What's religion to you?

Well... as far as it being a mockery of our intelligence... religion does not make people stupid or any less mature than an Atheist or Agnostic. This person probably could have found a nicer way of saying what she beleived in. :)
Sincerely,
-An Atheist. (A nice one)

Human intelligence is an oxymoron.

That's just the devil. He don't want us to believe in God. How can Religion be a mockery of our intelligence when our intelligence comes from God? Our intelligence is nowhere close to his. We like sheep to Jesus and forget them other poetry sites I'mma UnitedWorldPoet.

this is not so much a comment as a statement of truth
one day in my room as I was coming off of certain drugs I saw a vision of God all he said to me was "I am your Maker"
as the days went on I saw a vision of castles in the clouds as in I go to prepare a place for you" I also saw a scene of thousands of white roses along a hillside and I also saw a beautifully set table as in a banquet.
I think God appeared to me to encourage me to turn away from sin and drugs and alcohol . I believe a turning back to God and a sincere belief in Jesus forgivness of sin brought me through those most difficult times. Praise God and Jesus and The Holy Spirit!!!!!!!!!!

I have often come across people who believe that in order to buy into any religion you have to be fooling yourself or denying your intelligence in some way. I have also come across people who DO use religion as a mental crutch. And the more I learn about the history of religion, especially Christianity, the more I feel like religious leaders have generally preferred that their followers be stupid, because stupid people are easier to control.

Speaking as someone who was raised in the Christian faith, I think religion is only a mockery if you blindly accept everything you are told in church without ever making the effort to really consider what you believe, raise any doubts you have, ask questions, and come up with a logical reason for what you believe in the end other than simply "the paster/my parents/the Bible says so." I know it seems completely heretical to say that "the Bible says so" isn't a good enough reason to believe something, but to people who say so, I always say, "why are you so afraid of questions? If the Bible is all absolutely true, the only thing that can come from questioning it is finding even more proof of its truth."

So to sum up, I guess my view of that person's statement is along the lines of that old adage about the only dumb question being the one you fail to ask.

Religion is a misconception used by the evil one to pull people away from the original word of God and ultimate truth.  Why do you think every church has different views and beliefs? And why there are so many different kinds of Bibles in the world? Each of the Bibles aside form the original word of God (the King James Holy Bible) has words and important phrases intentionally left out, such as "I am the alpha and omega."  Same goes for all the different religions out there.  One believes in the old testament for today and preaches tything, another preaches tongues and miracles, another preaches faith....the churches pick what they want and like as if it were a chinese buffet.  Don't get me wrong, I am a christian but AM NOT religious.  I believe what the Lord has guided me to believe and know as truth, with my eyes being opened to the deceiptful and corruptive ways of "The Churches".  Aside from my main points, the Bible does say that Christ is the Head of the church, with "church" meaning the "body of Christ" and not literally a building of concrete or stone.  THe body of Christ consist of all Christ's faithful believers.

Religion is the middleman between us and the other, and like any middleman, it makes a profit. I don't think it's a good idea to play the telephone game in matters which dictate my life.

Believe in higher beings come many historical people in life. For an example: Buddha all in all was man, so was Jesus.

Religion has come word of mouth,personal experience  of notion that"there has got to be something out there that understands me for me and sees no flaws,faults or imperfections." It might not seem like it,but Jesus meditated about God through research . which was the highlight of Buddha /Jesus or whoever you believed in( atheists and Christians...alike..).  

believing isn't a bad thing, it's a powerful thing. It gives us the knowledge to know about ourselves in a way we never could. Regardless of who it is,what it is, where it is or when.

If you think about it, we are the ones who translated over the years of prophetic times and such. We are also the ones who phisicaly,mentally, emotionally and spiritually changed ourselves to be a better person...becuase we all know  how much it hurts to be alone and abused in some way in our hearts.

Kinda makes us the ones that are the true miracle. Give yourself more credit then that;)

I was raised Baptist yet there was something in me that couldn't believe in hell or the devil.When I was younger I ask for forgiveness but I found that if I didn't forgive myself then asking for it did no good.So I started forgiving myself and feel in doing that God forgave me.There was so much about what I was being taught I just didn't buy into.I'm not nor will I ever judge others for how or what they believe in.

I do want to share and or suggest a book I read recently.Conversations With God-an uncommon dialogue by Neale Donald Walsch.Or look on you tube for some of the writers discussions.One of the best ones I feel is titled The Dogma of religion. 

As so many of us have said with the bible being rewritten so many times it makes it hard to believe everything it says.But if you believe God has spoken to others in his heavenly form and believe some of what the bible says then you must also believe that he could speak to others now..Its my opinion that he has and that Walsch book contains Gods words as he told them to him..

I'll cover just a few things God told him-He said that the writers of the books that went into the bible were good at recording the facts.But that not all the writers knew him as they claimed and how some of the books were never put into it.Religion changed a lot of the things that were meant to be in the book and held out other things.They are the ones who just as your parents taught you that if you didn't do this or that I would burn you in hell.You have been made to fear Me so how can you totally trust in a God who would give you free will then take it away and say if you don't do this or that I will burn you to death.You need to know that the Bible is a good guide but not law. 

God said he knew that for love to exist-and to know itself as pure love-its exact opposite had to exist.God created the great polarity-the absolute opposite of love-everything love is not-what is now called fear.In the moment fear existed,love could exist as a thing that could be experienced.

It is this creation of duality between love and its opposite which humans refer to in their various mythologies as the birth of evil,the fall of Adam,the rebellion of Satan,and so forth.Just as you have chosen to personify love as the character you call God,so have you chosen to personify abject fear as the character you call the devil.In some of your religious mythologies it is stated that "God the Father"had many spirit children.This parallel to the human experiences of life multiplying itself seems to be the only way the masses could be made to hold in reality the idea of sudden appearance-the sudden existence-of countless spirits in the "Kingdom of Heaven"

In this instance your mythical tales and stories are not so far from ultimate reality-for the endless spirits comprising the totality of me are,in a cosmic sense,My offspring

My divine purpose in dividing Me was to create sufficient parts of Me so that I could get to know Myself experientially.There is only one way for the Creator to know itself experientially as the Creator,and that is to create.And so I gave to each of the countless parts of Me(to all of My spirit children)the same power to create which I have as the whole.

"Rightness"or "wrongness"is not an intrinsic condition,it is a subjective judgment in a personal value system.By your subjective judgments do you create your self.-by your personal values do you determine and demonstrate Who you are.The world exists exactly as it is so that you may make these judgments.If the world existed in a perfect condition,your life process of Self creation would be terminated.It would end.A lawyer's career would end tomorrow were there no more litigation.A doctor's career tomorrow were there no more illness.A philosopher's career would end tomorrow were there no more question's.

And God's career would end tomorrow were there no more problem's.

Your medical establishment understands this too.That is why it staunchly opposes-it has to for its own survival-any new miracle drug or cure-to say nothing of the possibility of miracles themselves.

Your religious community also holds this clarity.That is why it attacks uniformly any definition of God which does not include fear,judgment and retribution,and any definition of Self which does not include their own idea of the only path to God..

You can end all war tomorrow.Simply Easily.All it takes-all it has ever taken-is for all of you to agree.Yet if you cannot all agree on something as basically simple as ending the killing of each other,how can you call upon the heavens with shaking fist to put your life in order?I will do nothing for you that you will not do for your Self.That is the law and the prophets.The world is in the condition it is in because of you,and the choices,you have made or failed to make.

(Not to decide is to decide)

The earth is in the shape it's in because of you,and the choices you have made - or failed to make.

Your own life is the way it is because of you,and the choices you have made - or failed to make..

This is just a tiny bit of what he has say.Book one is only 211 pages.Its your choice to decide weather or not its God giving Walsch the answers to his questions..

So as far as what the person said about "Religion is a mockery to human intelligence"The way I see this is they are not completely wrong.We are born knowing nothing, we are taught to walk,talk,and feed ourselves and we depend on those to whom teach us,our parents the church and teachers.We are not born with any knowledge of what intelligence means.And the Bible has been pushed as the law to life and it is trust in those whom taught us that has made religion as strong as it is.Very few ask question's or look for any other possibilities..

So if you choose to want to know more read this book.Learn about the loving God who has been hidden behind and by religion's..When I was given this book my 34 year marriage was on the brink of ending.My friend ask me to read this book before deciding anything.He said it changed my life and it will your's as well.Guess what it did,I use to have what I thought was a healthy amount of fear when it came to death.But after I read this book I have no fear of death at all I no longer morn the deaths of my family and friends.I know were they are all going and its not that far.I will see them again without any doubts..

Thank you for giving me a chance to talk about the issue of religion.. 

hi,

Religion is a way to control people's thoughts, and therefore, actions committed by them.  It is based on a person's belief and their ability to share them and influence others. Religiosity does not have to be based on truth.  How else can you explain the Jim Jones, and other people who have cause mass death in the name of worship?

A faithful relationship with our Father God, the Son, Jesus, and the Holy Ghost is not a religious experience, but a change of life, a move from death into true revelation of our creator and a return to His original plans for us.  As a person realizes what they were created to be, they begin to follow the teachings that we have here on Earth, which are recorded in the Holy Bible.  Yes, it was written by men, but was inspired by the breath of God through revelation by the Holy Spirit, as He led them in their writing.  We go to a church building, not because the building is holy, but because we are holy, and have a need to be among other Holy beings.  The Holy Spirit leads us, teaches us, and gives us power to do as God wills us to here on Earth.  If we Christians would understnad the power we have, the Earth could become Heaven here and now, because we would understand that we have the power to be God's hands and feet here, and now, and we toch and influence each person we come into contact with, IF we will obey the urging of the Holy Spirit, and not act in selfishness.

Religion?!? I can't help but to smile in silent
amusement...and here's why: 'Religion is at
best, a source of strength and security...at it's
worst, it's a worm yearning for a fresh Apple!!!
And as we continue to evolve...so should our
spiritual fabrications!!!

religion is a belief system of faith even an atheist is religious no matter what they say the athiest believes there is no God and they have faith in that belief. This is no different from believing there is a God and having faith in that belief. For anyone of to say you are stupid for believing in something more are just showing their own ignorance. Because they have some form of belief theirselves. They may not call it religion but it is no different from any other type of religion. And besides there is actually more solid proof to confirm the bible as an accurate historical account than there is any belief system this does not confirm the exisitance of God but it proves the bible as being historically accurate. And i f you look at science there a theroies that have been taught as fact for decades that are now being proven wrong, and yes no one has ever proven the bible to be completly correct but no one has ever disproved it either unlike many scientific therories

Religion in my opinion is Just half of a necesary system thet can only peform half of a necessary function