You Need To Consider The Possibility Your Religion Is Mythology

This post by Travis Haan originally appeared at The Wise Sloth.


(Credit: Shutterstock.com)
There are at least 4,200 religions in the world today, and countless more have been lost to history. It’s obvious there’s a 0% chance all of them are the true word of God. Some thinkers have speculated that each religion is at least a little divinely inspired and holds a piece of the puzzle left to us by God to put together. But the only way to come to that conclusion is to ignore huge tracts of doctrine in each religion. Ultimately, none of them are compatible. If any religion is true, there’s only one.

This means at least over 6 billion people alive today believe in a religion that was written 100% by human beings and 0% dictated by the creator of the universe. A belief system written by human beings that has no bearing on the factual nature of reality is mythology. The cold, hard truth of reality is that the vast majority of the people alive today believe in mythology and dogmatically refuse to even consider the possibility that’s true. So if you believe in religion, there’s automatically a 99% chance you believe in mythology. If you refuse to question your beliefs, there’s no way for you to know if they’re true, which increases the chance that you believe in mythology to 99.9%. This number is increased to 99.99% if your religion contains any of the following:

1: Human sacrifices

2: Moral values that reflect the needs and wants of a specific primitive culture

3: Instructions to hurt, kill or look down on other people

4: Reasons to look down on yourself

5: A pyramid-shaped authority structure

6: Scientifically inaccurate statements

7: Magical beings, powers or events that no longer exist

Some people have speculated that it doesn’t matter what religion you believe in as long as you believe in something that gives you meaning, instructions and peace. But believing in something that isn’t real is the definition of insanity. It’s not okay to be insane just because you like it because it holds you and society back.

Believing in mythology is counterproductive if for no other reason than it’s a waste of time. It keeps you busy going through meaningless motions while ignoring real world issues that have real consequences to you and the rest of mankind. Your life and everyone else’s would be improved by you focusing on real problems.



To this, you might reply, “But how can we know how to live without religion?” Remember that most of the world doesn’t believe in religion; they believe in mythology. So the real question is, “How can we know how to live without mythology?” If mythology is just a belief system made up by humans, and you’ve spent your whole life living according to those rules, you already know the answer. We can make up our own ethics, and in fact, that’s what we’ve been doing all along. We just haven’t been honest with ourselves about it. If taking personal responsibility for your own ethics sounds scary or haphazard, consider that mythologies can contain horrible rules that can lead you to hurt yourself or others, which makes it all the more imperative you question your beliefs.

This is especially true if you absolutely insist on believing one of our religions is the divine truth. Everyone wants to believe that their religion is the right one, but at least 6 billion people are dead wrong in their faith. Statistically, you’re probably one of them. The only way you or anyone else can find the right religion is to scrutinize yours objectively. This may sound like heresy, but it’s probably not a coincidence that you were created with the capacity for reason, skepticism, doubt, and logic. For the billions of people who believe in mythology, it’s a necessity. If your religion can stand the test of truth, there’s no danger in putting yours to it. If your religion can’t stand the test of truth, objectivity is the only way you’ll ever free yourself.

Your quest for truth isn’t just about you. Most religions encourage you to convert nonbelievers, and even without actively proselytizing on the street corner, you passively send out the message that people should join your faith just by living according to it. If you believe in one of the religions that are mythology, you’re leading unwitting victims into a trap. If enough people in one area buy into mythology, one way or another, their beliefs are going to determine social norms and even laws. This has a harsh real-world impact on people who don’t believe in that particular brand of mythology. Another danger of spreading mythology is that some people will inevitably latch onto the most violent, oppressive, absurd rules within that belief system and use them to justifying hurting other people. So before you go spreading the good word, it’s imperative that you make sure it passes the most rigorous test of truth, not just for your sake but for all of ours.

Reprinted with permission from the author.

 

Whether or not deities are real, religion serves a higher purpose. That being to imbue in those less naturally virtuous a reason, be it faithful or obedient, to conduct themselves to the benefit of society at large. Civility comes more naturally to some than to others, and those lacking in natural graces need something to encourage them to live well with others. Absent such reasons, there likely would be less civility between people.

 

always wrong aren't you? the most civilized countries are in western Europe and their rate of believing in religion is almost none. The more some goober bellows about religion the higher the chance he does meth with a boy in a hotel room.

alluhah ackbar, BTW

 

You never have changed FD . . . all opinion, no substance.

 

Is it though? I don't buy into the idea that religion is necessary for civility, but I'm also under the impression that many countries in western Europe are heavily religious. I could be wrong, but this comment struck me as odd.

 

Religion's waning influence in Western Europe - Elcano Blog (realinstitutoelcano.org)

Christianity Is a Dying Religion for Millennials in Europe (newsweek.com)

Why is religion suddenly declining? | OUPblog

 

Personally I decided on atheism because of the way I've seen so many so called Christians act.

They do and say horrible things but as long as they're good Christians it doesn't seem to be a problem. I don't think Jesus would be very pleased.

Jesus was a great man. Absolutely no doubt in my mind and more people ACTUALLY SHOULD try to follow his teachings.

As for his dad being some deity? Don't think so. Mary had sex whether it was consensual or not we'll never know.
She was a single mother that raised a boy that turned into a great man.

God is someone to blame when things go wrong and someone to thank when things go good.

When you inform someone that you are an atheist some look at you as if you were a Satan worshipper. News flash folks. I don't believe in Satan either.

One doesn't have to have "religion" to be a good person and one doesn't have to be raised with "religion". Teaching a child right from wrong is a simple start to a responsible member of society.

 

On a side note, I saw a bumper sticker on the Olympic Peninsula that said, "Real men worship Satan". They got it all out here.

 

I did not imply that religion is necessary for civility, and certainly not for all, or even for the majority, but it definitely serves a useful purpose.

 

Atheism has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity in particular.

You are focused on Christians who do wrong to others. There are also athiests who do the same, much as there are buddhists, muslims, etc.

No, but religion certainly doesn't hurt if it moderates the proclivities of naturally malevolent individuals.

 

Region has kept women as second class citizens undeniably.

 

I won't disagree with that.

I just happen to live in a predominately Christian environment. I would feel the same if surrounded by other religions I suppose.

I have always said if a religion works for you then great. I have just grown very tired of people telling me they are good Christians just because they believe in a God and go to church.

Many of these folks go to church only for Easter and Christmas.

I'd rather be an atheist than a hypocrite. I try to do right by others.

 

I do not practice any particular religion, although my wife is a practicing catholic.

I personally believe that all religions are contrivances of mankind to influence those whose moral compasses do not naturally point in the right direction. I also believe none of them are either all right or all wrong. Rather, I think they all have some right and some wrong.

Do I disbelieve in a higher being? No.

Do I believe in a higher being, yes? But I don't claim to know how it manifests . . . whether as a singular entity, as the collective of natural living things or as something in between.

I'd be pretty damn pompous and arrogant to emphatically state otherwise.

Finally, to the question, is religion mythology? I'm sure some is and some isn't . . .

On the whole, I think anyone who takes every word of any religious text to be the unadulterated truth needs religion. Why? Because they are not all that strong at reasoning in the first place.

 

it would be pompous to question a man made construct as being fact? oh brother.

 

Obviously, FD, you cannot read, let alone being able to reason . . . I think you'd better go to church!

 

if you had never been fed a lie about religion would you have any reason to believe in it?

 

Over the years I've been exposed to many parables, writs, scriptures, etc that I considered at the time to be less than factual . . . even contradictory. I've since dismissed them as lending little value to my life. Instead, I've tried to absorb the meanings in those that struck me as especially relevant, particularly if they imparted a new perspective I hadn't previously considered and which rang true.

Related to how you posed your question . . . if you had never been fed a lie about liberalism, would you have any reason to believe in it?

 

the opposite of liberalism is fascism and bigotry. what draws you to these things?

 

Who are you kidding? . . . open your eyes and look around FD . . . Modern Liberalism is facism and bigotry!

 

And black is white, and up is down, and blue is red. Listen, if you can't admit that your anti-democratic party is rapidly devolving into Authoritarianism, a hallmark of Fascism, that is fine. Most Nazi Party members didn't see it coming either. You're in fine company there.