The Virtues and Sins of Religion

September 10, 2012
 

All religions have something to offer in the way of wisdom and discovery. However, they also have the potential to mislead, control and limit growth. Most modern (major) religions today have been corrupted to some degree or another. In many cases, they have taken valuable ancient knowledge/wisdom/teachings and twisted that information into something that serves the political, economic and social control agendas of the ruling class (and their overlords).

In my view, spirituality is a deeply personal experience that should not necessarily be confined or restricted to one particular belief system. Every culture on Earth has valuable wisdom to share. To deny that potential for knowledge and understanding, is to deny our own potential for growth.

From the perspective of spirituality, there is no one right religion or religious belief system. No single religion is going to "save" its followers. There are no "chosen" people (only the "gods" choose people). God (however you may personally define this concept) is within all of us regardless of religion, culture, or color. Therefore, the "savior" is also within each and every one of us.

The Sins of Religion

Historically, the concept of sin has been used mostly as a mechanism of control in the Church. Sin does not encourage growth, rather it ties us to the Church (i.e accept that we are all sinners, therefore it's ok to sin, just make sure that we come back to the Church to absolve our sins). There is something deeply disturbing about this way of thinking. Where is the learning and growth in this process?

Making mistakes and learning are part of our natural spiritual growth process. This is why we are here. The real sin would be if we didn't learn from our mistakes (there was no growth) and we continued along the same destructive path because we were taught that there is no escape from sin. Perhaps an even greater sin would be if we stood still and gave in to oppression and tyranny because we were taught that we would be saved by an external god or deity sometime in the future.

We were given the gift of freewill so that we may choose our own destiny. To freely give this gift away (to an outside leader/force/authority) is to deny this gift and our true power as both individuals and as spiritual beings.

The individual path that we choose determines our fate, not an external leader or belief system. The answer is within us, not outside of us.

Summary
 

• Religions have both positive and negative attributes
• Multiple religions tend to divide the people, therefore they can limit the power of the people
• Each religion is a unique expression, therefore each religion is an individual expression of freedom of choice
• Within each religion there is valuable knowledge and wisdom
• Many modern (major) religions have been hijacked by outside forces to serve various agendas
• The existence of multiple religions helps to serve as a form of checks and balances so that no one belief system can be manipulated in such a way that would allow for the total control of the entire population of Earth
  

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