So Many Religions
According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. All organised religions have a structure that set out rules of what a follower of that given faith is expect to adhere to and how to behave. There are holy practices that cover every single part of the life ( and death ) of the person of that faith. There are holy places that are to be attended and various days of obligation that are to be observed along with prayers or rituals that govern every aspect of the day to day life of the follower.
From the moment a person is born into a religious society to their death they are governed, commanded and required to observe THE religion without question and to obey their unelected masters. I say unelected as there is no democracy by the followers of the faith, they have no say in who is given a status of being their teacher and master. They are elected by the rest of the hierarchy.
If you have the misfortune to have been born into a religious society that is state run like Islam a person has little or no rights. You observe the rituals as decreed by that religion and are subject to it rules of sharia law. To be an atheist or a different religious denomination is Dangerous in the extreme. As of 2014 there are 30 countries that require a head of state to be affiliated to a particular religion.
In the countries where state religions are demanded by their leaders or in the constitution of the country holy days are recognized by the government and given the status of a public holiday. very often public schools provide religious education, although parents are sometimes able to opt-out their children in a lot of Christian countries should they choose to do so.
From the moment a person is born into a religious society to their death they are governed, commanded and required to observe THE religion without question and to obey their unelected masters. I say unelected as there is no democracy by the followers of the faith, they have no say in who is given a status of being their teacher and master. They are elected by the rest of the hierarchy.
If you have the misfortune to have been born into a religious society that is state run like Islam a person has little or no rights. You observe the rituals as decreed by that religion and are subject to it rules of sharia law. To be an atheist or a different religious denomination is Dangerous in the extreme. As of 2014 there are 30 countries that require a head of state to be affiliated to a particular religion.
In the countries where state religions are demanded by their leaders or in the constitution of the country holy days are recognized by the government and given the status of a public holiday. very often public schools provide religious education, although parents are sometimes able to opt-out their children in a lot of Christian countries should they choose to do so.
The Abrahamic faiths of Islam, Christianity and Judaism have injected themselves into the very fabric of government and the day to day running of the majority of countries on the planet now have organised religion enshrined in their laws and their version of religion is taught to the individuals of that country from the moment they are old enough to attend school.
Australia and India have declared themselves secular and will not promote or interfere with religion, they put the rights of the individual first. The USA has a constitution declaring church and state must be kept separate. However You cannot get elected in America if you are not religious, no one dares to admit to being secular. If you happen to let on in certain parts of America that you are not religious it has been known that store owners can loose their livelihoods, workers be shunned or dismissed, families be split and friends can become scarce as this author can attest to.
Here in the United Kingdom religion is enshrined in law and must be taught and practiced in all public schools, with acts of daily worship. A parent can opt their children out of R.E. if they notify the school of this and the school must find alternative arrangements for the child.
Australia and India have declared themselves secular and will not promote or interfere with religion, they put the rights of the individual first. The USA has a constitution declaring church and state must be kept separate. However You cannot get elected in America if you are not religious, no one dares to admit to being secular. If you happen to let on in certain parts of America that you are not religious it has been known that store owners can loose their livelihoods, workers be shunned or dismissed, families be split and friends can become scarce as this author can attest to.
Here in the United Kingdom religion is enshrined in law and must be taught and practiced in all public schools, with acts of daily worship. A parent can opt their children out of R.E. if they notify the school of this and the school must find alternative arrangements for the child.
The upper parliament of the government (The house of lords) has 26 sitting bishops, a bill passed into law must go through the house of lords for it final reading /amendment etc before being passed into law. And these religious bishops have a say in what becomes law in the UK.
The rhetoric from all religions is the same, that theirs is the one true god, that this god hears your prayers, loves you, and will give you everlasting life after death in heaven providing of course that you hold up your end of the deal by loving your god back, worshiping him and follow the rules as dictated to you by the unelected priests, imams and Rabbi's. And god will know if you disobey or sin. If you do not hold up your end of the deal then you will end up in eternal damnation, often shunned by your peers or in some countries end up being physically harmed, in prison or worse.... dead. So you are brought up with this fear in the back of your mind put there from an early age to control you and mold you into a good religious drone.. to follow like a sheep. Even if reason and logic enter your mind and you reach the conclusion that all religion is not your thing there is so often still the social side to it from society, friends and family. So often is better to keep quiet and go along with the crowd as again the author can attest to.
If you believe in your god but do not like the interpretation of the guide book of your given denomination you can simply move to a different denomination and persuade yourself that you are still a true believer of your god following the ways of the faith because someone has put into print and the hierarchy preach this particular version of your faith. Religions have been doing this since the first humans walked the earth. New religions have been invented or altered as new ways of looking at something emerged or someone somewhere declared X or Y is the right path to follow, the old religions are then pushed aside as happened to the gods of the Egyptians, Greeks or Romans... all moving into mythology.
In Islam you have the Sunni and the Shia's fighting, divided over who is right but claiming allegiance and devotion to Allah, In Christianity protestants and Catholics had a 30 year war in Northern Ireland over who is right, Israel Pakistan, the Arab states etc etc and it still goes on today as it does all over the world . Wars rage and factions argue with each other over who's god is the one. The denominations and splits are so wide and many..... but again all claiming they know, they are right, they have the correct interpretation of the guide book, and ONLY they follow the true path to god.
The rhetoric from all religions is the same, that theirs is the one true god, that this god hears your prayers, loves you, and will give you everlasting life after death in heaven providing of course that you hold up your end of the deal by loving your god back, worshiping him and follow the rules as dictated to you by the unelected priests, imams and Rabbi's. And god will know if you disobey or sin. If you do not hold up your end of the deal then you will end up in eternal damnation, often shunned by your peers or in some countries end up being physically harmed, in prison or worse.... dead. So you are brought up with this fear in the back of your mind put there from an early age to control you and mold you into a good religious drone.. to follow like a sheep. Even if reason and logic enter your mind and you reach the conclusion that all religion is not your thing there is so often still the social side to it from society, friends and family. So often is better to keep quiet and go along with the crowd as again the author can attest to.
If you believe in your god but do not like the interpretation of the guide book of your given denomination you can simply move to a different denomination and persuade yourself that you are still a true believer of your god following the ways of the faith because someone has put into print and the hierarchy preach this particular version of your faith. Religions have been doing this since the first humans walked the earth. New religions have been invented or altered as new ways of looking at something emerged or someone somewhere declared X or Y is the right path to follow, the old religions are then pushed aside as happened to the gods of the Egyptians, Greeks or Romans... all moving into mythology.
In Islam you have the Sunni and the Shia's fighting, divided over who is right but claiming allegiance and devotion to Allah, In Christianity protestants and Catholics had a 30 year war in Northern Ireland over who is right, Israel Pakistan, the Arab states etc etc and it still goes on today as it does all over the world . Wars rage and factions argue with each other over who's god is the one. The denominations and splits are so wide and many..... but again all claiming they know, they are right, they have the correct interpretation of the guide book, and ONLY they follow the true path to god.
… If you took every holy book, every holy book there’s ever been, every religious book, every bit of spirituality, and hid them or destroyed them…In a thousand years time they would not come back just as it was. Then if you took every science book and destroyed them, in a thousand years’ time, those science books would be back exactly the same, because the tests would always turn out the same.
Ricky Gervais.
There is a saying that there is only one science but many religions. though a simplistic saying the point is that in science a theory is either right or wrong. The burden of proof lies squarely with the person making the claim. A theory is examined and tested with repeatable, demonstrable, experimentation. prevailing theories are always refined and altered when knowledge is gained and understanding is sought. if it was not so then the world would still think as the church did when it put Galilleo in prison for supporting the Copernican view that the earth and planets revolved around the sun, where as the churches view was that the Earth was the centre of the galaxy and the sun and planets revolved around it.
It is a persons right to believe in what they wish but Organised religion has no right to indoctrinate and interfere in a child's life, it is reprehensible , wrong and immoral. If you chose not to believe in science, logic and common sense then that is your choice but the earth will still orbit the sun. Mankind will struggle to push free of superstition and become educated and no amount of praying or believing will alter the laws of physics.
It is a persons right to believe in what they wish but Organised religion has no right to indoctrinate and interfere in a child's life, it is reprehensible , wrong and immoral. If you chose not to believe in science, logic and common sense then that is your choice but the earth will still orbit the sun. Mankind will struggle to push free of superstition and become educated and no amount of praying or believing will alter the laws of physics.