"Obviously since religion so complex, it is easy to abuse it and for people to mislead others. However, I believe that religion in itself without the added human interference, adaptations in order to satisfy ones self interests, is one of the purest commodities available to us."
What do you think religion is, in itself? Humans create religion, and humans enslave themselves and others to religion, in the same way as humans create governments and laws. Religion does not exist except in the minds of men, so your comment about the pure commodity of non-human-interfered religion does not make any sense, nor does it refer to any reality, as far as I can see. Religion is a dogmatized social system created around the mystical experiences of a few. Since all laws and systems which forever attempt to solidify some perception inherently are removed from the original truth, organized religion cannot be other than a system to imprison the individual. It has taken a living reality and stamped it into stone, killing it, with only the shadow to remain, much like Plato's cave. [Oh, and for those of you it thought it so clever to point out that this board deals with the tools of accelerated intellect, not with the content, so to was the war in Iraq discussed, with quite some fervor. Apparently religion is too tender a ground. I will not stand by idly and let people unreservedly impress their subconscious with such an agency as religion.]
Yes, you are correct in asserting that it is up to the individual to choose. It is also my intention to attempt to peel away the layers of religion so that the individual may see it for itself-- not in some illusory kernel of truth, but rather in the whole of its operation. And when it is thus perceived, no one can dare assert that a "pure" religion exists, apart from in the psyche of a human. Such an assertion violates any understanding of the order of abstraction by which the human mind operates, projecting a human power-complex into an outside perception in the manner of a schizophrenic. No, what we need is a religion of humanity: where the individual pursues and enters fully into his/her own experience thereby liberating the forces at work in his/her own nature. Religion would thus allow the entry of man's rational faculty, instead of its suspension; the beginning point of freedom and choice. This is the only way to an account of our Being, and a religion for our Time.
Now, go ahead and PR your Bible- as has been pointed out their is great significance to it, this I don't deny. And finally, I cannot help but respond to the idea that somehow I am just proselytising a faith, or attempting to "disprove or heckle" another. I am not doing either. I am doing philosophy. While you may not agree, or understand any or all of my positions, at least I have laid an eminently empirical groundwork for my beliefs. I have provided a court by which disagreements can be resolved; where, as Socrates admonished his followers at his death, misology- hatred of the argument, can be avoided.
It is fitting to quote, then, as ending in the theme of my religion for the Individual, Nietzsche, who said:
"There was only one true Christian and he died on the cross"
K.O.
