Religion is a Lie!
And Now That We Have Your Attention…
Recently, on a trip to Denver, CO, we ran into a young man and woman, probably in their early twenties, who were handing out literature on the sidewalk. Both wore black t-shirts which read, plainly, “Religion is a lie.”
Naturally, we stopped to hear what they had to say. The young man handed us a card, which said the following:
Religion, by it’s very nature, is so ambiguous. What does it mean? Every major religion claims exclusivity (i.e. they are the only way). So which one will save you? Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Mormonism or Christianity? And if Christianity, which denomination? Baptist, Catholic, Christian Scientist, 7th Day Adventist, Lutheran, Protestant, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Methodist and the like? Which one ultimately answers the question of an afterlife and why? Do we need man or church to reach God? Can other beliefs, like secular humanism, consumerism, or environmentalism be considered religions? Is religion about the eternal and a deity or is it about finding purpose and meaning in something. Does truth reside in us or outside of us? And if we can simply cherry pick pieces of each, everyone believing what’s right for them, then what’s the point?
Does this sound like something we could have written here at Skeptical Monkey? Perhaps—but if you check out religionisalie.com (and we invite you to do so) you’ll see the above paragraph, soon followed by, “With all our backgrounds and religious upbringings, we’ve only found [what we're looking for] in the person of Jesus Christ and we want a relationship with him.”
It didn’t take long for these young people to mention the necessity of a “relationship” with Jesus Christ. We asked if THAT was a religion. “Oh, no,” the young man said. “It’s a relationship.”
You Say Potato…
The idea is not a new one. Ray Comfort has stated on his blog
…man messes up everything to which he puts his hand–especially religion, that I hate religion, and I explained that the difference between being a Christian and being “religious” is something called “works righteousness.” Religious people think that they can earn (or bribe) their way to Heaven by doing things–fasting, praying, facing Mecca, doing good works, etc., when eternal life is a free gift of God. It can’t be earned. I said that I would rather be called ’stumpy’ than ‘religious.’ Religion has caused untold wars and misery throughout history, it’s the opium of the masses, and I don’t run around in a white robe sprinkling water on people.”
The folks at Notreligion.com have built a whole website around the relationship-over-religion phenomenon:
“…if you’ve never had a real encounter with the compassionate, powerful, loving Creator of the universe, what’s to lose except hope, purpose and knowing what happens after this life? This will be the most important relationship you ever start.
Still, we say it’s a religion
Merriam-Webster defines religion (emphasis mine) as:
- a: the state of a religious ‹a nun in her 20th year of religion› b (1): the service and worship of God or the supernatural (2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance
- 2: a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices
- archaic : scrupulous conformity : conscientiousness
- : a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
When Christians rail against religion, we suspect it is the “personal set or institutionalized system of…practices” that bothers them. We couldn’t agree more. To get tied up in the rules and details of a religion, to the extent that you miss the bigger picture, is of course not advised by the good folks at Skeptical Monkey. But what about the “service and worship of God” part of this? Or the “system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith”? Don’t those constitute religion? And aren’t those big building blocks of the Christian belief system?
But Let’s Play Along For a Just a Minute…
Assuming you can have a relationship with someone who can’t be seen or heard, how would you ever know but that person wants of you? The “Religion is a Lie” folks had the answer—forgo all the corruptions of man, and turn to the bible.
Fair enough. But if a “relationship” with Jesus demands that you believe everything in the bible, even to the point that you toss out modern-day scientific discoveries in favor of the six-day creation story (we don’t actually know for sure if the “Religion is a Lie” folks are creationists, but for the sake of argument I’ll make the assumption) isn’t that religious dogma in and of itself?
Conclusion
In the end, we agreed with the two young people when they told us that religion tends to muddle and confuse things. We then politely excused ourselves from the conversation.
We just believe in one less religion than they do.
This seems to be a variation of the No True Scotsman fallacy. If you don’t like “religion,” then just define it in such a way that it no longer applies to you! Well, the extent to which this can work depends on whether or not others are willing to accept the new definition. I don’t.
I was asked several times by Christians on my college campus this past year about having a “relationship” with either God or Jesus. I simply don’t understand this. Unless you believe that God/Jesus secretly speaks to you, then it seems to me like a very one-sided relationship. If I told people that I have (present tense) a relationship with a deceased relative, or that I have a relationship with a colony of invisible fairies, I would probably be considered insane. Yet, if I say that it is God, then that is considered perfectly normal.
Written by James on June 30th, 2008Wow - really an interesting encounter! Those T-shirts are pretty disingenuous, I’d say, as well as their card, “Don’t trust religions because they all claim to be the one way? Try our way, it *really* works!”
What makes me sad a bit, as a religious person, is that they seem to dismiss the possibility that religion might actually, for many, be about building relationships with the Divine - making their way perhaps less novel than they imagine.
I’m ok with having James think me insane for saying that
I think his comment is great because it touches on really interesting points - one being that when we have a “state” religion (which, let’s face it, we do - it’s “normal” in the US to be Christian - it’s a plus for presidential candidates, while professing to being Wiccan or Buddhist would be considered iffy at best by the masses) the weirdness of what it is that religion is, is lost (on most).
Religion IS subversive, is insane - the way an artist or poet or someone in love is insane. Religion when accepted, when “normal,” or especially when used as a tool of power is potentially a very ugly thing. At the very least, when it becomes a convention, a boring routine, it ceases to live. Perhaps that’s what those Tshirt folks mean when they confess to not having found a relationship with the Divine through religion. Which is ok, but it doesn’t mean that this is true for everyone.
Written by fluorophore on June 30th, 2008I don’t think “Religion is a lie” is quite accurate. It’s a great tagline, but I believe “Religion is a mistake” would be nearer the truth - or even “Religion is a discredited hypothesis”. As conscious beings, our problem is that we’re clever enough to be aware of cause and effect, but not patient enough to allow things to be “not yet known.” That’s why we short circuit the slow, rational, scientific discovery of the universe by filling in all the not-yet-understood bits with “God did it”. As for a relationship with the Almighty - well, it does help to postulate a benevolent third-party intelligence sometimes, to give us some objectivity with our relentlessly subjective and ultimately selfish outlook on life. But God is a construction of man, not the other way around. He is the X we use in equations - an artificial unknown we use to help us make sense of a frankly bewilderingly arbitrary universe.
Written by Andy Kimber on July 8th, 2008The “relationship vs. religion” bit bugs the heck out of me. It’s what I heard all of my life. James is right, it’s really just a semantic game, changing the name of something without changing its substance.
Written by the chaplain on July 8th, 2008One of those attention-grabbing ads that sucker you in, before the hard sell.
You made some really good points on the definition of religion.
If believing that you have a relationship with an imaginary friend, on the basis of a fiftieth-hand translation of a book written thousands of years ago doesn’t count as “religion”, it’s hard to see what could.
Written by heather on July 12th, 2008Damn, I was hoping it would say “Religion is a lie” as the title then for the article it would just read “That is all. Thank you.”
Written by Wolfy on September 29th, 2008I think that the concept of religion is completely laughable. If there were so many spiritual or great things going on back in the day, why don’t we see them anymore. What about dinosaurs! Christianity is funny as hell. The Bible is a good story, kind of reminds me of J.R.R Tolkein. I don’t hate religion I think it’s kind of cute that people believe in Jesus, like my little sister believing in the tooth fairy. When you die, you die…deal with it.
Written by Zachary McGuire on November 19th, 2008Religion, everything involving, its about control. The strongest controling religion of course would be christianity. This is proved many ways. To prove this, i will merely state, Christianity was based off the idea’s of ancient stories and a kings rule. Lets think logically, say you are a King, your people are unwilling to obey you, you need control, and you hear about these stories. Stories of, oh yes, a great god one and only, he loves us all, and what might i ask you was the theme of every story? If you read the bible for what it is (Fiction) and look at the main theme of each story, its a theme of the happy ending. Listen to your mother and father, do what you are told, and life will treat you well. PERFECT! now, You the king, have stories that support your theory AND they bring to attention an idle for people to look towards in bad times, someone who loves each and every one of us the same and promises us a home in death. But wait..as great as all this is..what if you dont do what we tell you to do..than what happens? I mean who would fear a god if there was no negative reaction. Introduce Satan, the bad angel, the fallen angel. If you wish not to listen to god and dont do what he says, than god turns his back towards you cand cast you into the pits of hell where for the rest of eternity you will suffer, physical and mental pains, beyond any imaginable. Lets step back a bit. The bible, that some base their entire life off of, was writtne by writers, religious writers, how dare I make these claims. agreed it was written by holy writers, well…writers who believed these children stories, but it was Edited by a king who was seeking control. Lets take a closer look at the bible, if you read it you see a few common themes that repeat themselves. Woman are nothing compared to men. If you dont listn to god than you will be punished. No one is to question the bible or its teachings. Excellent, we dont question, how dare we wonder, how dare we want to know more. This brings me to another fact that the christian society just overlooks, only a single grain of sand of all the stories was used, there are millions of scripts that were withheld from the bible kept in the Vatican Library, scripts written by mary, by ruth, by many other known woman of the bible, and some other writers who are as of now unknown. Tell me..why would a religion hide this from people, we are all the same faith shouldnt we all know the same things of our faith, why keep secrets? Thats right, the bible contradicts doesnt it. Look at it today, and how the vatican changes scripture to better suit the ideals of today. In the bible it clearly states that homosexuals are evil and vile and will burn in hell, well, that was till recently wasnt it. Now thats completely changed, and all the sheep of the religion just turn a blind eye to the fact this is happening. Mary once the whore, the prostitute, changed due to woman being seen as equals. What is this about, how can you change scripture, writing just to suit whats happening in the days now. Last time i checked i havnt seen any other religion changing around its scripture to please the outloof of society. But enough of that, lets speak of one main factor of control, The Pope. In christianity, when joining, you must accept one thing, and that is that the Pope, the great leader of all, is closer to god than any other man. But doesnt god love us all the same, than why choose one person to be closer to him than everyone else? What makes this man so special, is it because of his funny little hat? Oh..wait..thats right..You are the sheep and God is your shephard…The believers of christianity, SHEEP, need that one leader, THE SHEPHARD…ok..am i the only one who realizes that the religion itself is calling its members mindless followers to a blind cause? It is as if YOU cant worship something and get to heaven without a bunch of other imbecilic people following the same path. Where is the individuality in this, Christianity is nothing but conformity to a meaningless faith that changes any time someone may question it. How can it change so fast and easily, because all the religion is concerned about is control, power, and why is that. since the beggining of the faith what has happened. War, crusades, people being murdered in the name of God. What is religion, a militarial based killing machine, and the power of this machine is based off the number of sheep that follow every word one man speaks to the bitter end. This seems like enough for now…i understand that to many of you i must seem insane, conspiracy theories and such, im just being ignorant right. But i also know that a few people out there, like me, have seen what this religion truly is. If you wish for more of this knowledge than ask, and for everyone that read through, if you have any opinons you would like to tell me ill gladly hear them. Thank you everyone, and farewell.
Written by Spiritual Speaking on November 26th, 2008Though I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which would generally be considered a “religion”, I tend to agree that religion muddles things, usually for their own benefit if possible. The problem arises when the world believes that religion is supposed to be a certain thing–going to church, donating tithes, professing belief, and decrying all who disagree. Most religions are defined by man, thus the infinite confusion as to who is right and who is wrong.
But there is a God. He has established His church on the earth, for His house is a “house of order.” I know I’m going to sound like everyone else when I profess that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the only true and living church on the earth, but it is. It is the only one that has been given the power and authority to act in God’s name. He established it when the Savior was on the earth, but that power and authority was lost. But He restored it for our day. If you’re truly serious about finding evidence, I would refer you to this website: “http://www.mormon.org”
But again, this is only for those are truly serious in their quest to find truth. After all, how can you know what is and isn’t true unless you take the time to test it? You have nothing to lose but another possible fallible belief system off your list of skepticism. Either way, you win.
Written by Jack on December 9th, 2008Hah, what a bunch of mambo-jambo! People need to get real!
Written by Windstorm on March 11th, 2009Religion says:
, Christianity says:
I think that’s about as different as you can get.
I don’t know any other “faith system” that does NOT require one to work for God’s favor besides Christianity. To put it another way, a man is drowning in the ocean - religion is in a boat next him shouting “Try harder!” where Christianity shows Jesus diving in and swimming said person back to the shore.
Written by John on March 16th, 2009If you want to know the truth, just ask, simply and sincerely ask God to show you the truth. Jesus said seek and you will find. Matthew 7:7
Written by Rochelle on April 26th, 2009I agree with spiritual speaking, but the focus seems to go from religion in general to only Christianity. Yes, the people in the article are religious by definition, but they seem to feel good about looking clever.
On the article, it would most likely upset any religious person, but once explained a Christian would nod in agreement and (maybe) even apologize before continuing on their way. So, in short, it really is just a different way of being religious.
I do admit, there are some that are really out there and I can’t keep a straight face when someone mentions them. Scientology being based from the ideas of a science-fiction writer, and mormonism being based on the fantasies of a child, and Pastafarianism (though, even the “founder” knows that one is just for fun).
Written by Richard on May 5th, 2009So Christianity is correct because Christianity is a faith-based religion rather than a works-based religion, and Christian doctrine teaches that the only correct religion is one based on faith rather than works.
No, nothing circular about that at all!
Written by MikeTheInfidel on May 21st, 2009I’m sorry, Rochelle, but you’re absolutely wrong. There’s nobody on the other end of the prayer phone.
Written by MikeTheInfidel on May 21st, 2009