###################################################################### ## PH#004 ÄÍðZhit Axis Nation presentsðÍÄ W () W ## ## Why is There Religion?? \||/ ## ## || ## ## Written by: Guido Sanchez _/ \_ ## ## Dated: June 18, 1991 ## ## Greet(s) to: Kimo, Baron, White Lightning and ZANists!!! ## ## ## ## Ying Yang BBS The Baron's Bistro FuNHouseBBS ## ## ZAN Promised Land ZAN Mosque#001 ZAN Mosque#002 ## ## SysOp: CoP SysOp: The Baron SysOp: Erasmus ## ###################################################################### ThisClaimer: This is for educational, destructional, and anarchical purposes...If anything happens to you, I AM responsible... but remember I KNOW where you LIVE!!! You can distribute this in any way (ZIP, by hand), but DO NOT EDIT THIS file!! If you happen to pull out your EDIT prog and work on this, PLEASE leave the opening screen, and add your additions at the end of the file... ]--------------------------------------------------------------------[ Why There is Religion? A Theology Paper by Guido Sanchez Now, I know I've said some harsh things about religion in the past but now I'm going to look on the brighter side of it, mainly WHY DOES IT EXIST? I'm trying to be positive and keep in mind that all reading this may not be atheists like myself. Well, this file is FOR atheists, so I warn you all again with any respect for religion to STOP READING this phile and ERASE it! Thanks, and now on with the phile!!! ]--------------------------------------------------------------------[ Some Preliminary Stuff Special Thanks to the Baron whom I quoted here. Extra Special Thanx and congratulations to those two cats I am now hearing outside copulating. And remember, this is written from the point of view of an atheist, and I am trying to be open-minded about this. Ok, now onto the good stuff. What is an Atheist? Well, I am an atheist. In my book, anyone who thinks religion is silly and does not believe in a god is an atheist. Baron was right. Atheists must not "preach" their ideas, but I see ZAN as a way to get in touch with other atheists who question religion and exchange ideas. Now, this MAY seem like preaching, but it really isn't. An atheist is usually a clear logical thinker. The reason I am an atheist is that my parents allowed me to chose my own religion. I am grateful to them for that, for that allowed me to research other religions (as explained in FAITH.ZAN) and decide why they existed. Why do they exist? In general, religion is for people who do not want to live their lives. They are not curious enough to find out why something happens. Most atheists will logically find out why something happens (which is why most computer people are atheists). Religions these days are more like social clubs then actual religions. But lets not dwell on these simple-minded western religions. What about the Eastern and more serious ones?? GOD: The ULTIMATE SysOp Ok, this is for all atheists, and it's a "pretend" game that I once tried myself. This will help you understand religion better, I think. Just for the sake of argument, say that you wake up one morning, and you KNOW that there is a God. Ok??? Don't argue with it just listen. Now ask yourself why God created you?? I had trouble with this part, but here is a clever analogy. "God" is the "SysOp" of the great UNIX system we call the universe. Now, you are a "new user" onto this system. The SysOp doesn't want any Leeches, right? Well, in your "validation letter" that God considers to let you in on, you have to explain why you should be admitted, and what you have to offer the system, and BLaH BLaH BLaH. Well, since you aren't even created yet, God doesn't receive this user letter from you. He lets you on anyway. Why?? His giving you access is akin to his giving you life, or creating you. Well, since he obviously doesn't think you're a leech, he expects something from you. But What? You might ask. Certainly not Postings, Uploads, Activity, etc. What does God want?? Well, since God's chat hours are undeclared, and he's rarely (never) in. So what's the best way to find out what he wants??? Ask the other more experienced users, who may or may not know. Well, as it turns out, they DON'T know, but they and some other old users have founded a religion (ZAN??) to discover what he wants, and how to accomplish what he wants, thus receiving HIGHER ACCESS (death and heaven). Now, this is where the BBS analogy stops. God wants something from you, and the only way you may be able to find out is to join a religion. So, a religion may POSSIBLY be a way to sate a mass curiosity, thus nullifying my earlier statement about religious people having no curiosity. Wierd, huh? Well, that's religion for you. On With the Pretending!!! Well, now in your pretend beliefs, lets say you have to choose a religion. Well, how would you go about doing that? Well, I'd ask each one of them how they think they'll be able to find out what God wants. Well, 99 percent of them (at least) will say "by praying to God". Well now you know that the only way to find out is to pray. Well, why does praying do it? Well, if you asked this to any religion's head person (father, monk, monsignor (sp?), etc.) they would begin to tell you the story of (religion's prophet goes here). Well, if you searched through every religion, you would find that the stories of the main prophets of any two given religions are basically the same. Well, let's say you spent the rest of your life praying and finally, a day before you die, you find out what God wants. You realize that God wants you to live a happy and prosperous life. And then you die. Well, religion didn't help you to gain that insight, so you could have fulfilled God's goals without belonging to a Religion and not even knowing that you were doing it. Well, all Atheists are fulfilling God's goals by living a long, happy, and prosperous life. Think about THAT!!! As it turns out... Religion, if I clearly understand it, is a waste of time. It makes no difference whatsoever if you belong to one or if you're an atheist or if you're an agnostic. You are still fulfilling God's will, and the only way you can't fulfill it is to kill yourself, which will probably only bring you to hell if you died unhappily. Well, so now after this little pretend session is over, I think you may be able to understand why so many schmucks are herded into churchs like cattle every Sabbath day. They are too damn eager to find out their purpose in life, and they're afraid of what they might find, and they figure that there's safety in numbers. While the Atheist has no reason to believe in God, and may be curious about why he or she (I wrote that in to acknowledge that there ARE female atheists such as White Lightning) exists, the average Atheist either may not care why he or she is here, or may decide to pursue the meaning of life in ways that only involve his or herself and a great quantity of Monty Python movies. You will find that most of the time, an Atheist will not openly admit that he or she is curious about their existance. Well, such is the way with genius. Secretive, yet spectacular is also coincidentaly the way of the Atheist. Well, That's basically All That I have to say, except for some closing comments. To all Atheists: Thanx for reading the phile and I hope that you gained some insight into the minds of the poor religious fools. To Agnostics: You're probably right about there being something "out there" that created us. The only difference between you and myself is that you think that some type of God is the reason we are here, while I tend to think of our existance as a fluke of fate (does that make sense?). I look to philosophy of man to prove that we exist whil you look to a being greater than yourself. To all religious people: SHAME ON YOU FOR READING THIS!!! I told you to erase this phile!!! Heheheh. Well, that's about it and I hope you all enjoyed this exotic journey into human thoughts. Untill Next time... Live Long and Die a Horrible Venereal Disease, Guido Sanchez MoPZAN EoLAAAAA Your exalted Minister of Philosophy bids you farewell....FUCK YOU!!! (c)ZAN 1991 ]------------------------T-H-E---E-N-D-------------------------------[ The text phile is over now. You can stop reading this.