To put it simply, the issues are:
Locus of Control
"Natural Good" vs. the ethics of the religion
Philosophy of Mind
Cosmogony vs. recent knowledge
Locus of Control means who is responsible for what happens? Let's say that someone decides to give me $100. An internal locus of control, I was given the money because of something I did: I made it happen. An external locus of control: I was given the money because the person wanted to for whatever reason: he made it happen. A divine locus of control: it was God's Will that I have this money: God made it happen. Many people have a problem with the divine locus of control, because some things are obviously not the "Will of God," and if they are, then God appears evil. Example: ebola. If your mother catches ebola, and you say, "It's God's Will that she should suffer a gruesome and horrid death," then God is pretty nasty, isn't He? A less graphic example would be the $100. Sure, if it's American cash, it says that in God we trust, but it's hard to imagine any cases in which God would make such a donation happen.
Morality is a tricky issue. I use three Confucian scholars to illustrate the issue. Menscious believed that everyone was born good, and that evil is an aberation. Xuchi believed that everyone was born evil, and that good must be imposed upon people. Confuscious believed that he followed the Will of Heaven, but said nothing about other people. If your own "moral compass" comes into conflict with the tenets of your religion, then you're not going to feel very good. For example, I hate fish, and I love meat. A vegitarian religion, or even a "no meat on fridays" religion, would be very confusing to me, and I'd probably abandon it if I was raised with such a faith.
"Philosophy of Mind" means, what ARE people? This also touches onto Ethics. In the Christian religion, for example, the offspring of Adam and Eve are evil. They are born with Original Sin, and are morally twisted and depraved beings. I agree, which is why I'm proud not to be a descendant of Adam and Eve. This also touches upon things like what is a soul, why are human beings different than other life forms, etc.
Cosmogony means how the world came into being. Religions often teach things that are in conflict with current knowledge. For example, a world-wide flood, a six-day creation, and a fixed earth with a sun revolving around it. When one's religion teaches things that other people think are stupid, it impacts one's self-image.
That being said, I don't think that religion in general is a problem... only the incompatability of a given religion with an individual person. So, while I cannot claim that there is any perfect religion, I can say that I have discovered the perfect religion for me.
I hope this helps.
[Grrrr. UBB code always messes up my links]!
[This message has been edited by Kaiden (edited October 03, 2003).]
