The halo is almost always tarnished....

I closed the doors on religion many years ago because I found that between scientific reasoning and unquestioned faith, that I tipped the scales in favour of rational thinking to act as my barometer to guide me in life. I also became disenchanted at a very young age by the power struggles and lack of enlightened wisdom that I witnesses in most spaces of religious engagement. The lack of human compassion displayed by many holy organisations that preach humanism but where actions suggest just the opposite was very disheartening to observe.

Recently yet again,I have encountered once more ( through my friendship with an individual from a religious community who is being victimised), a situation that suggests that religious followers do not allow the mediation of higher thinking to inform their actions, but instead let ego and power lay the pathway to the battle fields of salacious and corrupted communication with each other. Where in all this does the idea of religiosity even remotely figure is hard to imagine!

Conversions to faith as desired by the zealous beliefs of another, becomes once again about the ideas of controlling and notching up numbers that are meant to signify strength of superiority over "the other". Every religion talks of the ideas of being prompted to "serve the people" as a lesson of "gods"teachings", however what stops such people from doing just that without the banners , flags and emblems of institutionalised faiths? Nowhere does it state, in any place on earth, that you are forbidden to involve yourself with development which can aid the underprivileged unless you prescribe to a religious doctrine or work in the name of religious concerns. The duplicity of the holier than thou attitudes of virtuous religiosity is tiresome to encounter when it exposes a corrupted and debased intention at its core.

Am I generalising and tarnishing all with the same brush? In truth it is extremely rare to see projects for development in society that come through the conduit of religious organisations that are without strings attached. Perhaps I am naive and look towards the ideals of renunciation and sacrifice as being what I seek from the spiritual inclinations of people who are rooted in religious faith. When power and money and corruption become the halos that these sages wear, then I am outraged at the charade of manipulation and deceit.