I will admit that I have been unable to give this blog the attention it deserves. I have been spending much of my time concerned with other issues affecting our world, such as environmental concerns, animal welfare, politics, LGBT rights, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, the harms of factory farming on our world and our people, and more. Frankly, although religion and its undesirable effects are still prevalent in this world, those I surround myself with on a day-to-day basis tend not to be enticed by religion. Thus, it is not always on the forefront of my mind.
I work full time, and for the first time in over a year, I have two coworkers who sit near me. Both attend church. One is particularly enthusiastic about his Christianity. Perhaps this is beneficial for this blog, as in my new coworker’s third week on the job he has inspired my first blog post here in nearly a year.
Our conversation today began free of taboo topics such as politics and religion, though this particular person has a way of ending every conversation with a tie to religion. We were discussing music, and describing a certain band’s primary fan base led to me explaining what a “bro” is (see “flatbillers,” for any of you wondering). I told him the term most likely originated from how often they referred to each other as “bro.” His response? “That’s funny, because that term was inspired by the bible.” I watched him smirk while he contemplated with satisfaction that thanks to the bible, men consider their friends to be their brothers.
I understand that the bible has plenty of passages about brotherly love, but the tendency to love and treat your friends as if they were members of your family (brothers) is in human nature. Religion mimics human nature perhaps more than it inspires it, neither of which is always a good thing. I told him with a shrug, “Yeah, well, religion inspires many things in our society.” By my tone, I think he could tell that love and acceptance were not on the top of my list, so he admitted that it inspired both good and bad things before we cut that conversation off.
When I consider how many things the bible inspires: intolerance, bigotry, violence, misogyny, as well as human behaviors which most, but not all, of western civilization is able to distinguish as outdated behavior that has no place in today’s society, such as the decision to bypass medical treatment in favor of prayer, condoned murder, genocide, human sacrifice, slavery, child abuse, and rape, I don’t smile about how the bible must be responsible for young men endearing themselves to each other with a friendly term. I don’t see how anyone can think about things that the bible portrays and have a smile on his face. Any good that can come from the bible can also come directly from human nature. Our civilization has evolved beyond the need to kill and enslave each other on a day-to-day basis, yet those who want to justify immoral actions such as beating, killing, or simply discriminating against a homosexual, a woman, or someone of a differing religion need only to turn the pages of this outdated text to find justification, even encouragement for their actions. Religion has been responsible for an unimaginable amount of killing and horrors in our world, and it is still playing an active role to this day.
To sit and smile about the messages in the bible is to encourage a countless number of evils. Good people can and will be good without the assistance of religion. Good people need to realize that morality and good ethical decisions can be established and shared without the aid of a violent, hate-filled book. Choosing to acknowledge only those values which you determine to be appropriate does not remove the negative values from the religious text. In fact, it only shows that you are independently capable of making ethical decisions and choices. The bible is a useful document for studying the values of an ancient time. However, it is not good for our society to actively continue to spread these poisonous ideals.
