Baby, Give It Up!: Everybody wants you . . .

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Originally Posted by Brightlight

As Karl Marx said -

Religion is, indeed, the self-consciousness and self-esteem of man who has either not yet won through to himself, or has already lost himself again. But man is no abstract being squatting outside the world. Man is the world of man—state, society. This state and this society produce religion, which is an inverted consciousness of the world, because they are an inverted world. Religion is the general theory of this world, its encyclopedic compendium, its logic in popular form, its spiritual point d'honneur, its enthusiasm, its moral sanction, its solemn complement, and its universal basis of consolation and justification. It is the fantastic realization of the human essence since the human essence has not acquired any true reality. The struggle against religion is, therefore, indirectly the struggle against that world whose spiritual aroma is religion. Religious suffering is, at one and the same time, the expression of real suffering and a protest against real suffering. 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. The abolition of religion as the illusory happiness of the people is the demand for their real happiness. To call on them to give up their illusions about their condition is to call on them to give up a condition that requires illusions. The criticism of religion is, therefore, in embryo, the criticism of that vale of tears of which religion is the halo.

Couldn't have put it any beter myself!

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That's the name of my new book: Winning Through To Yourself: A Marxist's Guide to Masturbation.

I'm teasing. My new book is actually called I. Kant Hear You: Posh, Metaphysics & You. :D

No mention of an award for this post?

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Oddly enough, I think it takes courageous man to believe in something he cannot quantify, especially in this world of wonders we live in now. It's MUCH easier now to deny existence of G-d than say in the Sparta of antiquity. That's interesting and telling.

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I do not see your logic here. I think it takes courage to stand up to the moral majority, to defy the norm, and to defy what has been ingrained in western culture for so long (and as time has passed, a higher percentage have turned to religion since the creation of the united states)

Anyway, I think overall, with the average religious person (one who in my opinion has no understanding of what their religion actually says) religion has hurt the way we as humans treat each other. On that basis, we would not need charity to the extent that we do. In tribal culture if a member of society was to fall behind, individuals would help them on a personal level. Now, with religion as a backbone, we have a society where the majority of people believe that if someone is in a rough spot or they can't find a job it is because they do not have the work ethic and god has punished them for some reason. This is a huge lie and I just can't stand this type of thought. Based on this, people get left behind and religion (*in part) is there to pick up the pieces. So, religion has done good and bad things but I would argue that overall it has done more bad then good and we would not need it to do the good things if it was not for the bad things which it has done. Again, let me stress that this is from people using religion to manipulate society, and the basis of most (all the religions I know of) religion is very sound and in good intention. Never the less, it is human nature to find a system of thought, and use it as a tool for our own advantage.

I don't know of the name for what it is I believe, so here it is: I do good things because I feel good about myself. I think that it is possible that there is some sort of collective energy which I can be a positive part of when I do good things. I believe in not screwing over my neighbor because in the most traditional thought, he or she is all I have and by nature, we humans are tribal. We were not meant to live the way modern society is laid out. Lastly, one specific I can say about my beliefs, is that I know that there is no one god in the image of man.