The Stupidity of Religiosity - On Religion and Atheism

I remember one time when I and my friends back in college were drinking beer, one of the persons that I met during that time said to us that there are two topics that you must not open up while drinking—politics and religion.

True enough, during my three years as admin of Stunning Facts and owner of Say Hello, most of the heated arguments come from our posts regarding religion. As a result, Kit, our page manager, decided that we refrain from posting religious trivia as much as possible.

One of the problems I observed in life is that whenever someone was introduced to a certain idea, in a way that it is implied as factual, and that idea will be accepted and believed in the process, that person will eventually oppose against any other ideas to be introduced later on, especially those that may or will contradict the initial idea. This situation does not necessarily apply to religion, it is also seen in other aspects in life such as philosophy and politics.

For this article I will focus only on the aspect of religion. Here is an example. As admin in Stunning Facts, during those days when we were allowed to post religious trivia, there was a certain article written by one of our fellow admins regarding the similarities between the lives of Jesus Christ, Krishna (the eighth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu in the epic Mahabharata), Horus (the Egyptian god of the underworld; the son of Anubis and Isis), Dionysus (the god of wine; son of Zeus to a mortal) and Mithras (who is the focus of an ancient Roman cult called the Mithraic Mysteries). While reading the comments from our subscribers, there was this overly devout Catholic guy who had the habit of replying on every comment from other subscribers that he deemed opposing to his Catholic belief (It was also during this time wherein I frequently answer comments from our subscribers that are written in a way they are insisting we were wrong and they are right, despite our articles having source material provided). That Catholic happens to be one of my most memorable victims of my wrath.

To make the long story short, since the guy was ranting and writing profanity to everyone else, including myself, I decided to ban him immediately from the page to prevent further argument, while leaving a warning to other subscribers who will try to challenge our authority in the future. No one dared to do so since then.

In my perspective, the mind of that rude Catholic was totally brainwashed with the doctrine and tradition of the church, which other Christian denominations had proved over the years as non-biblical and pagan in origin. This incident only proved that once a religious person is introduced to new ideas and beliefs, he / she will feel easily persecuted. This trait does not apply to Catholicism alone. It applies to all religions.

There was this scientific study that was conducted two years ago, a review of 63 other studies dating back to 1928, which concluded that religious people are less intelligent than atheists and agnostics. Out of these 63, only 10 studies showed a positive correlation between intelligence and religiosity.

The paper was entitled “The Relation between Intelligence and Religiosity: A Meta-Analysis and Some Proposed Explanations”, was led by Professor Miron Zuckerman of the University of Rochester, and was published in the academic journal Personality and Social Psychology Review on August 6, 2013.

According to Huffington Post,

Zuckerman’s team studied decades worth of analysis, noting many atheism and intellect studies “share one central theme – the premise that religious beliefs are irrational, not anchored in science, not testable, and therefore unappealing to intelligent people who ‘know better’.

The study defined intelligence as the “ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experience.

Religiosity is defined as involvement in some (or all) facets of religion, which includes belief in the supernatural, offering gifts to this supernatural, and performing rituals affirming their beliefs.

This study mirrors that of the rude Catholic I mentioned above. Since his mind was brainwashed with the beliefs that were introduced to him as a child, despite having little or no basis, he will still stand up to defend it, disrespecting others in the process, simply because he claims he is more correct.

What he did not know on the other hand, is that he proved himself to me and to other people that he is not open-minded, thanks to the doctrines and traditions implanted in his brain over the years. As a result, his mind was incapable of accepting new ideas, which can be compared to a hard disk drive that was already full.

I myself admit I am a former Catholic, yet nowadays I am not affiliated with any other Christian sect or denomination. Due to this, most people think I am an atheist, even my own siblings.

For the record, I am not an atheist. I still believe in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. What I do not believe is the doctrine of the church, because not only it is based on pagan tradition, (thus non-biblical) but also it is made by man, not from God. But then again, I said I do not belong to any other church, either. Why? Because I also believe every Christian sect has their own invented doctrines as well.

I would say it would be fine if you call me a person whose belief lies somewhere between religion and atheism... A person who believes that God is not only a Supreme Being and a Great Spirit, but also a state of mind that prevents people from doing anything that violates the law of man... a person who believes that the Bible is scientifically and historically accurate… and a person who believes that God created science and is more knowledgeable than any great scientist in history, including Einstein.

By having this approach which I combined science with religion, I claim many friends with various beliefs, whether online or in person. How did I do that? I simply managed to accept and respect their ideas and perspectives as long as they respect mine. I easily accepted the fact that I cannot please everybody, and cannot force anybody to agree with me.

I know you always want to follow the path of peace, but how can you attain it if you claim what you believe is right, or you claim your religion or church is the true one? If you really want to attain peace, you only need two things in this world… RESPECT and CO-EXISTENCE. As long as you have these traits, love will surely follow next, then harmony, and finally peace.

I, the Pooch, have spoken.