oh steve (organized religion)
June 2nd, 2008
I wanted to post something of a clarification of my opinions. This is my official disassociation with Steve Pavlina…with whom I’ve never had an official association to begin with. In fact, no association whatsoever other than a respect for him as a writer and personal development theorist.
Until now, I’ve linked to Steve in many of my own articles and quoted him happily. But today I read a recent article that he posted on his blog that has prompted my loss of respect for him to such a level that I won’t be linking to him from here on out.
No offense to the man. He’s still written some of the best stuff I’ve ever read, and I won’t be removing old links. Some of his ideas I’ll still be implementing in my own life, and frankly, I’ll probably still read his blog from time to time. But I refuse to promote anyone who attacks other people’s beliefs with such vehemence.
Here’s the article, if you’re interested.
Amazingly, I don’t completely disagree with him. If you’re one of the 10 or so readers that have laid eyes on my blog, or if you know me personally, you probably already know that I certainly have my own love/hate relationship with organized religion. Religious fanaticism has caused more wars and atrocities than anything else in history. It has also caused much personal hurt to individuals that I personally know. Go ahead and lump me in there too.
But that doesn’t make religion itself evil or wrong. Nor does it make religious people idiots. Let me share here a few adjectives that Steve lovingly piles on proponents of religion: dysfunctional, false, authoritarian, incongruent, unproductive, idiotic, hypocritical, immature.
It’s not even the specific words he chose to use. It’s the overall tone of the article. The subtext that if you practice religion, you are an idiot.
Read a little more closely and it becomes obvious that Steve has been seriously hurt by organized religion – specifically the Catholic church. And thusly, I take his article to be further evidence that organized religion certainly does cause a tremendous amount of hurt. If a normally intelligent and reasonable man like Steve Pavlina can be inspired to lower himself to personal attack and insult against the largest group of people on earth, then those of us who do subscribe to a particular belief system should take our responsibility to NOT hurt people much more seriously.
Faith is not stupid, Steve. Religious piety is not ignorance. But I’m very sorry that foolish and evil men have given you such a bad taste in your mouth for the church (and I think, God…). You’re not alone…I’ve tasted how bitter it can be myself. Millions have. But attacking other people’s beliefs is not the answer.
As for my own opinions regarding religion, stay tuned. I don’t blame God for any of those wars or atrocities that I mentioned, that’s for sure. And I also don’t blame the literally billions of sane, kind, intelligent, faithful religious people who really do exist for them either. Though don’t we all share in the responsibility somewhat for the terrible things our family does in the name of God?
Alright, I’m just rambling again. As I said, stay tuned. In the meantime, farewell Steve!
Tags: religion, faith, steve pavlina
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