By Marco Vernacatola

You might think that most people’s religious beliefs help make them the ideal human being: kind, forgiving and hard working. Sadly, for most people, this is not the case. Religion is a set of moral beliefs on which to base one’s life. Its main purpose is to make you a better person, but very easily and all too often it is used for the wrong purposes. Sadly, the wrong purpose is all too often manifested.

We often see people on the news who do absurd things in the name of religion, or people who argue that their religious versions are right, and everyone who believes otherwise is wrong. These people put too much emphasis on the stories and fables of these religions instead of the actual message of the religion. The people who act as suicide bombers are focused solely on the thought that if they die, they will have some fantastic afterlife and be rewarded for their faithfulness. They do not consider the suffering they cause. The belief of a promised afterlife is causing many people to not appreciate the life they have now and respect the life of others.

Even Christianity takes the validity of the stories too far. All too often you hear of Christians negating scientific discoveries. Blind beliefs in these stories bring believers to deny scientific ideas and breakthroughs. They are not focused on living a good life, but on using their beliefs to impeach on others rights and slow the progress of present day science.

For thousands of years, religious people have been focused on proving their beliefs to be the right ones. Too often brutality and oppression are used to this end. Murder in the name of religion has reached into the multimillions and has spanned the centuries. Christianity was established through violence and many religious fanatics today seem to agree with this tactic. The Crusades, for example, was a war waged by Christians against the Muslims that lasted 200 years, all in the name of religion to capture the “Holy Land.” Throughout the Crusades, Christians committed mass murder against the Muslims for weak religious reasons, and last time I checked, Christianity does not condone murder. Yet it was usually the Pope who sanctioned these wars.

The Spanish Inquisition is another example of religion gone wrong. During that time, the Christians would massacre people for being a part of a religion other than Christianity, thus enforcing the idea that this religion was established through the sword. Even present day civil wars are waged in the name of religion.

Religion isn’t bad, yet it should focus on following the beliefs to be good and respectable people instead of criticizing and using it as an excuse to bring anger and violence towards others who think differently.