i wonder, i wonder...
i often make jokes (and not only jokes, even destable remarks) considering religion. somehow i don't seem to have shown my beliefs on this forum so far, or elseways some people would seemingly be really pissed off. but i think with some simple rules it is even possible to at least tolerate different beliefs and get along.
but first my point of view:
i was raised in a catholic household, but not a very resolute one, meaning i wasn't forced to go to church or stuff like that. i believed everything i was told until the age of 12 or so, when i began to think about all that. well i read some books, even the bible to a certain extent to get a more varied view, and soon it was clear to me that religion as propagized by the pope and the catholic church was not my deal. but i didn't look out for other religions to fill the space there suddenly was, i just tried to observe the whole thing in a more scientific way and concluded that there can be no gods (for whatever reasons i shall not list here).
that's my carreer from chatholic to atheist. but how come i find religions so awful in general? from my background i obviously have no reason for that.
some simple statements:
1. almost every major war was fought because of religion, BUT in fact religion was only a purpose to fight it while having other interests in mind, like money, money, power, or even money (for example the conquering of south and middle america or the three crusades).
2. the jehova's witnesses kept awaking me regularly sundays at 8 o'clock to tell me of their great ideas.
3. fanatics of any religion do more harm than their feeble minds can ever imagine (look at the bhudda-statues being shot to pieces by the taliban for an instance)
4. religions supposedly have killed people of different beliefs some time in their history for no proper reason (witches were burned by the christians, jews were put in the arena by the romans, etc). i don't want to be part of an organisation with such a legacy. by the way, why is christianity referred to as a religion, while scientology or some other groups are called cults? christianity is nothing else, but just because they have the most members it doesn't mean they're something better.
5. sorry if i focus too much on christianity, but that's the religion i know a tidy bit about. for example, the catholic church in germany possesses land masses of the size of the saarland, an entire state in the federal republic! they have an own state in italy as well! they are still pulling their strings in politics, although by german constitution state affairs and religion have to be strictly seperated...
well that was some of the reasons. reasons which in my eye can't be denied. but i'd be glad if someone is willing to give me a different point of view.
but back to the initial point: tolerance.
even though i feel a great pain in the ass while thinking about religions, i as well accept the need of everyone to choose his/her own style of belief. i won't try to change one's mind in any kind of way, as long as i can be sure that
a) the opposite won't try that on me either
b) no harm is done through the belief of the other person
if we could use these two "rules" in here as well, we should all be fine. there's no need to offend others by intent, and if someone is offended because some other believes in something different i think it's his/her own problem.
@hyena
the catholic church has more or less overcome its dark inheritance and has grown to a happy community of peace-loving, helpful people. that's quite fine. i really appreciate what church organisations do to help homeless, sick, etc people. if they just would stick to that charity thing alone. they could do all that without a god, without belief. it would make everything so much easier.
vc, who already wears his asbest suit and waits for the holy bolt to strike him dead since 11 years
After that, we pretty much hit it off. For 3 months we did everything! Concerts, Great America, dinner, movies, mini-golf, you name it!! Now i'm away at school in Michigan and we both really miss each other alot. But you know what?? I'm probably gonna end up marrying this girl!! 
to find the "right" person is very hard and is beautiful when you have found it
well, i'll try again as soon as i regained composure. 
