The Subject of Religion...

Ok, before I throw myself in a the internal pit of internet flame wars and begrudging. I am a liberal agnostic, what this means is that even though I do not find religions, Gods and Deities the solution to everything in my life, I respect other people's religious ways and needs. What does this mean? Well, I have friends and family that are parts of religions, the American side of my family are mostly Lutheran, friends a part of the Church of England, and friends that are Muslim, or a part of the Muslim culture. And even through our differences, we respect each other because we're friends as social humans, nothing more, nothing less...

But the reason for why I bring this up a few things that happened today, nothing major, nothing terrible, just a few things that sparked me to write this blog post. First off was a pair of Mormons that tried to talk to me as I was trying to get home, I didn't want to look mean to them, I really wanted to go home, but it was a bit pointless that they'd pick me just because I wouldn't pick a religion just because they had a chat with me. It's fine that they're Mormon, even though I think the way that Mormonism was created is a little concluded with the whole "I'm going to read things out of a hat through a looking glass that came from God and Jesus!" thing. As I got home there was an article of Destructoid about a Religious American TV Channel called Watchman Broadcasts  as they describe how Pokemon are "Oriental Daemons", and yes, I did spell "Demons" "Daemon", I just think it looks cooler, and is how "Demons" was spelt a very long time ago, that and it's in my spell check as being right, so HAH! lol :P. Still, the man on this show, named Henry Lewis, describes how Pokemon is evil because of how when Pokemon evolve, they become more daemonic, and have been named after daemons. Issue is, this guy looks like he's in his late 50s, early 60s, and isn't really the kind of person who'd be interested in Pokemon, or playing games in general, but the man clearly haven't got a clue. Now, back in 2000 when the first Pokemon craze was going on, I was playing the game. And yes maybe the Pokemon when they evolve look a bit more sinister and gruesome, but named after daemons!? Sure...  "Blastoise" is some tortoise biblical daemon that shot water at high pressure at people...  See where this becomes flawed? Plus not all Pokemon have the ability the evolve, and some evolutions don't even look menacing, some keep the cute look of it's previous form. Pikachu for example, evolves into a creature called Raichu, a taller, yet stouter version of the Pikachu, and is mostly coloured orange rather than it's iconic yellow, but it still possesses a cute face that's no where near sinister. Again, what this man said is flawed, and proves that he has only glanced at what Pokemon is, rather than see it in detail, if he was 40 years younger and actually played the game, he'd have a better idea.

But before I turn this into yet another blog about video games, I need to show out my own opinions towards how religion is right, and when religion is wrong, I'm not saying that people of a religion are right and wrong, but there are slight flaws in each religion that should be addressed, and as long as we can admit that maybe that it is wrong, the better we understand about each other rather than the whole "I'm in this religion, and you're not, so I'm better than you, because you're going to hell!".

Firstly, what I find hypocritical in Christianity, is how in the old testament celebrate slavery, and seriously, it is in there, I can't tell you what book and chapter, but it describes something on the lines that's slavery is fine as long as you don't buy slaves from the town you live in, or from the town you were born in. Again, I can't remember huge amounts of details about the whole, but considering that the United States of America are all about freedom and such, since it's been in the Thirteenth Amendment that Slavery is abolished in America, I find it funny how people still praise the bible as if it's their complete way of life, when it has something in the old Testament that's against the Thirteenth Amendment of the country. I don't want to sound mean and horrible, but I'm just pointing this out since the pride of the country is all about it's freedom, when the bible itself says it fine to enslave people.

As for Islam, the whole Sharai Law is a little misrepresented, and changes a lot between different countries, yet at the same time people use Sharai Law as the law of Allah himself, even though the Sharai Law changes between different Islamic states. Thing is, I thought the whole Sharai law was primarily based on the 5 Islamic pillars of life, Prayer, Charity, Pilgrimage, Fasting and pleading allegianceto Mohammed and Allah. Thing is over the course to time they added things such as misogynistic behaviour, beating woman for simply talking to another man is simply outrageous. A lot of Muslims have "modernised" themselves and accept western laws and cultures, yet haven't been differed from their religion, this is the kind of thing that I wish the middle east can see, the better Muslims are the ones that adapt with other cultures rather than object them. OK there are middle eastern countries that are already doing it such as parts of India and the United Arab Emirates. But there's still quite a way to go, I just wish some middle eastern countries would get out of the Dark ages and come into the 21st century!

I could go into more stuff like the Phelps family, but I've written too much at this point, heh. In general, I believe that it doesn't matter if we believe, or not believe in religion, that we can respect our differences and get on with our lives happily. As long we don't allow our differences become the problem, or try to prove that a person's way of living is better than others, we can live in a better place. Fundamental Religious types, regardless of the religion, need to go and see the world for themselves, and see why the world is different, and see how people work, live and play, and accept the fact not absolutely everyone around you needs to believe in every belief you have. After all, as Humans, we have flaws, and so do religions too, people arn't perfect, same with religion, as long as we can except that and allow ourselves to go our own ways and depict our own destinies, the become man itself becomes.