Highly controversial content alert!
From time to time, I try to dissuade people from engaging with my content.
I believe our beliefs define us, so I strongly advise devout religious individuals and patriots to stop reading now.
On idiotic premises
My political views differ greatly from those of most people. However, I have found myself leaning more towards the right in recent years. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes find right-wing beliefs and ideologies idiotic, just as I sometimes do with left-wing ones.
Consequently, I debate bad ideas with both sides equally.
Honestly, debate is what it’s mostly about for me; I may enjoy a good debate more than anything else.
What rattles me is the idea, coming from the right, that one cannot be a “good person” without being a patriot and having a religion.
The mere consideration of this premise overwhelms me with emotion.
Here’s why:
Patriotism
If you think about it, every relationship is a two-way street. It’s not just about giving or taking, but both.
Our relationship with our country is no different. If you love your country, it should keep you safe and provide for you. It should make you proud to be a citizen. It’s a two-way relationship; it’s a give-and-take type of deal.
If you go to war for your country and return home injured, shouldn’t your country pay for your treatment? Shouldn’t this be what a relationship looks like?
I could give many examples, but I hope you understand. For you to believe in your country, your country must also believe in you. It can’t work the other way around. Otherwise, your relationship with your country is dysfunctional.
John F. Kennedy’s famous quote, “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country,” was said in a very different reality than the one we’re living in today.
Nowadays, most countries seem busy promoting their own agendas. They don’t seem to find any reason to give back to the people who built, developed, and protected them.
If someone asks you to contribute to your country and to expect nothing in return, that’s not patriotism!
Religion
Let’s address the elephant in the room and move forward.
When it comes to believing in God, one must first try to understand the concept of God.
Many people have tried to explain it before, but I would argue that it’s simpler than most people think, at least for the sake of this post.
Neither of us can prove that God exists or doesn’t exist, which makes God an abstract concept, nothing more, nothing less.
Are you allowed to believe in abstract concepts? Absolutely!
Can someone else tell you how to believe in an abstract concept? Absolutely not!
This leads us to question what religion is and why people take it upon themselves to tell others how to believe in an abstract concept.
The answer is always found in another question: “What do they get out of it?”
If you examine the core of every religion on Earth and ask that question, what do you see? The answer is money and power.
Now, ask yourself what other organization seeks money and power. The answer is a political movement.
Essentially, every religion is a political movement that strives to expand its influence and amass wealth by controlling more people.
I would argue that true believers in God are not religious people but rather those who continue to seek and explore the possibility of God in their daily lives.
So why feeble minded and how does it all connect?
As adults, we can distinguish between “good” and “evil.” We all know how to help our fellow human beings. We know what an active community or societal member looks like.
Saying that we need religion or unity as a country to achieve this implies that we are either incapable of doing so without guidance, which I find hard to believe, or too lazy to do it without the idea of a powerful being standing over our shoulders and judging us. I find these premises lacking and believe they belong to feeble-minded people.
My two cents? We all know what helping others looks like. We can choose to act on our own without believing in something greater than ourselves.
As Michael Jackson wrote, “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and then make a change.”
Stay connected, help others,
Aviram