well, it's definitely been a while since i've been able to focus enough to wright a journal entry.

For those of you already getting upset by the title of this journal, fuck off i have every right to express my opinions about any topic i want. you can share your opinion with me if you want, but don't try to force your point of view down my throat b/c you've been brainwashed into believing a children's story book to be fact, which was created to set an example of right and wrong for small children.

i bet a few of you(if any) are wondering what spurred this topic on. well,a few days ago i had a discussion with one of my co-workers about religion. Christianity, Catholicism and Masons to be exact. now i know a few of you out there are like: "WTF mate? Masons aren't a religion." well guess what, they fall into that category and i'm gonna talk about them.
this particular co-worker, who is a friend of mine, told me that she saw a show(or something like one?) where a man had gone around and told people that the Masons were pretending to worship God, but were in fact worshiping a Demon. this wouldn't have upset so much if she didn't present it to me as fact.(i have sat in on plenty of catholic, christian and masonic ceremonies and they all are the same, with varying degrees of fire and brimstone). i had asked her if she knew that person's religious background and told her that as righteous as Christians liked to make themselves out to be, they often times slander other religions to gain more followers and wipe out other religions.
obviously, as a devout Christian, she took offense and accused me of labeling people and proceeded to tell me she did not label people cuz it was wrong to do so. (sorry, it's human nature.)
well, didn't she then just label herself as a "Non-Labeler"?
the thing that bugs me about religion is not the concept, but the hypocrisy of it.
EX: a person kills and robs another human being b/c s/he needed the money. that person is a criminal and is sentenced to death.
a religious group goes out and slaughters an entire village, rapes and plunders the people in the name of God to try to convert people into their religion, and they are martyrs. they serve no time or do not get punished for what they did.
EX2: a religious person does something nice for another person only b/c s/he thinks that they will be rewarded for their good deed, even though they are being selfish and don't really care about the person they just helped(not saying all religious people are like this, just most that i have met). but that religious person thinks that s/he is a good person and will get into heaven just b/c of that.
if a non religious person does the same thing and expects a reward, s/he is labeled a bad person or as selfish and is automatically sentenced to eternal damnation.

in my opinion, religion is only an excuse to look down on other people and it is another way for people to separate themselves into legal hate groups. (i'm speaking soley of modern religion right now)
just look at all the people out there who claim God is punishing us b/c of the gays, Jews, feminists, bastard children etc...
didn't God supposedly create us ALL? aren't we ALL his beloved children? Even the Bible says that God created all and loves all. he is unbiased, unselfish, and full of love for all creation.
so why does he speak to all these hate-mongers and them that their brothers and sisters are less of a person than they are just b/c they are different? sounds like someone wants "daddy's" love all to themselves.
Religion is also a way of scamming people out of their money. why does God need money? if he wants something, he can just create it, can't he?
truth is, the church(and religion) was created to bring more money to the government and unfortunately a lot of people got sucked into it either through guilt or force from the government and their peers. and some were just plain gullible.
it would be nice to believe that there is some holy force above us watching us and protecting us from evil, but until i see him or her or this possibly genderless being, i will not believe in it.
the unfortunate part about this is that people will just blindly follow the next big thing until it gets out of control. and even then they would probably still follow until their ultimate demise.

now, don't get me wrong, i think religion is fascinating and it does help people through some rough times, but i am a firm believer of believing in yourself and your capabilities. if something goes wrong, you have no one to blame but yourself-not this supreme being in the sky. YOU have to think and do things for yourself. you can't just wait on something to be done for you by God. it's like thinking that by following a rainbow you'll be able to find a pot of gold and solve your money problems. it's just not going to happen. it's just refracted light! and i'm pretty sure anybody who has ever in the history of man-kind heard God's voice was probably schizophrenic to some degree.

the only thing i have ever appreciated about religion was the artwork, monuments and songs which resulted from it.

for those of you who practice any religion the way it was meant to be: good for you. you're good people.
for those of you who practice religion for selfish reasons: shut up and leave people alone. as a matter of fact, just shut yourselves in a cold dark place until you finally die.

i, for one, choose not to practice. and if this God truly exists and i meet it at the pearly gates of heaven, i will admit to all my sins, apologize and gladly go to hell.