For practically all of my adult life, I have had an extremely strong hatred of all religions. Even at school, I couldn't swallow all the bizarre stories from that much revered book, "The Bible". It all appeared to me to be some sort of outlandish fiction, a group of tales of bizarre fantasy. Though at school I didn't realise the damage that religion had done over the centuries and was continuing to do, to the minds and bodies of countless millions.
From time to time I revisit some of the things I have written, to see if I have changed my mind on that particular matter. In some I have, but the bitter hatred of religion remains, if anything, recent history has strengthened that hatred.
The following was a response in 2013, to a comment I received from an article I had previously written of the subject of religion. It is still my unwavering opinion.
Hi, Loathe to go over the same old ground John but I find this kind of post at best very unhelpful and at worst extremely hurtful. I don't deny that for many people religion is a very bad experience but for many it is a positive thing. I'm not expecting you to agree. I just find it difficult to ignore this kind of post when it goes so much against my own experiences xMy response is as follows:
Hi,nobody can deny the personal experience that you get from religion and nobody can deny you your opinion, likewise me. My opinion is based on historical evidence that stretches back through the centuries and across the planet. Through the ages religion has a track record of persecuting those who dare to be different, even today religion is fighting a rearguard battle against gays, lesbians, birth control, and abortion, we have the “morality police” in Iran arresting and beating those whose dress code and behaviour doesn't fit their norm, and in that land of the free America, some family planning clinics have to have armed guards to protect their clients from violence and abuse from the faithful.As you run your finger across a map of the world lingering at points of extreme violence, you invariably find there is a religious split and no religion is exempt from the bloodshed. Even those nice, respect for all life, Buddhists, at this moment in time are marauding through Burma killing Muslims and burning their property. Not so long ago in the Balkans, the Catholic Croatians brutally “cleansed” their new country of Muslims and the Orthodox Christians did likewise in Serbia and so it goes on. All of them quite prepared to kill in the name of their peace loving god.Let's not forget what the Jews are doing today, to the Muslim Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank.The scandals of physical and sexual abuse of children in the care of the Catholic Church, is not an new phenomenon it has been part and parcel of that institution for as far back as you wish to go. According to Sarah Ruden in her book, Paul Among the People: in the first chapter of Paul's Letter to the Romans, the Apostle severely criticized pedophiles as well as homosexuals for their unnatural, cruel, and rebellious acts against God and humanity. The date and name slip my mind at the moment but I believe it was in the 17 century the Pope of that day called for all those priests who sexually abuse young children, to be driven from the Church. In 1871, in Australia, a young nun, Mary Mackillop, witnessed a pedophile priest molesting a boy. When she reported it to the Catholic hierarchy, they threw her out of the convent and excommunicated her.All the good deeds that are done on this planet can be done by ordinary people without the need of all powerful Gods, who invariably cause divisions. Hierarchy and tradition stifle freedom of thought and action. Over the years I have written quite a few articles on on religion, all of them critical, and at the age of 79 I have in no way changed my opinion, I still see religion as one of the main causes of division and violence on this planet. Yes there are other institutions that have savaged humanity, that in no way mitigates the damage done by religion, it merely lumps them together.
