Religion — Marcus Brigstocke and I June 21, 2008
Posted by afrojade in Eurotrip, Religion.Tags: cant-stop-laughing, religious-troof
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I had never heard of Marcus Brigstocke, but I came across this video of his a couple of days ago. Sheer brilliance. He takes on the three Abrahamic religions in an awesome rant that sounds neither too angry, nor too preachy, and that has just the right amount of humour in it. You really should listen to it.
Some gems from the video
- “… have a cup of tea, put on a Cat Stevens record, and chill out!”
- “… have another go as a worm!”
- “… the Transformers film!”
- “… get married like the rest of us.”
- “… truth has given up and gone to the pub for a pint.”
- And finally, an awesome quip to end it “… a cure for James Blunt!”
Religion honestly has to be the most pointless reason for fighting one another. And yet most of the killing and fighting around the world is driven by religious hate. The Middle East, Northern Ireland, the Al Qaida movement, the Godhra riots, the Bombay riots, whatever — it really sucks.
I gave up my religion a long time ago. After I saw the mindless violence — and the even more mindless support of it from people I thought were sane — that was called the Godhra riots, I could not stay a Hindu. And I am glad I did it. All I believe in now is God as a manifestation of all that we do not know. Science and rationality above all else.
This is probably a controversial statement to make — but I still think that most Hindus in India, and in Gujarat especially, still think that the Godhra riots were justified. Or maybe this is not such a controversial statement after all — if they think it’s justified, they won’t get offended by me saying so.
A lot of my friends are religious. As long as you’ve chosen to be part of a religion, and you’re not blindly following it just because your parents are from that faith — I respect your choice. All I ask from you, in return, is that you respect mine.
This is a morbid topic to be blogging about so early in the morning. I am off to Munich, and the Vienna! España vs Italia!! Goooo España!!!
good post…very nice read…
and happy about it 
best part is tht i connect to it totally…
pretty much of the same religious nature
I think the problem stems from the fact that most religions have become institutions which have an exclusive definition (meaning it is defined by not being a member of some other institution). But I really like what Swamiji has spoken on this:
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_2/Jnana-Yoga/The_Necessity_of_Religion
http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Complete_Works_of_Swami_Vivekananda/Volume_2/Practical_Vedanta_and_other_lectures/The_Ideal_of_a_Universal_Religion
Religion was probably invented by a few intelligent people to keep the general mass in some sort of order and control. The idea of heaven-hell, karma, just goes to show their ingenuity in controlling people. They probably never imagined that the whole thing would be taken so seriously and would spiral out of control.
Oh no ….. I believe people did have a very good idea about the power religion held over people, in the 4th 5th 6th 7th centuries etc. when Christianity and Islam were standardised, and the word “pagan” came into existence. Its just because a handful of people choose to rigidly follow the tenets laid down then (and earlier in case of Hindus) that we see them killing each other. Religion is not the problem, the close-mindedness of the people is the root – and this doesnt lead to only religions tensions, but casteist and racist problems as well. The day every person is convinced just how insignificant he/she is in the scheme of things, is the day when not just religious, but casteist and racist tensions will cease to exist. Of course, that day may never dawn ….. (and perhaps it should not for that would mean the achievement of utopia and the end of the world) but it is a fool’s right to hope …..
@Bhole:
Interesting links!
@Amod:
I think a good workable definition of religion is a set of beliefs that we make up to explain what science cannot. Although it is fun to think that religion was a control experiment gone horribly wrong
@Mihir:
I don’t know. I for one don’t think that I am insignificant in the larger scheme of things. If I thought differently, one of my major reasons for existing would be struck off the list! Still, I agree with you that close-mindedness is a bigger problem than religion. But religion is the biggest example of it in today’s world, and unfortunately organised religion and close-mindedness seem to go hand in hand.