Arguably religion is both the greatest thing to ever happen to man, and the worst. On the one hand, religions has solved a massive problem with humanity; as sentient beings with brains that understand the concept of our own mortality and suffering, comes a need for answers and comfort. That's where religion comes in; to save us from the fear of our own demise. Religion originally served as a method of coping. Gods, and the concept of afterlife all serve to comfort the terribly sentient human; to tell them that everything will be alright, life is not meaningless, and it won't just end in a black hole.
Whether or not that is true, is the great debate that leads us to the other hand of religion; the hand that takes the point of comfort and answers from religion away, and turns it into a form of societal control.
When we use religious texts, such as The Bible, as a means to essentially tell people how to act, and be a good member of society, that is when religion no longer serves a productive purpose. Instead, it is used to shape minds, and convince people that our "moral wrongdoings" have heavy consequence; your comfort and answer of afterlife will be taken always if you don't follow directions.
Obviously, originally when these religious texts were written for this purpose of providing moral guidance and preventing violence in society, intentions were not to create more violence, but that's what seems to have happened.
"The Bible says this!"
"But my Text says this!"
"You're both wrong because there is no God!"
These are the words, put simply, that are being said today that isolate various religions and pin them against each other--we've clearly gotten far from the original point of religion.Because of this spiral away from the point of religion, wars have started, human rights are stifled and individuals are scared for their lives.
But, it isn't religion itself that is the issue; it's the people who took advantage of its original purpose to control people--everyone else is just a follower of what they believe in their hearts is the right thing to do; how can we blame them?
We can't. But, we can teach them. True morality begins in education. Religion isn't the problem, and we shouldn't NOT teach it, we have to teach it correctly. We have to raise our children to understand the true purpose of religion, and how over time, that original purpose has been distorted, but it is up to them to change that.
It is up to us to teach our future how to use religion correctly. There will always be extremists, and people who truly cannot move past their contorted image of religion; there will be people who cannot see or understand the effect of their views. But the vast majority can learn, with proper education.
