Why religion does not make the world a better place

For most of my adult life, I have harbored the belief that religion--organized religion--is a bad thing. It's group-think. It's social control. It's for people who lack critical thinking skills and an understanding of the most basic sociological realities.

Many a conflict in this world had its roots in religion. Too many religions do not preach, "Believe and be saved" as much as they preach, "Believe--or else. And while you're at it, you must recruit as many new members as possible or you can kiss your own salvation goodbye."

Then there's the whole doctrine of "If you don't believe as I believe, you are evil and must be eliminated." Many a conflict, war, slaughter, oppression, holocaust, conquest, and discriminatory act have been based on this. Research any religion and you'll conclude there has been bad behavior all around. Believing in a deity is one thing; forming an entire social construct around it is a recipe for narrowing minds.

Although I am an atheist, I like to believe that as long as other people keep their religion cooties off of me, I'm fine. I don't try to convince anyone they should believe what I do, nor do I even feel I have any right to dissuade someone from holding onto cherished beliefs. Believe whatever you want; just don't expect me to believe it, too, and please don't try to engage me in a conversation where you get to tell me how wrong I am. I believe I tolerate all faiths and I expect my beliefs to be tolerated equally.

A week ago, a news story caught my attention. It made me realize that I'm not that tolerant. The story was about the rising anti-Islamic sentiment in the United States. The story made me realize that I need to make some room for tolerance in my own heart.

I have no issue with the Muslims I know--and I know many--and it upsets me to hear people demeaning an entire faith without considering that it is made up of individuals. I don't know any Muslims who are trying to conquer the world. They just want to be left alone and allowed to follow their faith without persecution. I always thought it was a good thing for moderate and casual Muslims to come to the US so they could practice their faith in a normal, rational way, and not be subject to the violence of radicals.

Then, in the middle of the news story, I heard this quote: “I don’t care for their religion, I don’t care for their politics…I don’t want them here, opening Mosques in every city…they don’t belong here." At that moment, I realized that this defines exactly how I feel about arch-conservative, right-wing, evangelical Christians! Please don't open a church near my house. I don't want them preaching to me, or knocking on my door, or blocking women from entering clinics, or shoving their literature into my hand on the street, or traveling en masse to foreign countries with the sole intent of converting people to Christianity under the assumption that any other religion is just...wrong.

I'm not that tolerant after all.

My understanding is that Jesus Christ, whose followers are Christians, preached tolerance. The entire New Testament--the map of the Christian Way--is full of this principle. As I listened to the Christians in the story spout their hatred and intolerance, I couldn't help but think, "Wow, Jesus must be so proud of his followers who are hosting 'Burn the Koran Day' in Florida, and chasing away and threatening people who don't fall in line to follow Christianity."

I guess we haven't progressed very far since the Crusades.

In Tennessee, Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey suggested last month Islam is a cult and may not be protected by the First Amendment. How about David Koresh? The Mormons? Scientologists? Aren't they cult-like, too? They have no problem enjoying the protections afforded by the Constitution. I have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It would make me very happy to smack a pie into the face of every Mormon/Baptist/Jehovah's Witness who trespasses onto my property and rings my doorbell with th intention of shoving their religion down my throat as far as possible, but I'm not allowed to that. I have no rights in this regard.

In Indiana, Republican congressional candidate Marvin Scott often portrays all Muslims as extremists. He recently went on record saying, “The question becomes, when are young people indoctrinated into the Muslim ideal, and how much are they willing to carry out? I mean, it’s no different than the Japanese kamikazes.”

Hey, I received the "sacrament" of confirmation at the age of eight. The Catholic Church demanded that I commit to the faith with all of my body, heart, and soul, a little Papist soldier of Christ, promising to do whatever I was told to do in the name of Christ. I was in the third grade. Had I been told it was God's will to blow up Protestant children, I probably would have done it out of fear that disobeying the command would have led to my spending eternity in Hell. My madrasa was a well-respected parochial school in the Philadelphia suburbs. I was taught that Catholics were the only people who had any chance of getting into heaven, and everyone else who couldn't be converted should be not just be avoided, but shunned.

Yes, candidate Scott, when are children indoctrinated into their parents' religious ideal? Why is it OK to brainwash a Christian child, but it is evil to do so to any child of any belief you've probably never even bothered to learn about? Have you, personally, spent any time with any Muslims? Hindus? Jews? Atheists?

Tolerance. I must try to be more tolerant of those hypocritical, reactionary dunces who are all indignant assumption and zero education. It's not going to be easy.