Religion

Religion is divisive. It has to go if the world wants peace. As long as there is religion, there will be conflicts. Only when we understand that we belong to one race – the human race, and acknowledge that religion is hocus pocus invented by those in power to subjugate the ignorant, can we live together peacefully. Take away religion, we are all the same - people. Introduce religion, and we Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and people kill each other over what they think an imaginary figure in the sky would want them to do. Can you understand how ridiculous that seems, or sounds?

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Religion is a crutch for people not strong enough to stand up to the unknown without help. - Robert A. Heinlein

Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people. - Karl Marx

It is doubtless true that religion has been the world’s psychiatrist throughout the centuries. - Karl Menninger

Excessive concern with religion seems to me a last resort for people who have been exhausted by life. - Naguib Mahfouz

I don't think of religion as nasty. Religion kept some of my relatives alive, because it was all they had. If they hadn't had some hope of heaven, some companionship in Jesus, they probably would have committed suicide, their lives were so hellish. But they could go to church and have that exuberance together, and that was good, the community of it. When they were in pain, when they had to go to work even though they were in terrible pain, they had God to fall back on, and I think that's what religion does for the majority of the people. I don't think most people intellectualize about religion. They use it to keep themselves alive. - Octavia E. Butler

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From the quotes above, I do get that religion does serve a purpose in this respect. Unfortunately, this is a major weakness, and it is constantly exploited by those in power.

People should educate themselves so that they can differentiate between truth and fantasy. They should be more confident of themselves, and rely on themselves more, instead of depending on some imaginary figure in the sky for help and salvation.

It is a cop-out to believe that, ‘If it’s meant to be, the Lord will make it happen.’ There is no Lord, no God! There is only you and Existence, and Existence is indifferent. You are responsible for yourself.