Religion: As I See It
Written by me, Jeffrey Dorney.
It has been a while since I have spoken out about something. I have had problems with my AP English class, and I feel like I must express how I feel, and why it is I have a D while I appreciate the works in the class, while nearly everyone else just does the work with their eyes closed and minds shut, and get As and Bs.
First of all, I am inclined to do what I wish. The last novel we read was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which nearly everyone disliked, if only for the dialect in it (and of course the repetitive use of the "n" word, even though it was written when that word was used like the word "Asian" or "European" or "American" is used today). I really enjoyed the book, I loved the character development, the characters themselves, the story, underlying points, and how it can relate back to a lot of things that occur in real life. I also liked the ending of the novel, because it closed the book. It ended like it began, with Huck being just as ignorant. Now I'm not going to say that it was good that he was ignorant, but it was realistic. In our AP English seminar some people thought that he should have had an instant change that made him an abolitionist. I would have been disappointed if the book ended like that, because it would have been off the wall. Here is a deep southern boy, who has been taught that abolitionists are the worst people in the world, and people expected him to become one just because he had a great experience with one slave. This writing time period IS called the Realist time period... so why is it they were expecting this 180 degree change?
People want a happy ending. They want a happy story. They want a lot of fun characters that will run into bad stuff then get over it and it will all end happily. When does it EVER end happily in real life? It never does because it only ends with death, and although death is supposedly when you go to the BEST place ever... we all still fear it. Why do we fear it if it is so good? Why do we mourn their loss if when we die eventually that we'll then be with them FOREVER? The only answer I can think of comes in the form of quote from my teacher herself:
"Every form of writing is propaganda."
This writing itself is no exception.
Lets hypothesize here: lets say, a group of ten or more of my friends get together and myself. We're the most intelligent men in the city, and we put our heads together and write the BEST and most intense emotional and moving story ever, about sin and purity, and rising up against monarchy, and freedom, and a perfect place that all the good people will eventually go to.
Lets have it go and get printed, then a few hundred or thousand years later, lets have someone find it, and read it, and translate it into a new version, tweaking it a little to make it a little bit more or less striking to your soul.
Then when the new version gets printed... people begin to read the book incessantly. They can't put it down, and charismatic people begin to have seminars on the book, telling of what its deep meanings are, and getting millions to follow them.
This is a summary of religion... as I see it.
I don't know if the book those men wrote was based on facts, no one really knows. But many things have obviously been exaggerated... for propaganda purposes. What better way to get people to obey authority than to have Gods get angry when people don't and completely destroy two cities, or flood the entire world?
This is of course just how I view religion, and I don't even understand how there can be so many different religions around the world, and how they can break down so much. It really is quite confusing.
I'm not against religion, I just wish for you to question how you think and feel, and religion is a major part of some people's lives... hence it is a straight shot into their minds, especially those that have already shut out the world.
If you don't agree with me, that's perfectly fine. Enjoy your own thoughts and ideals and ideas. These written here are merely my thoughts on the matter.
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