Are You a Blind Religious Zealot or a Rational Atheist?

When people speak about religion, all heads turn attentively to make sure no one is insulting their religious beliefs... The amusing part is that people so blindly follow their faith yet don't ponder all the scientific proof that abounds proving that we are products of evolution and not some planned creation by a higher power or being that we have no proof exists. I'm not here to degrade anyone's religion intentionally, just to open people's minds to the truth.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why you believe in your faith? Was it taught and drilled into you at a young age, or did you research religions and choose the one that best suited your moral or ideological beliefs? Why is it that you believe in an afterlife or even a god or gods? Have you ever pondered whether perhaps there is no afterlife?

The main reason religion was created was to control the public. There is no god or gods that created us. There is no afterlife. Religious zealots do not want you to know that because if everyone stopped believing in an afterlife, then what would be the point of going to work, or following laws besides the obvious criminal punishment.

The world would fall into chaos or so they would like you to think. If everyone opened their eyes and realized that there is no god(s) or religion, then we probably wouldn't have all the conflicts and wars that we currently have.

If we look back on history, the majority of wars have come to fruition based on someone's radical religious beliefs. The crusades, the moors into Western Europe, the Spanish inquisition, the Israeli incursion into Palestine, all have been based on religion as an excuse for mass genocide.

All the religious groups are quick to point out each others' faults, but fail to realize their own. People who believe in any religion are just lemmings awaiting their turn to jump off the cliff with the rest of the group in ignorance.

I was raised under Roman Catholic parents who were highly religious, and when I reached around the age of 17-18 (about 13 years ago), I started pondering the meaning of life and researching other religions to see what they had in common. I came to the conclusion that there is no afterlife and that the only reason religion exists is for people in power to control the ignorant public, just as our government does each day.

Catholics, Christians, and all their subdivisions claim how holy they are, yet you see cases each day of priests molesting little kids and churches using donations to finance their personal expenses such as lavish cars, vacations etc. We might as well set all child molesters and defrauders free since the church defends its own criminals. Don't forget the thousands of artifacts the Vatican stole and has stored in Rome from previous crusades.

Jews claim they are god's children, yet kill innocent Palestinians to takeover land that they lost in the time of the Romans. If that's the case the United States should give back all of America back to the Native Americans, because it's their ancestral home and they have been petitioning to get it back ever since it was conquered by Europeans.

Not to mention I find it highly hypocritical that Jews defend their right to be saved from the Nazis during World War II and establishing Israel, yet deny refugees from Darfur from entering Israel because, "It's not our problem..." Interesting how they only help when it benefits their cause only.

Muslims claim non-violence, and complain about how many innocents are killed in a war, yet are quick to suicide bomb and massacre thousands of innocent people who do not follow their religious beliefs or ideals. Ironic isn't it? They get violent when someone insults their religion, but it's ok for them to insult everyone else's. Sorry, but freedom of speech is a two way street, if you can't take the heat stay out of the kitchen.

Hindus also are at fault; they believe in religion yet have a caste system that prevents individuals from moving up the social scale. How can someone believe in a god or gods that allow them to prevent others from having basic freedom of choice?

This is not a bashing of any of the above religions or an exclusion of others. These are just major examples of the faults and hypocrisy in religion. Has anyone come back from the dead to prove there is an afterlife? No, they have not... Has anyone seen their god or gods in person? No, they have not. If anyone claims they have, I want physical proof that cannot be altered.

At least science has theoretically proven that we evolved from a single celled organism to what we are today. Religion has nothing besides a book written by man claiming events happened and people existed. Is there any physical proof that these fantastical events happened, no there is not. It seems that religions are quick to create fantasy stories and claim they are fact instead of telling the truth that they are just stories created to control the masses with rules of conduct and laws to follow in order to prevent chaos.

While we are at it, lets start founding new religions based on every fantasy story out there, for example Dragonlance, or the Chronicles of Narnia.

The best example of religious ignorance are Evangelists who have some ridiculous museum claiming dinosaurs walked the Earth at the same time as humans and that they coexisted like humans with dogs. How ridiculous is that? Try swimming with a great white shark or jumping in a swamp with an alligator and see how long you can stay around it before it decides you are dinner.

For those who claim religion creates hope, ask all the Atheists if believing in non-existence of a higher power has led them to despair, I guarantee not one of them including myself believes such nonsense. I may not know what lies after death, but I sure won't waste my life praying to something that may or may not exist. If there is a god, isn't he/she supposed to forgive me for all of my sins?

So technically I can apologize afterward for my ignorance if after I die some higher power appears before me. Until then, I prefer to travel in reality and take care of the real problems in the world like my family and friends, not some guy in a robe preaching about the end of the world and my sins for the past two thousand years....