I’ve been observing “religious” people for most of my life and feel compelled to state my conclusions.
I find it interesting that Jesus never wrote a single word about his mission or ministry, or who he was. For his life being such an Earth-shaking event, nothing was written about him for more than 30 years after his death, and then the gospels were inconsistent.
He never referred to himself as the son of God, he said we all were the children of God. He was labeled Christ by some monk 300 years after his death.
For the Bible supposedly being the word of God, King James changed it to comply with his beliefs. Jesus never mentioned organized religion or the need for such. Your relationship with God was supposed to be intensely personal and sacred. Instead, it has become institutionalized superstition complete with silly rituals and, in some cases, ridiculous costumes. And it’s male dominated. One major faith practices male penis mutilation. They call it a covenant with God. Males have been dominant since the caveman days and they remain so. Even God is a male.
How many women have been prophets? How many women have been popes or rabbis?
Don’t get me wrong. If your religious beliefs comfort you and make you a better, more compassionate, caring human being, more power to you. But please, do me a favor and keep it to yourself. l just haven’t seen any Jesus-like figures walking around here.
And don’t call me an atheist because that assumes that theism is legitimate, which it isn’t.
The religious authorities rely on the ultimate cop-out to avoid addressing my concerns: To those who don’t believe, no explanation is possible; to those who believe, no explanation is necessary.
Manny Garcia, Salt Lake City