| REVIEWER | RATING & REVIEW |
 | BirdEgal202 (7)
03/28/2005 | Makes some people happy, does nothing for others, but if there is one thing religion really does it is bring out the worst in us all.
(3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | abichara (66)
11/05/2004 | Religion as an institution can, if taken to an extreme, be a form of indulgence for those who cannot comprehend complexity, who rely on an absolutist analysis of the nature of man. However that should not preclude anyone from pursuing an understanding of God and our place in the broader scheme of things. Religion is important because it gives people a sense of moral responsibility and conscience. This shouldn't be taken as an invective towards moral relativism, there are fundamental values that bind societies together and religion is an important facet of this. However religion also must be confined to a proper sphere. When it extends itself outside of spiritual matters, religion loses a lot of its credibility and therefore the values that are critical to holding society together go down with it. The Christian Right does this much to the detriment of the moral values they seek to promote.
(2 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | personwithcomment (0)
04/27/2004 | Not institutionalized religion. I think that everyone must be given permission to find their own path. For those who say they have been saved by a certain religion, that's probably the path for you. I was saved from a terrible suicidal breakdown by my own spirituality--one that I made up, and in doing so, found myself. I am willing to admit that I was the one who saved myself. I let in this powerful light that swelled my heart to the point of bursting. That is what is essential to happiness.
(0 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | Jello (3)
04/22/2004 | Religion can be a beautiful thing, but it can be a bad thing, too. The ideas of Jesus, Moses, Mohammed (sorry if i spelled this incorrectly, im still a little boy), Abraham, The Buddha, and many other religious figure are of great things; of love for your fellow man. But it seems that we humans have taken those words and do to them what we do to alot of things: corrupt them. More people in this world have died in the name of religion then for anything else. The crusades, the inquistion, Hitler's final solution, the Roman's persecution of the early Christians, all the terror in the middle east, and most recently the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Religion is a great thing for many, but can also lead to great destruction and chaos. I think that we should do better to try to keep our religion to ourselves, and not hate those who think different from us.
(3 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | Enkidu (39)
04/20/2004 |  A daughter of Hope and Fear, explaining to Ignorance the nature of the Unknowable. I think that the more a person is dominated by fear, the more likely that their religious beliefs include a strong component of reward and punishment; and the stronger the fear driving that person, the more severe that person's concept of Hell. Also, the more the psyche is driven by fear, the more literal the interpretation of whatever Scripture happened to be current where that person grew up (be it the Vedas in India, the Koran in Egypt, or the Book of Revelation in Arkansas). If you want to find happiness in religion I think it is only possible if you can overcome your fear of the basic conditions of life: that life is not fair, that things do not go according to plan, that there is no reward and punishment awaiting you; look for what the great religions of the world have in COMMON and attempt to find your happiness in that cumulative wisdom of mankind, rather than in the literal interpretation of what some ignorant, superstitious, angry man wrote on papyrus two thousand years ago.
(2 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | scarletfeather (53)
04/20/2004 | Religion never made me happy;instead it caused me pain or confusion. All the churches I went to were like cliquish little social clubs. I was confused because I was trying to believe things that were not logical--and believe me, I really tried. Eventually I just threw up my hands. Religion simply does not work for me.
(4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | CastleBee (89)
04/20/2004 | Heres how I see it: Religions are organizations comprised of and invented by human beings in an effort to reach God and prove to Him they are worthy. But, this is a completely impossible task. All the failures of religious organizations throughout time are a testament of this fact. I think this is because, while we can imagine we have power, we are really completely powerless - yet too prideful and/or ignorant to admit it. The strength and the power simply cannot begin with us. It is only when God reaches for us that we are even capable of reaching back. And when we do, the result is a very real and loving relationship. No ritual, regulation, law, mantra, or ceremony can substitute for it.
And it is this, not religion, that has the true capacity to make us happy.
(6 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
| LadyShark4534 (12)
04/20/2004 | For me, no. I will now explain why. When I was forced into going to church and forced to kneel, sit, stand, kneel,sit,stand, I wasn't happy.
Now about 13 years later, I'm free and a proud secular humanist free of any social control inflicted on me.
I just prefer not being a part of organized religion, It's just not for me.
(4 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | kolby1973 (33)
04/20/2004 | It does make me feel happy to know that there MIGHT be a better place than Earth someday for me...it also makes me feel really happy to think that my recently deceased mother is in a great place now. I really hope she is...she was such a great person. She totally deserves an eternity of happiness..she is missed.
(6 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
 | forgotten hero (15)
04/19/2004 | A vast majority of people seem to enjoy telling other people that they're wrong and will burn for eternity.
(6 voted this helpful, 0 funny and 0 agree) |
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