This blog is linked both through hyves and Facebook, and yesterday’s post sparked some response.
If you want to read this blog at it’s original adres go here: http://www.omnipasje.net.
I asked the commenters if they mind that i copy their comment and respond in a new post, as i want to keep everything together.
Yesterday’s post was written on a whim. It were some bare to the bone feelings that i blurted out. It’s better that i elaborate more on them.
If you want to comment, please take the trouble of going to the original blog so i can keep everything together 
Nathree said on Hyves:
You feel like you’re a bad person when you’re disgusted by other people killing each other?
Killing others because of beliefs is one of the most unnatural things in the world. Nature knows hunting for food, or defending one’s territory. But not meaningless delusions like this. No wonder it disgusts you.
Religion is more than just hatred though. The people who kill over religion are just as rare as the people who kill over political or environmental beliefs. Most religious people believe because otherwise they can make no sense of the world. Most religions say that hate and killing are not done. It’s the humans that are evil, not the religions.
Every big monotheistic religion of today has very violent and evil things in their holybooks. Their deities behave like spoiled brats who don’t get their way and tell their subjects to burn, torture, rape and kill anybody who won’t agree with them.
Their churches only made it worse, not better, polarising people even more, making the enemy of people that don’t believe as they do, because it’s all a big power struggle.
And as religions are made up by humans, they are in core evil too.
As for not understanding the world.. that’s what we got schools, education and science for. But people in general are lazy and seem to not even want to go through the trouble of picking up a book about some subjects. The “goddidit” answer is so much easier to everything.
The convo of me and Bianca on Facebook about it:
Bianca van der Hulst: By calling the believe of others nonsense, you are saying the same thing that all those religious fanatics do; “what you believe is inferior to what I (in this case don’t) believe, and it’s not true”. You don’t have to understand it, and you certainly don’t have to agree with it, but you don’t decide for others what is true or not. Cause that is exactly what those religious people you hate so much try to do. That doesn’t make you a bad person though, so don’t think that about yourself.
Pascalle Van de Watering: I don’t agree.
If it was something that they could prove that they believe in.. like.. the sun for instance.. than i would have less trouble with it.
But an invisible force, that can’t be seen.. but that sees everything and is responsible for everything.. nope..
Like Carl Sagan said… “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
Bianca van der Hulst: The claim I am making is only for myself, and I wouldn’t even think of making the same claim for you, so I don’t have to prove anything. Your truth is just as valuable as mine, so I would be arrogant and narrow-minded to claim otherwise. In your world there is no unseen force, in my world there is. Why would my world be inferior to yours? Trying to convince each other is useless, because I can’t prove my truth and you can’t prove yours either. Believing or not believing has nothing to do with evidence, cause both sides can bring up valid arguments. We are both making an extraordinary claim, only from a different point of view.
If everyone just respected each others believes instead of bashing it, the world would be a much better place by now. But somehow people feel so strongly about proving their point to others, that every essence it once had gets buried beneath hatred and strife. No matter which truth you hold, the moment you are trying to force it upon someone else you’re completely missing the point in my opinion. And that goes for atheists as well as believers.
And finally an addition of Maaike on Facebook:
Maaike Hoekstra: Religion is a good thing in so many ways. I’m not a believer myself but I know a lot of good people who are. There’s really no point in trying to prove the other person wrong; there’s really no need. Maybe some terrible things would never have happened if religion hadn’t existed. But you can’t say that for sure. I mean, a lot of horrible things have been done to others by people who did those things solely for themselves or for whatever selfish or crazy reason.
I think the point of believing is that there’s ’something’ which you just can’t prove, something you believe in and think it’s real. Something which can help you live your life and get through all the bad stuff (and makes the good stuff even better!). You’re never alone, and that must be a comforting thought. What’s wrong with people wanting to believe in something good? Religious people surely aren’t ignorant!
Maybe that’s the whole point of religion; believing in something that can’t be proven. Can you believe in something that’s a fact? You can’t really believe in it, you just have to take it for granted because there’s nothing mysterious or divine about it.
Sure, things could have been done differently, but most believers had no part in any of that, and, maybe more importantly, don’t want any part in it!
Like Bianca said, the world would be a much better place if EVERYONE would just leave each other be and believe in what they want and not bash the others head in because he or she does or doesn’t believe.
Wouldn’t your life be easier if you would just accept people even though they believe in a God?
Both have some really valid points.
And some really not valid ones
First things first.
I think everybody should be completely free to believe in anything they want. Wether it’s an invisible sky daddy or mommy, Old or new gods, nature, an invisible pink Unicorn, spagettimonster or no god(s) at all.
With one condition..
Believe in private.
I seriously couldn’t care less if someone believed in things that i concider myths and/or fairytales. Just as long as they keep it to themselves.
I don’t care that some people don’t eat pigs.. some don’t eat cows.. some people don’t eat meat at all because of their religion.
If people want to go to church on sunday.. fine by me! On saturday? Fine by me too.
worship at home? or central worshipping? Whatever you want, i seriously don’t care how you do it.
The big problem i have with most religions (note the most there!), is that they try to set their rules on other people.
So because they think the sunday is holy and want to go to church, i can’t go to the supermarket because they find it is against their rules.
Well.. i don’t live by their religion’s rules.. i live by mine.
Imagine a wiccan telling a christan..
Hey.. In my religion’s rules it’s normal to dance in the woods naked on the big solstices, so gues what you’re doing upcoming beltaine!
The christian would declare the wiccan crazy, blasphemous and maybe even a heretic that should be burned (sound familiar? look at history).
But that christian expects everybody to respect their holy day of easter.
Not my holy day.
I have a very big problem with that. Not just christianity, also judism and islam and every other religion that wants to tell others who are not of that religion to live to their rules.
I understand that people want to see the goodness in them, but the more open i am about not believing in that kind of stuff at all, the more “threats” i get that they will see me burn in hell and laugh as they see me tortured while they’re in heaven.
Really.. the goodness of those people just shows, doesn’t it?
I don’t need to convince anybody. I don’t care. Really.. dance in the woods naked on your solstice, go to church, pray to your invisible skydaddy.
But don’t try to tell others to live by your rules.
I get mad when religious political parties try to sneak in their religion in the laws. Or into public schools as “science”. (luckily not so much in the netherlands, but it’s seriously bad in the usa).
Imagine that our women had to go back to being the inferiour things they were years ago. Most religions see the man as the most important. Something that hasn’t changed in over 2000 years. Look at the resistance against treating all people equal. Like letting people marry the one they want, no matter which color, religion or gender.
The big religions would rather see the people sick and suffering (no condoms to africa, just let them get aids really, and euthenasia should not be legal, if someone is sick, let them suffer to the end, kept allive by machines. Really.. the goodnes! because ending that suffering would be against their invisible skydaddy’s will.. really).
I can go on.. and on with examples.
I hope this makes more clear how i feel about it.
Thanks for your responses 
