In Plato‘s Apology, Socrates (pictured) was accused by Meletus of not believing in the gods.
I am myself a dissenter from all known religions, and I hope that every kind of religious belief will die out. Religion is based . . . mainly on fear . . . fear of the mysterious, fear of defeat, fear of death. Fear is the parent of cruelty, and therefore it is no wonder if cruelty and religion have gone hand in hand. . . . My own view on religion is that of Lucretius. I regard it as a disease born of fear and as a source of untold misery to the human race. ~Bertrand Russell
I have recently let some of my readers express their views on religion. I thank them for their contributions. I would also like to say that I’ve had many friends who were religious. But if anyone is interested in my views on religion they have been expressed multiple times over the years. So, rather than respond to all the specific points my readers have made, here are a few links to my own work on the topic.
A Philosopher’s Lifelong Search for Meaning – Part 2 – Religion and Meaning
Bravo! Good answer.
Anyone really wanting to know who we really are can find out for themselves very very easily. Participate in an Ayawasca Ceremony, or smoke 3 hits of DMT. You will see for yourself that YOU are God. You are part of the universal being, you are from the light, and you exist in an infinite love where ego, wealth, possessions and anger are nonexistent.
Your consciousness is currently in a human body and you are gaining wisdom. You will continue to reincarnate until you gain spiritual enlightenment and go back to your real home – The One, The Love, and The Light – GOD.
I don’t ask anyone to believe me but I can PROMISE you this – If you participate in an Ayawasca ceremony, or have 3 deep puffs on some DMT, you will find out for yourself that religion is utterly ridiculous to its core, and just exactly what REAL love feels like, once you experience the absolute honesty of those 2 compounds mentioned.
There is no church on this planet that can give you such spiritual clarity, in a matter of minutes. The only way to try to disprove my statement is to participate. In the case of DMT, the experience lasts between 8 and 15 minutes, after which, you are perfectly free to make your own mind up.
I’ve just turned 60 and was looking for my God, I got as far back as the Sumerian’s and was utterly fascinated by the civilisation, and the similarities between stories that I know from the Bible. I then went down a rabbit hole looking for the spiritual elixir that was mentioned in cuneiform texts – I ended up with Ayawasca and DMT. I tried them both – I now don’t believe in religion, not scared of dying, know where I’m from and where I’m going. I wish I would have had this knowledge when I was young as it would have changed my life and my outlook for the better.
Love and peace Gene Gibson. gene.gibson59@gmail.com
Can only write that separation of church and state must be in every nation in the world.
Maybe widespread religious beliefs have corrupted the word religion. The question is still what is most important among all concepts, paradigms, objects and entitites? It seems fitting to call the answer to this religion, even if true religion becomes a scientific paradigm. You hold out for sci-tech or the possible deeds and projects of future people for personal salvation, from what I have read.
If science is as you say the only intellectual standard for truth (I can’t remember your exact quote), then wouldn’t you be saying science is true religion?