Are all religions equal?
As a teenager, I asked myself this question. It seemed obvious to me that the answer is no. The religions of Jim Jones, the Heaven's Gate cult and others are clearly wrong. So how does one determine which are possible true religions and which are not? I reasoned that if there was a God, he should make it clear to a determined person which religion(s) is/are legitimate.
The Christian/Jewish/Islamic God had no problem with making his presence felt directly according to the Old Testament to the people of the middle east. I thought it very strange that he did not seeming appear to have make any effort to reach the other peoples of the world (not withstanding the Book of Mormon). He only seems to be interested in certain races of men. (Note that he does not seem to want the worship of the Egyptians in Exodus.) In fact, the Old Testament seems to imply that other gods exist (e.g., the Golden Calf). It is only in more modern times that these religions have attempted to convert others.
My criteria for a valid religion is one that is obviously true. I don't understand why God would try to confuse people with multiple religions and punish ones who pick the wrong one with Hell! I really can't understand how someone in a tiny cult can believe that they have the one true belief and everyone else is damned.
After mulling over these issues and applying Occam's razor, I came to the conclusion that since there is no obviously true religion, none of the world's religions are valid. And an atheist was born.
The Christian/Jewish/Islamic God had no problem with making his presence felt directly according to the Old Testament to the people of the middle east. I thought it very strange that he did not seeming appear to have make any effort to reach the other peoples of the world (not withstanding the Book of Mormon). He only seems to be interested in certain races of men. (Note that he does not seem to want the worship of the Egyptians in Exodus.) In fact, the Old Testament seems to imply that other gods exist (e.g., the Golden Calf). It is only in more modern times that these religions have attempted to convert others.
My criteria for a valid religion is one that is obviously true. I don't understand why God would try to confuse people with multiple religions and punish ones who pick the wrong one with Hell! I really can't understand how someone in a tiny cult can believe that they have the one true belief and everyone else is damned.
After mulling over these issues and applying Occam's razor, I came to the conclusion that since there is no obviously true religion, none of the world's religions are valid. And an atheist was born.
posted by Paul Carter at 6:12 PM
2 Comments:
i am just saying...faith requires faith and logic doesn't apply to faith. but, you are correct that no one can (logically) claim that they "know" their religion is the one "true" religion. Noone knows anything. Unless you have faith in knowledge. not sure that makes sense but i think you will get it.
How can one argue with faith? By definition, faith allows one to believe something without any regard to logic or reason. Faith brings an end to any rational discussion of religion.
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