"To admit a belief merely because it is a custom-but that means to be dishonest, cowardly, lazy!-And so could dishonesty, cowardice and laziness be the preconditions for morality?" (Daybreak 101)

Many of the flaws that are present in modern religion today are the same flaws that were present in early religions. As Jesus had pointed out, the religi

What began as a simple honest concern that a leader showed his people, eventually became an inherited dogma. All of a sudden the concern of one became misconstrued as the will of God. The will of God could also be called good. The philosopher Hegel had this to say about good in his book, Philosophy of Right:

This inheriting of ideas even affects religions outside of the religion from which the ideas originated. Judaism borrowed a lot of its lore from the polytheistic Babylonians and other Sumerians. Christianity and Islam sprouted from Judaism. Christianity also borrowed heavily from the pagan Greek and Roman theology, some say even more so than it borrowed from Judaism. Modern Jewish practice is being influenced by Christianity. The beliefs of an organized religion are constantly being changed by whomever and whatever surrounds the religion. When the Hebrews were captured in Babylon, the stories of the Babylonians influenced such stories as Noah's Ark. Christmas is on December 25th because of how close it is to the winter solstice, a pagan holiday. Hinduism openly borrows from other religions, Gandhi, although he was primarily a Hindu, also believed in over 15 other religions. To not recognize that most religions borrow some beliefs from other religions is to deny yourself of all the inherited dogmas and beliefs which you claim to cling dearly to. The nature of religion is to mold and modify its beliefs to that of the time and place of which it exists.

Religion also provides a community and a lifestyle for a person to live in. Just as much as some people are brought together through where they live, how much money they make, or what political party they are affiliated with, people are also brought together through religion. Back before people were not as open to other cultures as people are today, whole nationalities were built around religious practices such as the Holy Roman Empire. Yet there are problems with this type of segregation, as there are with almost any type of segregation. Due to the fact that segregation exposes people to only a limited amount of other viewpoints, people become narrow minded and unreceptive to other beliefs. This type of unreceptiveness has fueled prejudice, hatred, and even holy wars. In the history of mankind, the number one reason for a war is religion. More people have been slain in the name of God than for any other reason. Even today, Palestinians and Israelis are fighting. Irish Catholics are still fighting with the Irish Protestants. Many Muslims have declared a jihad on America. All you have to do is look around to see the battle raging on, the hedonists versus the true believers. In every battle, both armies have God on their side, to murder, to plunder their opposition.

"God is always man-made and the definition he gives is therefore finite and imperfect. The definition is an image, but this image does not raise the unknown fact it designates into the realm of intelligibility. The master we choose is not identical with the image we project of him in time and space."(Moreno

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2072
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)