Geographically Determined Religion
by antitheistnathan
In multiple religions, you are very likely to be exposed to their supreme order, their celestial entity: ‘God’. Whether that ‘God’ was the Allah, the father of Jesus, or any other God it becomes a statement point of ‘my God is the right God because I believe that to be true’. In a bizarre twist, the religious of society share smiles and fakery about appreciating and respecting another individuals faith, albeit entirely contradictory to their own Gods holy book.
A common enemy?
However, science, as a common enemy to all religions, is not granted that same mutual respect and is instead treated with great contempt and ignorance. After all, religions share the buffoonery of an unevidenced supreme being, whereas science is in greater detail explaining how the natural world really does work (thus providing a large wealth of evidence that would be suggestive of no God). Whilst whether the existence of a God (or not) cannot truly be evidenced to an absolute, it is certainly true that to make such grandiose claims, the onus of proof should lie on the side of religion to evidence the existence of such an entity. If people genuinely do feel science should be responsible for disproving claims of a God, then we should give equal respect to anyone who believes in: fairies, the Loch Ness monster, flying horses, pink unicorns, witches and so forth. Humanity would be a mockery of superstitious beliefs purely on the basis that they cannot be absolutely disproven.
If there is only one God, why are there so many religions?
This is indeed a good question, why do so many religions exist believing in many different Gods when there should only be one? This idea of multiple Gods gives rise to potential social causes of religion, and it is well documented that over centuries many religions and Gods have faded in, and out. Zeus, Thor, Shiva and so forth are probably no longer considered Godly at all, but a fun and enjoyable set of historic, mythical Gods. What makes today’s Gods so different? I suspect that the foundation of mutual respect between religions may lie in their awareness that religion is entirely arbitrary and where ever one happens to be born will have a strong, determining effect on what religion they will be geared toward. Such geographical determination of which religion one will belong to could evidence the origin of those religions, and if religions only ever grip their places of birth it suddenly detracts from a one-god-for-all concept, and perhaps actually supports the possibility that societies created their Gods in keeping with their cultures, and the traditions of that time.
Note: I have omitted specifically addressing polytheism and polytheistic belief as it still has the same questions to answer with respect to the belief in multiple Gods, and religions.
If religion is determined by geography, how could a good God send non-believers to Hell? People don’t get to choose what country they are born in. God must be an asshole. Great post!
It is certainly telling when an individuals belief is not an internal decision per se, but can be determined (with reasonable accuracy), by geographical location. For example, if born in Italy one would probably be Roman Catholic, or if born in Israel one would believe in Judaism.
I think your on to something here, I’m not a super smart person like you, but I can see genuis when i see it… btw , you better do something with your life that is important to mankind, your playing with 10 jokers in your deck, dont waste them. : )
Thank you, Fred! I am not entirely sure if I suit the ‘genius’ tag, nor if I have the capacity to make a difference to mankind, but it is certainly a compliment.
I am a believer in god and absolutely agree with everythin that you question and challenge and say in this. I do not, however follow a ‘religion’ and my god doesnt have a name or an image but i know my god is there. I am keen to see science develop because that helps my own questions that i have for my belief. Any believer who doesnt have questions about their faith is a liar. I dont follow a certain book but being born in to a hindu family which has shown me how people worship to hundereds of different dieties and equally as many arms per god i feel that what i have learned and seen allows me to belong…someeher…. – THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT I AM A HINDU – far from it… im not strong enought to be any kind of practicing religious type. i tolerate and welcome ALL faiths – but i do not tolerate or welcome the people that have ‘created’ the control, ‘fear’, influence, prejudices and attitudes that believe that my god is better than yours. There is now such thing!
I think that is a very reasonable perspective to take, especially when you are acknowledging the role of culture and environment in your own beliefs. I think that people who believe in a God tend to be much more reasonable, and scientifically oriented than those who believe in popular doctrines. I hope my blog helps you to address any questions you have, because the aim is to provoke thought first and foremost.