Under Oath

Why do we use a Religious Holy Book in governmental processes. Isn't church and state supposed to remain separate? Plus, if your not a Christian, you could be swearing on a Harry Potter book and it would feel the same way. Plus, what's the point of the swear anyway. Your telling someone to tell the truth so help them god, yet if their not religious, it's not going to increase their odds of telling the truth. Why don't they just say "Your under oath and lying is against the law." And if they need a book for historical tradition, why not use the Constitution. This is, in fact, a court of LAW you know.

Answers

I find the major issue I've encountered in my mental transformation is that people are always looking for a specific way of living that has all the answers. The honest truth is, no one has all the answers. There is no book you can buy, no speech nor sermon written, no thought ever conjured up that could even begin to create a righteous pathway for every human being on this planet. What's worse is that every group that believes it has all the answers will look at any opposing groups and claim their value is severely lessened because they don't have the answers to every single question ever made. And instead of saying that we can't know everything, people will attempt to increase the value of their beliefs by being apologetic and "creating" ways that they can justify them. People as a whole have become mindless slaves of ignorance and hypocrisy. Only by acknowledging the possibility of our wrongness can we truly find the reality of our rightness.

Our Abandoning Father

Let's talk for a second as though the god from the Judaic Christian Islamic religions is real. This character is often referred to as our heavenly father, so will look at him like humanities father figure. A father that was out of the picture before we are born, pays child support on his own terms, sends us mixed messages on the proper way to live life, and happens to show up many years later to judge us on our lives. What a great example of paternal excellency. Come to think of it, there are a lot of religious families based on the values of white trash. My point is, if you want to find examples of a mentally and physically abusive taskmaster of a dad, you don't have to go much farther than the Holy Books of the big 3 religions. So the next time someone tells us the importance of family values with religion, feel free to look up with a smile and remind them of the great example provided by Our Abandoning Father.

Death Penalty and Religion

I have recently noticed that their are a large number of religious individuals that support the death penalty. I have an interesting explanation for this. A majority of these people believe that god is the highest judge of the land, and you get judged when you die. I feel some religious people may feel that if someone committed atrocious crimes, giving them death will send them straight to final judgement, where they will be punished. The flaw with this is that if there is no afterlife, you are sparing these people from the alternative, life in prison and possible rehabilitation. Basically, you spare these people from the opportunity of punishment and improvement.  I imagine a time where prisons are unnecessary and everyone helps others out. Is this a pipe dream.......probably. But it's a nice one. Till then however, I don't feel unnecessary death is a positive thing.