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Friday, February 18, 2011

Is Freedom A Religious Idea?

In light of the continuing political uprising throughout the Middle East, American leaders are reported to be recalculating their approach to the Muslim world.

Politico's Ben Smith wrote this week that the Obama administration "clearly sees an opportunity," signaling "that they're hoping the changes in Tunisia and Egypt spread, and that they're going to align themselves far more clearly with the young, relatively secular masses" in countries like Iran, Algeria and Lebanon.

Is this a new moment for American relations with Muslim countries? 
Is freedom a religious or secular idea?

my parody to the popular I Am Free poster.

Is freedom a religious idea? As John McEnroe would have said, "You cannot be serious."

If you value freedom, you should flee from religion as the antelope flees the lion. Religion is the very antithesis of freedom, insisting on our complete subjugation to the unachievable demands of an invisible but supremely powerful overlord. Think of Islam, whose very name means 'submission'! Think of Christianity, which claims it is disobedience that brought original sin into the world, with all that entails in terms of suffering and injustice and even earthquakes and tsunamis. Imagine! To claim that human obedience is so imperative that the purposes of an omnipotent deity and the very fabric of the planet, if not the whole universe, depend upon it and can be catastrophically disrupted at the first whiff of rebellion - and then to claim that such a religion is the source of human freedom!

The Abrahamic god even enthusiastically endorses the vilest of all negations of freedom: slavery. In Leviticus 25, there is a direct quote from this supposedly perfect deity, specifically permitting the Israelites to take and keep slaves, the only proviso being that they must be from the neighboring tribes and not from their own people. Straight from the horse's mouth, as it were, and hardly a shining example of freedom as a religious ideal.

Religion delights in petty rules and the exercise of power over its followers. What theistic religion does not attempt to curtail believers' freedom with nonsensical decrees about foods that may or may not be eaten, fibers that may or may not be worn, days on which they may or may not work, coverings that must or must not be worn on their heads, books that must or must not be read, images that may or may not be created, words that may or may not be spoken, ideas they may or may not explore, actions they may or may not perform, rituals - whether physical or symbolic - they must perform in order to cleanse themselves of impurities of religion's own invention?

There is no aspect of our lives, no matter how intimate, which religion does not unblushingly insist on its right to control. Whom we may love, whom we may desire, with whom we may physically express those feelings: in such restrictions on our freedom religion is at its most insistent and intrusive. But it does not stop even here, for religion does not limit its control to our deeds or even words: no, the invisible Thought Police of religion do not scruple to pursue us even into the innermost recesses of our minds and there to stand ready to condemn us for our very thoughts. Not even the most heinous ruler or most brutal slave-owner ever achieved such extremes of tyranny; yet religion grants us no privacy, nowhere to hide, no freedom to entertain even a fleeting thought without its being immediately known to - and judged by - a cosmic dictator. Religion is the ultimate slavery: it is the slavery of the mind, slavery to the fear of divine judgment and damnation. The devilish irony consists in the fact that 'divine judgment' and 'damnation' are themselves the inventions of religion: religion creates and exquisitely perfects the fear, then cynically declares itself the sole and indispensable liberator from it.

And yet we are invited to credit religion as the source of true freedom? It is a laughable claim, a disgraceful claim, a claim that makes a mockery of language as well as of truth and of human dignity. As such it is on a par with other religious claims, such as those that define perfect forgiveness as something dependent on the barbaric sacrifice-by-crucifixion of an innocent man, perfect justice as consisting in the innocent being tortured to death so the guilty can be let off scot-free, and perfect love as something that would damn us to hell for all eternity if we refuse to accept such grotesque monstrosities as evidence of a perfect and loving god.

True freedom requires us to liberate ourselves from the tyranny of religion as well as from the tyranny of brutal earthly regimes. True freedom involves the freedom to think, to explore, to grow; the freedom to pursue knowledge and learning, wherever they lead; the freedom to be different, not to conform; freedom from bigotry; freedom from ignorance; freedom to love and to express that love as we choose; freedom to be ourselves, to accept ourselves, warts and all, and to accept others on the same terms; freedom to choose our own meaning and purpose in life, and to make our own decisions on the basis of those free choices; freedom to make mistakes; freedom to change our mind; freedom from fear, especially from phoney fears invented by those whose only aim is to control us in word, thought and deed.

Religion claims to set its followers free, while all the time holding them in thrall and insisting they kiss the hand of their jailer. There can be no true freedom so long as religion still keeps the human mind in shackles.

30 comments:

  1. Amazing blog, one of the best layouts i've ever seen, and it's so simple!

    Freedom and religion shouldn't go in the same sentence together, unless accompanied by not synonymous.

    Truly wonderful blog, followed.

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  2. I don't think freedom has anything with religion, it is only the people that make it look like it

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  3. Quite the post!
    This claim that freedom is the realm of religion is on the same level of the claim that humility was invented by christianity (thanks, Bill O'Reilly!)

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  4. only an idiot would say freedom is a religious idea

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  5. I think religion is against freedom

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  6. well, non-freedom is a religious idea, so i guess freedom is based on human will and is sacrilegious?

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  7. Religion doesn't always mean American fundamentalist Christianity... Ideas are just ideas. ;)

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  8. Religion boasts "freedom from" instead of "freedom to". Both have the word freedom and yet they mean so very different things.

    Following!

    wellthisdoesntsuck.blogspot.com

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  9. I think no religion = freedom. its all on US as people at that point.

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  10. Hey, I'm free to sleep in Temple. Is that freedom?

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  11. The sad part is with the 2012 election coming up. Religious issues will be a main part of campaigns and they will be ignoring the real issues. US needs to worry about important domestic issues.

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  12. I think freedom is a natural idea. That is why there is always competition. People want to be able to go on about without obeying another.

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  13. I guess the answer to your question is now then...

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  14. Time to end agricultural subsidies in the US and push all the dictatorships over the edge.

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  15. wow just wow, great discution material. i was reading this with my brother and we started 5mins later. cheers

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  16. I think freedom is innate in our make up as people... I think I agree with a lot of your post where religion = large organised religion
    Any dogmatically held idea limits freedom...look how some areas of science are being pushed with a fundamentalist zeal (climatology). At the end of the day people like to control people and ideas can be used for both good and bad.

    Which religion does not unblushingly insist on its right to control? - I put forward Buddhism and certain traditions of Gnosticism

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  17. @G The difference is that science is actually based on evidence and decades of peer reviewed studies from the smartest minds all around the world. Just because people want to stick their fingers in their ears and ignore it doesn't make it dogmatic.

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  18. I think freedom was never a concept until people began enslaving themselves with religion. Now, the only people who are truly "free" are those that accept their own truths and recognize that religion is based upon fear and designed to enslave the mind.

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  19. Real freedom is not being brainwashed :)

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  20. freedom is a dream. if it isnt the government and religious rules controlling you its your peers and societies misplaced morality and judgement that enslaves us all, regardless of our accepting or admitting this fact. My motto is "Fuck you!"

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  21. wow hella long post... freedom is never obtainable tho... we are all controlled in one way or another. The only way we can escape, is to become the controller

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  22. That was a long post. But I read through it.

    I agree with a lot of what your saying. Religion does hinder people from expanding their minds as you so wonderfully put.

    I hate when religious folk blindly point out sins for reasons why bad things happen. Like the tsunami that hit here 2 years ago, everyone was saying it was God's judgement on the people. I say shit just happens.

    Good post. Sorry for the long comment, got me all riled up.

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  23. we should believe in what 'science' says because lots of 'scientists' have read what other 'scientists' have done and come up with the same answer... I think that everyone should doubt and explore all aspects of life and come up with their own answers. I'm not anti-science but I think in many areas we're approaching the limit to our own understanding and testable hypothesises. The media peddles a lot of their work as 'Science proves xyz' and when you then read the papers and journals and email the guys involved they're like well no the evidence suggests this and we need more money to carry on looking at it. These days science = big business = money = opportunity for corruption.

    The other point I'd throw in to what is a cool debate is look at those societies where religion has been overtly repressed by the state because it was deemed as wrong... Anarchy is the only true political model that brings freedom, I'm a big fan of Leo Tolstoy

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  24. i think most people get the concept of religion really wrong, but that goes for both religious ppl and atheist ppl

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  25. unfortunatly being free is having the choice to be enslaved by religion or anything else. People choose by mob mentallity and form their beliefs by what others think. Sorry for my spelling errors. Its early and Im not corrected it.

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  26. You know while I disagree with many of your ideas, I find your thoughts a very interesting read and your ideas interesting.. I think you're a bit overbiased or harsh sometimes but a nice read none the less. :)

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  27. Aren't you going to credit the real author of this post you thieving bastard?

    http://onfaith.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/paula_kirby/2011/02/religion_the_ultimate_tyranny.html

    Pathetic.

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