The word “religion” comes from a Greek word “religar,” which means attached or tied. All religions are man-made, for the purpose of organizing (or controlling) people.
1. Overview
Let me highlight five main religions as follows:
- Judaism: With its roots as an organized religion in the Middle East during the Bronze Age, it is considered to be one of the oldest monotheistic religions.
- Christianity: It is the world’s largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.8 billion followers representing one-third of the global population.
- Islam: With approximately 1.9 billion globally, it is the world’s second-largest religious population after Christians.
- Hinduism: Originating and widely practiced in India, it is the world’s third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers.
- Buddhism: It originated in present-day North India as a śramaṇa–movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia via the Silk Road. It is the world’s fourth-largest religion,[5][6] with over 520 million followers.
2. What is religion, anyway?
The image below is worth more than 1,000 words.
The history over the past 2000 years has proven that Seneca has been correct all along. For example, the image below profoundly challenges the validity of Christianity.
3. Religion is a reality
Religion has both good and bad sides. Below may be a good example.
Below may be a bad example (Stephen Hawking: ‘There is no heaven; it’s a fairy story’).
Overall, however, religion has done more bad than good to humanity, IMHO, with the worst being the wars waged in the name of religion.
4. Religious wars
Throughout human history, there have been many atrocities committed in the name of religion. Four examples:
- Christianity in the Roman Empire.
- Early Muslim conquests.
- Crusades.
- Christianity And Colonial Expansion In The Americas.
For more, read Top 10 Biggest Atrocities Committed in the Name of Religion.
5. Religion and America
Two basic principles:
- Religious freedom.
- Separation of church and state.
Let me highlight each …
5.1 Religious freedom
The image below is worth more than 1,000 words.
5.2 Separation of church and state
The image below is worth more than 1,000 words.
5.3 Summary
Why are such two basic American principles even in dispute today?
Specifically, below are two biggest lies of colonialism:
- America is exceptional (Is America exceptional, really?).
- Democracy is a valid form of government (Western liberal democracy is a lie!).
For more, read Colonial America 1776-2040?
6. Colonialism and religions?
The image below highlights how colonialism has turned the world upside down over the past 500 hundred years at least.
Is it possible that colonialism has done the same injustice in terms of religions, especially Christianity (vs. Islam)?
7. Christianity and the Philippines
Below is an excerpt from Religion in the Philippines.
The Philippines proudly boasts to be the only Christian nation in Asia. More than 86 percent of the population is Roman Catholic, 6 percent belong to various nationalized Christian cults, and another 2 percent belong to well over 100 Protestant denominations.
There are more than 106 million people in the Philippines now, with many families having five or more children, thanks to Catholic teachings: neither contraception nor abortion is allowed. No wonder there are so many poor people over there – Most of them will never see the light of the sun (Poverty, Inequality, and Development in the Philippines).
How did the Philippines become such a big Catholic nation?
Thanks to European colonialism!
8. Looking into the future …
The image below is worth more than 1,000 words.
9. Closing
Religion is a reality, with its own good, bad, and ugly. Religious freedom is essential, just as the separation of church and state.
Unfortunately, too many atrocities have been committed in the name of religion throughout human history. It is therefore critically important that we, as a species, be unreligious about religions.
For more, read History 2.0 – China’s Comeback vs. America’s Decline.
