Religion : How 'Religious' is it?

Hi!
For the last few days, i've been thinking about this point...What do we actually mean by religion? Or do we at all mean anything by this sacred word? Is it a complex term derived to drive simple people in illusion or is it a simple name given to the Pandora's box of human psyche? I've never been a "religious" person myself and hence i don't think i've much right to comment about the believers.
But after studying various religions,the circumstances in which they came into the existence and the role they have played in various forms in shaping the history, i think i can add my two cents here...

"Man makes religion, religion does not make man", said Karl Marx. And i can't agree with him any more. If we look at the way the religion has been practiced all these years,this is self-evident. Take example of Hindutva which means revering a cow and killing a non-believer at the same time or for that matter even Islam which gets translated in the submission to the GOD as well as killing so many innocent people in the name of Jihad. i am, by no means, blaming any particualr religion here or casting doubt on it's intentions. i respect all the religions in the world but just as much as i respect all the thoughts in it. i mean, any religion is ultimately nothing greater than a thought and hence deserves respect for being a thought, but nothing more than that.Labelling it to be sacred and hence unchallengeable is like closing one's eyes when something he doesn't like to see is happening. It cannot and does not change the reality and can only serve one purpose- that of keeping oneself in illusion.

After observing the role the religion plays in our daily life, i think this is what religion is meant to do...keeping a man in the illusion...making him feel that there is someone powerful than him..someone omnipotent, omnipresent. And this hits the target bang on...in fact better than we can think, as it serves two quite opposite purposes at the same time..that of giving a hope to the man in distress and a warning to the man in power. And this is the reason why we need a religion at all.

With whatever knowledge i have, i can bet upon the fact that no religion in this world preaches killing of any human being under any circumstances. And i am sure that all the people who have taken the pains of reading the Holy Scriptures will agree with me here. And still, every year thousands of people are killed in the name of religion. Isn't it a paradox? Well, according to me, it's not. Simply because, the religion is defined by Man and the way it's interpreted is more often than not as per his convenience and even sadly, bounded by his limited knowledge and understanding. This is the fact which makes it possible for a man to do two quite opposite things under the name of a single principle. Can we at all consider this kind of principles to be sacred? Can something which has such a weak foundation exist for so long? Thinking rationally, the answer is quite apparent...NO. But,the religions have existed for more than 3500 years now and still going strong...why?

As Freud,the originator of the psychoanalysis puts it,"Religious beliefs are illusionary fulfillments of the oldest, strongest and mist insistent wishes of the mankind." As we can see, the religion is something to which a man turns when faced by some natural calamity which he cannot control or deal with all his power. At this time the religion acts as a mental defense of a man against these bewildering aspects of the nature. The history portrays this phenomenon quite clearly.Earlier the man used to believe that the rain is the GOD's gift to the human kind and the religious practices he follows, have direct relationships with it. But later on, as the science progressed and the artificial rain and various methods to deal with the drought were made possible,the ways in which the religion used to be attached with it has decreased drastically. This applies everywhere. The religion nowadays is becoming more impersonal and abstarct. The directive role which it used to play earlier, is decreasing directly in proportion to the extent to which the science progresses and answers and explains some "mysterious" phenomenons. The root of the religion is in fear and ignorance and the more man moves away from them ,the further away he gets from the religion as well.This is the reason why the religion is now viewed more as a spiritual shelter for the human weaknesses...as an explanation to what we can't achieve.

One of the ways in which Freaud explains the existence of the religion is using his very famous theory of Oedipus Complex, according to which this existence is a direct result of the powerful guilt feeling in the human mind which makes him submit to someone who "knows it all".

If this is all that drives a religion, isn't it the time to get out of it? Isn't it the time to stop these "religions" from befogging our minds and stifling our thoughts? Isn't it high time now to set ourselves free, without any dogmas or doctrines and think without any bounds???

Isn't it the time to be 'human's?



PS: Reposted as the link to the old post is not working...