Religion is Pornography.
Good. Now that I have your attention, that statement is incorrect. Religion is more accurately the direct polar opposite of pornography.
Human beings in general feel ashamed and embarrassed about anything pleasurable. Thus, anything relating to sexual intercourse is socially taboo. What most people neglect to realize is that enlightenment also feels pretty good. On many occasions, humans have even described the achievement of enlightenment of their particular denomination to be ecstasy. Sex of course gets a bad reputation because the ecstasy involved occurs on such an intimate, personal level. Enlightened ecstasy, however, often occurs in groups and masses. Thus the religiously ecstatic are very open and uninhibited about their lust for enlightenment.
What religiously ecstatic people fail to realize is the basic human discomfort with other people's pleasure. While it is quite illegal to exhibit sexual pleasure in public, not many people will complain about the expression of religious ecstasy right out in the open. Yet, anyone who witnesses such an exhibition who does not subscribe to that particular brand of enlightenment is guaranteed to feel uncomfortable about the situation.
There is little anyone can do about this. Freedom of speech says that anyone can preach anything they choose. It is a fundamental freedom to take a loudspeaker to the middle of Farragut Square and preach to the DC white-collars who are busy enough trying to dodge panhandlers between the Metro and their place of employment. It is an equal fundamental right to heckle said preachers. Yet, it is bad taste to ask them to stop.
If this phenomenon proves anything, it is that enlightenment is as individual as love. While its not officially socially taboo, people do not want to see you walking around with your religion hanging out, exposed to the world. Yes, there will be the others who will walk up and compliment the size of your religion, and you'll be sure to inform them how beautiful it is, but try to understand what others see while you and your friend talk loudly about how glorious it feels to be one with such a large, powerful religion.
Religion and Sex are both very healthy expressions of emotion. A human being is quite incomplete without them. Please remember, though, to keep these expressions among those close to you. Preaching to people of another faith is no less the spiritual molestation.
Intelligent counter-arguments welcome. (crew@splurd.com)
God's really really okay book!
I think that religion is some of the best RPG-ing this side of the universe, and it is an even better Live Action RPG. Now I know what you are saying (God loaned me his/her mind-reading trick),"Hey Big Josh all this talking about RPGs makes you and your theory sound not only geeky, but makes it sounds like a Big Joke just like you," and the only thing that I can say to that is, "Hi this is my fist and I will bash your brain through your asshole Fuckwad." Anyways yes and listen to my theory you whackos.
So 30 or 40 guys decide to sit down and right a really big thick book about this celestial being that they simply called "God" (no fucking originality in the naming process) who they decided created this and all planes of existence and has put all of his/her creations, from angels all the way to person kind, on wacky adventures. And there is not a lot of proving or disproving some of these neat, yet long, stories and now almost all the people in the world own a copy of this book aptly titled The Bible.
Now some of the people who read this, or breezed through it (GUILTY!!!), read and are like "Okay neat, now I want my 35 bucks back you hack." But most of the people who read it are like, "Wow, holy god...err shit this book is so believable that it will be my life’s work and I will say things to other people so that they do not doubt what it means, and if there are people that will continue to doubt it we will conquer and 'Crush, Kill, Destroy' and make this the one and only RPG... dah I mean religion." So after countless killings and wars (In the Name of GOD) which are still going on all over the planet the only thing I can say about the whole thing is (rolls 300 12 sided die) "Ha all Successes I crush your puny God with my all powerful Yellow Crayon, Bugow!!!!!"
Well, here's my two cents on this particular issue:
It's kinda like some people can view a naked human body with little or no reaction while others can't help but blush, get giggly, get sick or can't view it in other people's company. Such religious openness can only bother you if you allow it.
Just last week on the Metro, a man got into the same car as I, said "Good Morning." to everyone in earshot, opened up a hymn book and sang the first two verses of "Jesus Loves Me". After singing, he said, "Have a blessed day." and got off at the next stop. I was standing less than a foot from this man. I also smiled at him and told him "Good Morning" before he left the Metro.
I know some people might have felt uncomfortable about this, some people might have felt "preached to". You don't feel uncomfortable until you feel agitated or threatened on some level. This guy (I'll call him the Singer) had his religion out for all to see but he was not witnessing or preaching in any sort of way. And I encourage people like that. People like the Singer should not be abused, verbally, mentally or physically. Frankly, I think we need more of them. If what the Singer did bothered anyone, then it's not his problem. Nothing he did was threatening in any sort of social manner, unless the listener personally decided it was a threat. Now if the Singer had been shouting at someone, being abusive in the first place, then he would have been a threat and wide open for a counterstrike.
Anyway, my point is the discomfort one feels when encountering another religion is as personal as the joy another feels about a religion, deity or what-have-you. How you react to someone's expression is primarily up to you. There is a difference between affirming your religion and beliefs to someone and forcing them on someone. In a country with religious freedom (this is becoming increasingly questionable), there are basically two choices:
1) To learn to ignore, live-and-let-live or tolerate all the brands of religion one might encounter. One could also learn about these different religions to see past their differences. It might make them more familiar and thus less threatening. OR...
2) Live with being disturbed, bothered or annoyed at every other turn and react expectedly. I'm sure there are some people who would just prefer this choice just for an excuse to agonize people. Humans love that stuff.
Well I suppose it's my turn to put my thoughts on the subject on thesite.
First I will preface my following statement with this: Organized religion is bunk. As far as I'm concerned, if you have to approach your religion according to what another person or group of people say because they deem themselves as holier than thou, then it's time to rethink whether religion is right for you. People should find God or whoever on their own terms, not someone else's.
Now that I've said what bothers me about religion, I will now give some mild praise to it. Religion is like a sandwich. It is what you make it. It may not agree with other people, but that's not important because it's your opinion that matters. That's the greatness of religion in it's truest form. Unfortunately, most people don't approach it as such and that is where problems arise