Only ignorant people believe that God has always been with religion 7 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by KingEbukasBlog(m): 1:21am On Dec 16, 2016 |
shehuolayinka: Atheism attempted 'fixing' the world's problems with communism , hatred and malevolence against people who believed in God - it ended the lives of over 200 million people in close to 100 years . Any country atheism has been in form of communism has always been disaster , poverty , death and suffering . Typical examples are North Korea and Cuba . These countries have incredible poverty rates , crime rates and of course the usual marginalization of the people who believe in God . In China alone during atheist's Mao's regime , 45 million people were killed in just 4 years. And I'm surprised the source says Independent UK - you can't hide the truth though If you want to know more about atheists' sanguinary campaigns against people who believed in God and the ripple effect of their wickedness = their flagitious acts against humanity Click Here 1. https://www.nairaland.com/2988881/atheism-terrorism-annihilation-quest-atheistic 2. https://www.nairaland.com/3176513/atheist-murderers-past-present-murderous Atheism is what it is , a bold representative of futility and hopelessness. Deny the existence of a creator and you have for yourself , a meaningless purposeless life . Say 'no' atheism , say 'no' to insanity , say no to hopelessness and suicide , Say 'no' to mental slavery Say 'Yes' to God , say 'yes' to a world of meaning , life and hope . 6 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by KingEbukasBlog(m): 1:34am On Dec 16, 2016 |
hopefulLandlord: Atheism is a man made idea started by a crazy guy called Diagoras 2,500 years ago . It is not here to stay , it is unnatural with devastating effects on the brain Kill every god idea and then let life go extinct according to Grizzlybear . Life is hopeless and meaningless with atheism . Admit it .1 Like
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| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by hopefulLandlord: 2:06am On Dec 16, 2016 |
KingEbukasBlog: this is nonsense that's been spilled so many times that you've started believing it Communism is not atheism! China has been a communist state for over 67 years and they're growing better than most non communist states we also have atheist president like José Alberto "Pepe" Mujica Cordanohas been described as "the world's 'humblest' president" due to his austere lifestyle and his donation of around 90 percent of his $12,000 monthly salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs. he lived in a bungalow throughout his reign, drove one single Volkswagen tortoise car www.nairaland.com/attachments/4120168_ur3_jpeg368b1bc37b57f130023232c2426ac4f7 www.nairaland.com/attachments/4120166_ur2_jpeg04006ba002a71eb85ebebb239f6c0cd1 I dare you to bring up any theist president that's ever been as humble as him let alone more humble can you get me the number of killings Jose Mujica ordered  you also have socialist country like Venezuela whose population is 91% religious when would they start killing? even some former presidents of the USA are regarded to be atheists The likes of Thomas Jefferson , Abraham Lincoln, William Howard Taft, and Donald Trump are regarded by many to be atheist 2 of them are regarded to be the best president USA ever had Vietnam has been a communist state for over 40 (forty) years but still has 99% of the population professing one religion or the other why are they not killing all religious people? when would the killing start? we also have open atheists that are doing good for the environment they're in you have atheists participating in national politics, there are many good and few bad eggs amongst them, just like we have in theism most atheists usually ignore your atheist/communist/annihilation/bigotry and other nonsensical hullabaloo not because they think you're right but because they can see you desperately think you're right and that seems to be the only card you have left against atheism, taking that card away can drive you to suicide then again, anyone having doubts about theism won't look at killings of atheists and say "oh! I'm gonna go on murderous rampage if I dump my religious delusion! I'd better stay so I don't become a killer!!" can't you see your desperation shines through? you're so desperate that you've lost your reasons keep up your delusion if it helps your fart smell good I won't reply if you quote this good day 13 Likes 3 Shares |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by KingEbukasBlog(m): 2:12am On Dec 16, 2016 |
hopefulLandlord:  Abraham Lincoln , Thomas Jefferson are deists https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deists And Donald Trump is a Christian , well that's what he says . According to Lenin , Atheism is a natural and inseparable part of Marxism, of the theory and practice of scientific socialism . And then Marxism–Leninism holds that religion is the opium of the people, in the sense of promoting passive acceptance of suffering on Earth in the hope of eternal reward (Religion here regards to the one involving the belief in God ). Therefore, Marxism–Leninism [COMMUNISM] advocates the abolition of religion and the acceptance of atheism. https://www.nairaland.com/3286519/communist-leaders-killed-millions-because Atheists and their lies . I will rubbish whatever nonsense you have there later - suffused with lies and distortion of facts . 2 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by 4kings: 2:27am On Dec 16, 2016 |
KingEbukasBlog: What the meaning of this Can't you at least learn a thing or two from what he said Say no to bigotry!!! 9 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by hopefulLandlord: 2:31am On Dec 16, 2016 |
4kings:leave him alone, I've passed my message 1 Like |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by KingEbukasBlog(m): 2:31am On Dec 16, 2016 |
4kings: From someone who distorts facts and lies Bigotry ? When he clearly said that the god idea would be dead because of the internet . He started by ridiculing our beliefs in his first post and you don't see that as bigotry Bro , You only learn from facts and truth not lies  . Atheists cannot be trusted 5 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by KingEbukasBlog(m): 2:35am On Dec 16, 2016 |
hopefulLandlord: The atheist founder of raelism - I'm reading his book right now - claims he got his message from the Elohim , aliens ,who paid him a visit and has now passed his message to us Anyone can pass a message , but who has passed the truth 3 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by 4kings: 2:42am On Dec 16, 2016 |
President Jose Alberto is indeed a good atheist. Just read a little about him, and I Love him already. |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by KingEbukasBlog(m): 2:47am On Dec 16, 2016 |
4kings: He was not a communist , because I clearly said : KingEbukasBlog: But hopefullandlord in his usual chicanery to mislead the public mentioned him  . He just happened to be a democratic leader , who is arguably an atheist . 2 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by hopefulLandlord: 2:53am On Dec 16, 2016 |
4kings: I never even knew he was atheist until JackBizzle said it, I'd already known José long before then though |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by 4kings: 2:59am On Dec 16, 2016 |
KingEbukasBlog:Aren't you trying to mislead the public into thinking, atheism has no sense of humanity, with this your posts? Hopefullandlord brought up an atheist whose sense of humanity is beyond that of regular Christians. And because of bigotry, you are saying the stance of a self declared atheist is "Arguable" SMH 13 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by 4kings: 3:04am On Dec 16, 2016 |
hopefulLandlord:This is the first time I've heard anything about him. He is one in million. |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by dalaman: 3:35am On Dec 16, 2016 |
KingEbukasBlog: Will you stop this shameless lie. You read a little thing take it out of context and give it a life of it's own. Atheism has been with man since the inception of time. Diagoras was the first person in classical Greece and Rome to openly come out and blaspheme by making public the Eleusinian Mysteries and discouraging people from being initiated. During their time going against the Gods was a capital punishment. From wikipedia it says. "Historically, any person who did not believe in any deity supported by the state was fair game to accusations of atheism, a capital crime". Socrates that lived before Diagoras was accused of being atheos ("refusing to acknowledge the gods recognized by the state"  . He was formally accused of not believing in the Gods by Meletus. Enough of your lies . There have been atheist even during the Vedic period(iron age) in India.From wikipedia it says : " Ideas that would be recognized today as atheistic are documented from the Vedic period and the classical antiquity". Enough of your lies that atheism was invented by Diagoras. Socrates before him was accused of atheism for refusing to recognized the Gods sanctioned by the state at that time. Enough of your lies. Before them people were already inventing religions without deities in Asia. Buddha was considered to be an atheist himself and created a religion that had nothing to do with the Gods. 13 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by dalaman: 3:36am On Dec 16, 2016 |
4kings: His sheer dishonesty can be seen by all. He goes about shamelessly lying that atheism was invented by Diagoras when in reality he was just the first person to openly state his unbelief without fear in classical Greece because at that time disbelief in the Gods was a capital crime. Many before him denied the existence of the Gods but were afraid of openly stating it. Even socrates before him was accused of atheism because he didnt believe in the existence of the Gods but was quiet about it. 7 Likes 1 Share |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by randomperson: 3:39am On Dec 16, 2016 |
hopefulLandlord:Wow, just wow! I knew the man but never knew he doesn't believe in god... So we have Pepe on one side and we have people who instead of looking for solutions to world hunger would say: "God starves children to death to save them from death in the future" 3 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by felixomor: 5:47am On Dec 16, 2016 |
4kings: Which sense of humanity does atheism have? When even some atheists here on NL believe life is meaningless? When they believe morality is subjective? Have u not read such posts before? Abeg save us a call the humanity talk. 2 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by Nobody: 7:05am On Dec 16, 2016 |
KingEbukasBlog: I see you are obsessed with me. 3 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by dalaman: 7:22am On Dec 16, 2016 |
felixomor: Only one atheist on nairaland believes life is meaningless. Apart from him can you name another athiests here that holds that position? When they believe morality is subjective? Morality is indeed subjective. |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by felixomor: 7:30am On Dec 16, 2016 |
dalaman: Read his thread and u will find otherz who agree with him. By the way did u just imply that life has meaning? For real? |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by damogul: 7:38am On Dec 16, 2016 |
LightandDarkness: Deists do not diss atheists they KNOW atheists are stupid |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by dalaman: 7:40am On Dec 16, 2016 |
felixomor: Life has meaning but the meaning of life is whatever you choose to make of it. Life has no universal meaning. We all chose the meaning we want to attach to life. To a muslim life's meaning is to submit his/herself to the will of Allah as a loyal slave To a Buddhist life's meaning is to achieve nirvana, to a christian is to achieve salvation in the life to come, to a hedonist life's meaning is to gain as much sensual pleasure as possible, to a sadistic psychopath life's meaning is to inflict as much pains and sorrow on others. A humanist sees the meaning of life as making sure you preserve life and maintain social justice. Life does have meaning to people. It just depends on whatever you choose to accept as the meaning of life. Nihalist are the ones that see life as meaningless. 4 Likes |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by felixomor: 7:46am On Dec 16, 2016 |
dalaman: So what is the meaning of your own life? 1 Like |
| Re: Religion: An Illusion That Works Well by DoctorAlien(m): 7:51am On Dec 16, 2016 |
dalaman: Can you disprove the assertion that atheism promotes the view that life is meaningless and purposeless? Bear in mind that anything that is purposeless has no reason to be. 2 Likes |
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