It's Palm Sunday. Many Christians went to church today and got palm frones. I'm not sure why. “The Ten Commandments” is on ABC tonight. This makes me think too much of religion. When I was 12 years old, I asked my father, “If god created everything in the world, who created god?” He could not answer that question. I asked our minister at the time who created god and he said no one. He's always been there. My doubts about religion began at that time. Since that time I've always considered myself an agnostic. Without doing any major research on the idea, I still consider myself an agnostic. I decided it was time to find out exactly what agnostics think about god, the bible, and religion. In doing my research, I found an interesting web site that lays it out pretty clearly.

What Is an agnostic?

An agnostic thinks it impossible to know the truth in matters such as God and the future life with which Christianity and other religions are concerned. Or, if not impossible, at least impossible at the present time.

I would agree with this statement. I don't believe that it can be proved at this time that a god exists.

Are agnostics atheists?

No. An atheist, like a Christian, holds that we can know whether or not there is a God. The Christian holds that we can know there is a God; the atheist, that we can know there is not. The Agnostic suspends judgment, saying that there are not sufficient grounds either for affirmation or for denial. At the same time, an Agnostic may hold that the existence of God, though not impossible, is very improbable; he may even hold it so improbable that it is not worth considering in practice

After reading this definition, I do consider myself an agnostic. I interpret this to mean that right now I can neither acknowledge that god exists or deny his existence. There simply isn't enough proof to decide either way. Since I'm a very practical person and feel that I need hard evidence to prove most things I believe in, I don't believe in the existence of god. At this point in time, it is impossible to prove his existence.

How does an agnostic regard the Bible?

An agnostic regards the Bible exactly as enlightened clerics regard it. He does not think that it is divinely inspired; he thinks its early history legendary, and no more exactly true than that in Homer; he thinks its moral teaching sometimes good, but sometimes very bad.

I definitely have my issues with the bible. For as long as we can remember, the bible has been used to discriminate, segregate, and control the masses. I consider the bible to be a work of fiction. I feel the stories were created to control the uneducated masses of the time. There were a handful of very intelligent men at the time who wanted to have control over lots of people. They created these stories and proclaimed they were the teachings of god and you must follow them. Do not question them. Just believe. Because the people at that time didn't know any better they went along with it and believed it to be true. I agree that some of the stories do teach decent morals and ways to lead a decent life, but I don't think they should be considered as handed down from some god who is the absolute authority on life. At the same time there are many stories in the bible that are truly awful and should never be considered worth following.

Religion and the bible were simply created to control people. All the major religions basically follow the same idea. There is a god. He knows all. He should be worshiped. You should do as his teachings suggest, lest you end in some kind of hell. And the most important one, give your religion money to support their work.

Religions in the past were created to control the masses. I feel religions of today continue to do the same thing. However, some religions use their power to control politics. Look at the religious right and consider their control on so much of our politics. Of course I don't agree with this at all. I think politics should be void of religion. I also feel strongly that government should be void of religion as well. I know it won't change any time in the near future. Look at the middle east and several countries in that region of the world. They are dominated by religious doctrine. Then again, look at the educational level of the people in those areas. I feel the more highly educated people are, the less reliance they have on religion.

Religion isn't all bad however, think about the comfort it gives those who have no other intellectual way of dealing with problems in their lives. It does provide comfort for those. I think about practical ways to solve my problems without relying on pray to provide comfort. I can figure out what is wrong and how to fix it without praying to a god to give me guidance. The thought process in my mind provides the comfort and answers I seek. There is absolutely no proof that praying actually solved a problem or saved a life. It's all speculation. People want to believe that by praying they some how have control over what's going on in their lives. Try working on the problem yourself. Think. Solve. Do. Don't rely on something that doesn't exist.

I also asked my father and my minister when I was 12 why we have death, disease, and specifically why we have bugs that do us harm (hey, I was 12). I thought if god was so strong and created everything why would he created bugs that sucked our blood. I also couldn't understand why he would create diseases that would kill so many people. My father could not give me a real answer. However, my minister at the time told me that god creates these troubles in the universe to create diversity. He tried to say that if everything was copasetic then life would not be interesting. No one would experience pain or grief. Nice idea but I wondered why not? Why not have everything be great? Why should people experience grief and pain, etc.? If he has the power to eliminate these concepts from the human mind, why wouldn't he? No good answers were given. Of course I now know that death, disease, and those bugs that cause us harm are really created by nature and evolution. No one god created all of these things. Science has been able to trace the existence of most forms of life so far and they've done an excellent job of doing so.

Religion breeds ignorance, intolerance, and discrimination. The adverse affects of religion out way the benefits of religion. Religion should and will probably die a slow death. Thus ends my diatribe on religion.