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Faith vs. Religion vs. Morality
Note: This is silly, but I reposted this essay, even though it's old, mainly because one line in it still really amuses me. It amused Ilja too, so I take that as a sign that it's not just my dumb sense of humor.
I hate when people confuse faith and "religion." I hate it even more when they confuse religion and morality.
Faith and religion are two very different things. Religion is mainly the outward symbol of the faith that lies in the heart. Religion is the actions associated with faith - going to church, taking communion, etc. There are two kinds of people who do religious things but have no faith: those forced into it, and those who are outwardly religious for their own selfish benefits.
I have friends who are forced into going to church every week and have no faith. To quote someone (don't know who, it's from an e-mail I erased long ago, and probably never had the original author on it) - "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you a mechanic."
The best example of those who use religion to further themselves is from the Bible itself - the Pharisees. They had squeaky-clean images, followed the law to the letter, but had black hearts. Or during the Spanish Inquisition, when they got the idea that loving your neighbor involving burning them on the stake. Whose bright idea was that? I bet it was someone who wanted power and used the excuse of religion to back his views. Today, we have televangelists begging to send money, telling you that if you are sad, you don't have enough faith and must give them your life savings. I see this manipulation as the highest form of sacrilege.
In summary, symbolic actions are worthless - even blasphemy - when what they represent does not exist. Basically, religion without faith is nothing.
Which is why Joseph Lieberman's comment of "Morality cannot be maintained without religion," offended me so much. Few things offend me - usually, if someone disagrees with me, I'll tell him that "They can hold their own wrong opinion." That's just the type of person I am.
But to say that a large number of people are completely amoral just because they don't go to church - there's something very wrong there. I have several friends who are atheists - some of them are jerks, but some of them are pretty moral. The idea that all atheists have no morals is ridiculous.
Not only that, but it also implies that everyone who is religious is moral. Being politically correct, he doesn't say what religion. Apparently, it doesn't matter if he offends all atheists - he probably doesn't want them voting for him anyway if they are all immoral - but he certainly doesn't want to offend anyone who is religious! It doesn't matter if they are hypocritical racist so-called "Christians" or Muslims who subjugate women - doesn't matter - they at least pretend to be religious! Let's get in a circle and all be the same and be ignorantly happy! Woohoo! Of course, unless he means morality cannot be maintained without his own orthodox Jewish religion. Which is even more idiotic, because then he would be saying Al Gore, and the large majority of the American public is immoral.
What is morality? I'm not going to go into that here. But I know it's not solely based on whether you go to church each week or not.
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