If we go by logic, there is nothing to prove that our present understanding of things around us, based on science, is the best of human wisdom. All we can say is, at this point in time, we understand the world in these terms. Tomorrow we may see it in yet other terms. So, we are either evolving or crucifying ourselves and the rest of the planet. But that doesn't make whatever propounded by religion as the ultimate wisdom either, although it is propagated so.
Every religion preaches a set of ideas and declares itself as the only wisdom that can redeem humans from earth and transport them to some unseen planet of gods. In doing so, one points a finger on another and says, "you are living in ignorance" or "my god is real and your god is a fantasy." So for someone who gets closer to his religion, the next stage is preaching the religion to others. Preaching becomes the next higher stage of practicing religion. And preaching religion becomes, even more, a convincing idea when someone is told, "you have to deliver your fellow human being." That may sound a little saner than, "you have to kill him because he is a non-believer." Some even get damsels in heaven as incentives. Like these, every religion gives out privileged visas to its heaven, stamped by some authorized transporters on earth. But as far as reality goes, claims made by religions are ideas even religions have not been able to prove in a span of several centuries. Whether they actually exist or not, we do not know.
Religions, like the science of the present day, grew over centuries. Our forefathers have not been honest to accept 'what they do not know' as 'what they do not know'. They chose to flaunt that they were worldly wise and had answers for everything. It's the same pride with which we are living now. Maybe they knew something and had they taught only that, a sense of wisdom would have prevailed and further generations would have stepped up from there. We too would have picked up honesty as a common human trait. But they hid their ignorance and gave us a bunch of imaginations. And the irony is, you and I can know and gain access to those bunch of imaginations, only if we get intoxicated by the same ignorance and fantasies of our forefathers. Sadly that's the larger part of our past and we don't even know if they are real or an exaggerated ad copy, written in an erstwhile ancient past, to sell a non-existent commodity. Even worse, we still remain trapped in that past called religion, and exchange blows on each other to this day, to keep the gods and their transporters happy, just to ensure a smooth transit to the heavens after we die. For an unknown afterlife, we start killing our present life and not just our lives, of many others too, making earth into an unlivable hell. And that's the only fantasy we could make it real.
On the other hand, even within religions, there are some rationalistic ideas, honest expositions and unifying ideals that tell every living being should be seen alike. Those are the things that everyone within the folds of religions, and even those outside, can commonly appreciate because they can be reasoned with and accepted. Religions can teach them as universally beneficial ideas rather than imposing one's god over the other. And in the interest of humanity and its progress, religions must self-reform themselves and bid farewell to unreasonable ideas. Let the past teach us some valuable lessons and not command what we should do now. Let our actions in the present be governed by reasoning and sense of justice towards all beings. Only they can result in the social evolution of humanity and man's coexistence with other beings.
Every religion preaches a set of ideas and declares itself as the only wisdom that can redeem humans from earth and transport them to some unseen planet of gods. In doing so, one points a finger on another and says, "you are living in ignorance" or "my god is real and your god is a fantasy." So for someone who gets closer to his religion, the next stage is preaching the religion to others. Preaching becomes the next higher stage of practicing religion. And preaching religion becomes, even more, a convincing idea when someone is told, "you have to deliver your fellow human being." That may sound a little saner than, "you have to kill him because he is a non-believer." Some even get damsels in heaven as incentives. Like these, every religion gives out privileged visas to its heaven, stamped by some authorized transporters on earth. But as far as reality goes, claims made by religions are ideas even religions have not been able to prove in a span of several centuries. Whether they actually exist or not, we do not know.
Religions, like the science of the present day, grew over centuries. Our forefathers have not been honest to accept 'what they do not know' as 'what they do not know'. They chose to flaunt that they were worldly wise and had answers for everything. It's the same pride with which we are living now. Maybe they knew something and had they taught only that, a sense of wisdom would have prevailed and further generations would have stepped up from there. We too would have picked up honesty as a common human trait. But they hid their ignorance and gave us a bunch of imaginations. And the irony is, you and I can know and gain access to those bunch of imaginations, only if we get intoxicated by the same ignorance and fantasies of our forefathers. Sadly that's the larger part of our past and we don't even know if they are real or an exaggerated ad copy, written in an erstwhile ancient past, to sell a non-existent commodity. Even worse, we still remain trapped in that past called religion, and exchange blows on each other to this day, to keep the gods and their transporters happy, just to ensure a smooth transit to the heavens after we die. For an unknown afterlife, we start killing our present life and not just our lives, of many others too, making earth into an unlivable hell. And that's the only fantasy we could make it real.
On the other hand, even within religions, there are some rationalistic ideas, honest expositions and unifying ideals that tell every living being should be seen alike. Those are the things that everyone within the folds of religions, and even those outside, can commonly appreciate because they can be reasoned with and accepted. Religions can teach them as universally beneficial ideas rather than imposing one's god over the other. And in the interest of humanity and its progress, religions must self-reform themselves and bid farewell to unreasonable ideas. Let the past teach us some valuable lessons and not command what we should do now. Let our actions in the present be governed by reasoning and sense of justice towards all beings. Only they can result in the social evolution of humanity and man's coexistence with other beings.