Bleurb
In my present state of boredom (caused largely by the fact that I have 2 hours to waste in the most boring town in the world while I wait for new lenses to be put in my glasses) I feel a bit of an opinionated post is in order. Is that spelled correctly? Oh who knows. Or really cares for that matter.
Now for my opinions on various issues (well, okay, I got carried away so it is my opinion on only one issue ^^;;, which, by the way, is not meant to offend anyone so if anyone does take offence from this then I'm sorry!):

Religion
Now, I know this may cause some fuss, but I am not in the slightest bit religious. I don't like the idea of some "force" or "entity" controlling the way I live my life, and judging me by it. Although I don't know very much about any religions, what I do know about some seems to baffle me. For example the bible is full of statements which contradict each other. Jo pointed out to me a while back that in one part of the bible it says that Christians are not allowed to marry non-Christians, yet in another part it says that if you are Christian then even if your wife/husband isn't, they still get into heaven. How can both be true? Plus why is it that "god" is allowed to dictate who it is you are allowed to marry? People marry for love, and you can't choose who you are in love with! If god really did exist, surely it (I will refer to god as 'it' as it could be male or female, or neither) would want its followers to be happy? And by marrying someone of a different (or no) faith is not showing you don't believe in god! Does god want people to be unhappy if they can't be with the person that they want to be with?
Another, related thing, is how religion dictates how you should act. Although I can't give many specific examples (as I can't remember many off the top of my head and don't want to say anything which is incorrect) from what I have seen religion can control almost every aspect of your life - such as what you can eat and wear. Surely if god does exist then just believing is enough? And showing your belief in ways such as praying is enough. Why do people have to do other things which affect their general life style? Does it mean that if someone of, say, the Catholic denomination, uses contraceptives, then they will be punished and not be allowed into heaven? So would god prefer then to not use any, and then for the woman to fall pregnant, but have to give up the baby if she can't support it? Does god want children brought into the world who aren't loved, or can't be cared for? I heard somewhere that some Christian extremist groups started a campaign in Africa saying that using contraceptives increased the risk of HIV (they used some very shifty "research" which stated that condoms increased the concentration of the HIV virus and therefore increased the chanced of catching at. A load of rubbish, but how are poor people in Africa meant to know that it's not true? They don't have access to true information.) Although I'm not sure if this is true or not, the fact is that if it is then it would result in less African's using contraception, and therefore more children, which will make their present situation and lack of food/medicine even worse! How can a god want that to be inflicted on people? Even if it isn't true, the fact still remains that there are a large number of extremist groups out there from a large number of religions, one of the worst examples been that of terrorists. I'm not going to go into that now, but I'm sure I will do one day. I do know that groups like these are not condoned by their religion though, so I'm not saying that this is what all the religion beleives! just some extremists.
Although I have no problem with people been religious - people can believe what they like, and I have no problem with that and will certainly not try to stop people from believing, one thing that I don't like about some groups is how they try to press their religion and beliefs onto you. I know people who try and force their religion onto you are preach to you the way inwhich you should live your life. I really don't agree with this, and sure they may believe everything that they are saying, but that doesn't mean everyone else has to! One of the Christian denominations (I can't remember which, and actually it might be more than one) believes that inorder to show that you are a good Christian, you should convert other people. Isn't believing enough for this so-called "god"?
The worst group for this are Johovis Witnesses (or however it is spelled!). We frequently have them knocking on our door, with flyers and lectures. If anything the fact that they are so annoying has forced me away from that religion! If I was going to look into religion more, in the hope of finding one I could believe in, it certainly wouldn't be them as they are so irritating! But don't they believe that there is only a certain amount of space in heaven, and only a set number of people are allowed in? Then why do they try to recruit more followers when it would decrease their chances of getting into heaven! And what would god do when it got full? Choose his/her favourite people and trade the others for new ones then they arrive? It just seems too pointless to me. And they don't believe in blood transfusions either do they? Which I thing is just stupid - why would god want people to die if there was a way to save them? I guess it's the whole "everything happens for a reason" thing, which in my opinion is just a way of saying "I have no idea why that happens or why god would do that, but if I say that I will be going against my faith". Just like when people say "I don't know the answer to that, but there is one!" when they are asked particularly tricky questions regarding religion and why things are the way that they are! A quick note on the blood transfusion note again; I think I heard somewhere that the head of the Johovis Witnesses' daughter (possible not daughter, but some sort of relative at least) needed a blood transfusion to save her life, so the head changed the rules so she could have one! Am I correct here? If I'm not then say so and I will remove this section, and if I'm right then please confirm it!
I feel like I'm doing a bit of a Christian "bashing", but that is only because it's the religion I know the most about, but again I'm going to raise another issue. Christians believe that if you are a Christian you will get into heaven right? So if you are a Christian, but murdered someone, you are allowed into heaven provided you repent for your sins! Yet someone who is non-Christian, even if they have done an amazing amount of good for humanity, and saves hundreds of lives, will go to hell just for not believing. I'm sorry, but if that is the case then "god" is an idiot and only wants people who worship him, regardless of how they act! And even rewards people who did bad things just for saying "sorry I believe in you!"
On a much more positive note now, I will say a few things which I think are good about religion (although, admittedly, this list is rather a lot shorter). I do like the fact that religion supplies morals and values. For example, the Ten Commandments are almost all things which people should follow in general - such as "don't murder" and "don't steal". Without religion laying down rules, the law would be in a much more difficult position I believe. People who have faith are much more likely to listen to their "god" as opposed to the leader of their country, so having both laying down very similar laws is a good thing in my opinion. And I'm sure that other religions have similar guidance, which is beneficial to all of society. And I guess it is nice to have something you can believe in, but personally I don't need that! I went through a phase when I was younger where I looked into the Christian belief, and I believed some of what it said, but then I changed my opinion as I learned more and realised that I thought it made no sense and was a load of rubbish (okay, so my "religious" phase only lasted about a week). I can't grasp the consent of some higher "force" watching over me. I guess though I could say something corny here like "god exists inside people" but ... bleurghhhh. Hmmm okay by the definite change in tone of this post I think you can all tell that I have lost interest in this post now ^_^; ... I'm hungry. Might go grab some cake from the bakery ^_^ Yum!

Posted by K-li at 9:55 am