Pyschology In Religion

Pyschology in Religion

“Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people.” -Mary Alice McKinney

By: Duke Focalor

I’m sure that at some time or another we have all felt the need to have spiritual experience. It’s part of being a human. We need to have spiritual actions. However, this does not mean that we need to attempt to illustrate a lie about what it means to be spiritual. As an Agnostic, I continue to be spiritual. Meditating, and fasting are good ways to be spiritual. When people attempt to make others believer they know things like how the universe was truly created though, it is a lie to the highest degree. In fact, these lies have actually manifested themselves into our minds, and these lies are so elaborate that they have deep psychological effects. Religion operates in a way very similar to drugs. It can cause great people to do horrible things. It’s courier is in all means peer pressure. Both will waste time that could be spent productively, and both will make you feel good, despite terrible consequences. While many argue that the placebo-like effects of religion are without consequence, yet in other papers of mine you will find this not true. For now though, we will focus on the fact that the desiese of religion is spread by peer pressure. In a country where we are instructed to say “under God” in our pledge of alliagence, it is easy to see the heavy Christian influence. While This may now be the case, our founding fathers had no intention of having it this way. In fact, Article XI of the Treaty of Tripoli states “As the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, Founded on the Christian religion...”. Despite this, we are forced to include the words “Under God” in our everyday life. While this may not seem to cause any noticeable effects, it does. We subconsciesly have it in our heads that our country is a nation of God, and we are his servants. This belief can be extremely dangorus, when combined with Islamic extremist countries.

I believe that the best representation of peer pressure in religious institutions is the fact that you must believe in each religion to get into heaven. This ignites a sense of evangelism in all people of that religion, for they want to spend eternity with those they love. As more and more people pressure an individual into religion, the individual will eventually join. Granted, there are some who would not. These people are known today as Atheists, and Agnostics. As more people are pressured into religion, there become more people to help pressure. A simple comparison chart between the spread of religion and the spread of drugs will prove that religions rely on people that are willing to pressure others into it. Without this religious peer pressure, there would not be any Christians, Muslims, Scientologists, or any other believers of organized religion. I think this is very important to keep in mind when observing religion. Another aspect of the human mind and how it correlates to religion is the fact that some people genuinely believe that God talks to them. This is obviously a mental illness. If a Muslim claimed they have held conversations with Allah, would a Christian accept this as true? No, the Christian would either dismiss the Muslim as insane, or claim that the Muslim had simply been talking to the Christian God. This is where religion becomes a fight to see who has the best imaginary friend. So what allows us to dismiss all other Gods, save the one our parents told us about? While a young child, the mind is easily manipulated by everyone that surrounds you. As a child if you were raised that purple was yellow, and yellow was purple, then you would firmly believe this, would you not? Religion is the same thing. Simply because you were raised with a God does not in any way serve as evidence that a God

exists. In fact, it stands testimony to the fact that he is no more real than other stories your parents share with you. The Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, The Easter Bunny, Etc*. Once you dismiss these for their ridiculis claims, you can see the claim of a God is just as, if not more, ludacrious.