http://brief2-socio-political.blogspot.co.nz/
http://dahaerachelkim.blogspot.co.nz/2013/05/argument-1-some-have-strong-belief-that.html
http://abrown83.blogspot.co.nz/
http://visualdesensitization.blogspot.co.nz/
http://restrictingabortions.blogspot.co.nz/2013/04/the-plan.html
Sunday, 12 May 2013
Thursday, 9 May 2013
References
References
Hasan, S. (2012). Indian woman dies after being refused abortion. Retrieved from http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/indian-woman-dies-after-being-refused-abortion/article4097428.ece
Khan, F. (2010). Pakistani Christian couple refuses to convert: Husband is burnt alive, wife raped by police. Retrieved from http://au.businessinsider.com/worlds-biggest-landowners-2011-3?op=1#15-ted-turner-1
Mail on Sunday. (2010). Taxpayers to foot luxury hotel bill for pope's entourage. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303241/Taxpayers-foot-luxury-hotel-Popes-entourage.html
McEnery, T. (2011). The World's 15 biggest landownders. Retrieved from http://au.businessinsider.com/worlds-biggest-landowners-2011-3?op=1#15-ted-turner-1
Wall, T. (2013). Destiny members quit over church spending. Retrieved from http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/8228495/Destiny-members-quit-over-spending-on-church-building
Conclusion
To conclude this blog I want to just say that while I don't agree with or subscribe to any 'Religious' beliefs, I have total respect for individuals' right to choose what they believe and not be persecuted for this. I don't feel bitter, or angry toward any Churchs, however, I feel sad for every member of these Churchs that don't know anything other than the Church and the way it operates. People should be able to think for themselves without having to please an invisible man the entire time. I am very aware that the majority of these people make the decision for themselves, however a baby hardly has a choice as to whether it's going to be baptised or not. I see Religion as holding people back from their true selves, and the fact that there are so many religious people in our world seems to be having a collectively detrimental effect on everybody as outlined in this blog. I have nothing against Religion as a whole - I am a huge believer in freedom of choice, although I do have a problem with the people involved with these Religions at times and the way they choose to spread their message. Religion has a fundamentally good message there is no doubt about it, but the way modern people have interpreted this message (or messages) has gone too far. The missions of most Religious institutions are failing - there are still poor and hungry people, and no body seems to be at peace, spiritually or mentally.
Corruption
"Even the drug cartels have promised to co-operate." says a Mexican official. Even the drug cartels. This was my first indication that perhaps Mexico shouldn't have spent $11 million to greet the Pope, God's spokesman on Earth. Excuse me for not appearing to have changed the record but this apparently isn't going to people's heads no matter how obvious or repeated, but, I know if God were on Earth he would have said no, give that 11mil to the poor and hungry kids. And it's not as if Mexico is exactly known as the most financially stable, or delightful destination... Oh wait, the drug cartels did co-operate..
Similarly, British tax payers were forced to contribute around $24 million NZD for the Pope's 3 day visit. The hypocrisy within even the highest-ranked Religious elites is outstanding. Churches still pass around collection plates stating that it's all for God blah blah. Umm... last I checked the Church is rather sorted on the financial side of things with an estimated wealth of well over $60 billion NZD. Or better yet, they say it's a donation to the poor. HA! What a fucking joke, if the Catholic church wanted to feed, clothe, and educate the poor with not one person being excluded, it could. It shocks me the more I think about it that more people don't seem to realise this. Have you seen how much gold is around/on the Pope at any given time within the Vatican? It's just a bad look for a man with such religious convictions, it makes him and the rest of the Church look like greedy pigs.
The fact that they aren't giving all their money to the poor is certainly not the issue here, the issue is this:
If it is part of your mission statement and basic ideals to help those less fortunate than you then
A) lead by example - you can't expect others to if you don't
and
B) How dare you have the audacity to ask people for more. How much is enough? Enough to give any away yet? Or should we wait till we've got a few more billion stacked up?
If religious institutions were doing what they set out to do, which is make the world better essentially, then it would have achieved. Only around 16% of the world are non-religious which makes me wonder every day, if there are so many people subscribing to these ideals then why does it seems as if no one is following through? The fact that around 84% of the entire world believe in doing right by various, loving Gods and there are still Wars going on (religious wars even, what?! complete oxymoron), and billions, yes billions, of hungry people just does not make sense. The numbers do not add up. People are clearly no longer using religion for the benefit of their fellow man, what they are using it for I do now know. BUT, if religion were doing us any good and what it set out to do in the first place it would be very, very clear.
Similarly, British tax payers were forced to contribute around $24 million NZD for the Pope's 3 day visit. The hypocrisy within even the highest-ranked Religious elites is outstanding. Churches still pass around collection plates stating that it's all for God blah blah. Umm... last I checked the Church is rather sorted on the financial side of things with an estimated wealth of well over $60 billion NZD. Or better yet, they say it's a donation to the poor. HA! What a fucking joke, if the Catholic church wanted to feed, clothe, and educate the poor with not one person being excluded, it could. It shocks me the more I think about it that more people don't seem to realise this. Have you seen how much gold is around/on the Pope at any given time within the Vatican? It's just a bad look for a man with such religious convictions, it makes him and the rest of the Church look like greedy pigs.
The fact that they aren't giving all their money to the poor is certainly not the issue here, the issue is this:
If it is part of your mission statement and basic ideals to help those less fortunate than you then
A) lead by example - you can't expect others to if you don't
and
B) How dare you have the audacity to ask people for more. How much is enough? Enough to give any away yet? Or should we wait till we've got a few more billion stacked up?
If religious institutions were doing what they set out to do, which is make the world better essentially, then it would have achieved. Only around 16% of the world are non-religious which makes me wonder every day, if there are so many people subscribing to these ideals then why does it seems as if no one is following through? The fact that around 84% of the entire world believe in doing right by various, loving Gods and there are still Wars going on (religious wars even, what?! complete oxymoron), and billions, yes billions, of hungry people just does not make sense. The numbers do not add up. People are clearly no longer using religion for the benefit of their fellow man, what they are using it for I do now know. BUT, if religion were doing us any good and what it set out to do in the first place it would be very, very clear.
Moulding people's ideals
Here's two real kind, Christian, God-serving, things religion has done for people recently:
- A woman died in Ireland, as she was having a miscarriage and the doctors refused to give her an abortion. I'm glad to see people are treating their neighbours as they'd like to be treated.
And lastly but certainly not least... A Pakistani man was burnt alive while his wife was raped in front of the Police station, by Police, for not converting to Islam. Fun fact about this one: The couple's three children (ages ranging from 7-12) were forced watch as this took place. Yay! How neat, I'm so happy religion has turned these people in to such loving souls, definitely a positive influence I think!
...
Unbelievable.
The first thing that really shocked me was that the first story took place in Ireland. Civilised, lovely, Guiness, Leprechaun Ireland. I knew of course that Ireland is a very Catholic country but I did not know how barbaric and medieval their laws could be. I couldn't actually believe it. I couldn't believe that people accepted it, what a total breach of human rights. If it was a life and death situation, which it clearly was, the doctors would have had to have made a choice about whether or not to obey the law, and clearly a lot of Irish people base their ideals on what they believe God wants, so that means that the doctors would have actually have made the choice that "Oh no, I definitely think God would have wanted her to die as opposed to having an abortion."
WWJD huh?
Now, I am aware that these are extreme, extreme circumstances, and most religious people I know of are decent people, however, this is evidence of the way religion can get inside people's heads and is becoming increasingly dangerous. The reason this is happening I believe is because slowly the original ideals of religion have faded in to meaning nothing while other, extremist aspects have come more and more to fruition. And I think this is because Religions is no longer relevant. Yes, collectively I think we have evolved past the point needing religion in our lives for an answer. It seems it is becoming more of a multi-choice question.
The sheer fact that a religious organisation can make an otherwise sane person, or entire nation of otherwise sane people, think in such a way that raping and killing people is doing God some kind of favour is absolutely disgusting and misguided. That is total Dark Ages shit, you'd think people's capacity for individual thought would have at least evolved somewhat since then, ( Oh, just so you know the Dark Ages were those 1000 years where zero technological advances were made purely thanks to Christianity. We'd probably all be able to explore space, cure AIDS, cancer and all the rest by now if that hadn't happened. 1000 years wasted...) but no clearly it hasn't. People still clearly feel the need to appease this God that we don't have any hard proof of existence as a direct result of religion to the point where yes, they are prepared to rape and murder for Him. But hey, even as you're being raped and burnt remember God does love you! Right?
"If God was real, why did He make me an atheist?"
- A woman died in Ireland, as she was having a miscarriage and the doctors refused to give her an abortion. I'm glad to see people are treating their neighbours as they'd like to be treated.
And lastly but certainly not least... A Pakistani man was burnt alive while his wife was raped in front of the Police station, by Police, for not converting to Islam. Fun fact about this one: The couple's three children (ages ranging from 7-12) were forced watch as this took place. Yay! How neat, I'm so happy religion has turned these people in to such loving souls, definitely a positive influence I think!
...
Unbelievable.
The first thing that really shocked me was that the first story took place in Ireland. Civilised, lovely, Guiness, Leprechaun Ireland. I knew of course that Ireland is a very Catholic country but I did not know how barbaric and medieval their laws could be. I couldn't actually believe it. I couldn't believe that people accepted it, what a total breach of human rights. If it was a life and death situation, which it clearly was, the doctors would have had to have made a choice about whether or not to obey the law, and clearly a lot of Irish people base their ideals on what they believe God wants, so that means that the doctors would have actually have made the choice that "Oh no, I definitely think God would have wanted her to die as opposed to having an abortion."
WWJD huh?
Now, I am aware that these are extreme, extreme circumstances, and most religious people I know of are decent people, however, this is evidence of the way religion can get inside people's heads and is becoming increasingly dangerous. The reason this is happening I believe is because slowly the original ideals of religion have faded in to meaning nothing while other, extremist aspects have come more and more to fruition. And I think this is because Religions is no longer relevant. Yes, collectively I think we have evolved past the point needing religion in our lives for an answer. It seems it is becoming more of a multi-choice question.
The sheer fact that a religious organisation can make an otherwise sane person, or entire nation of otherwise sane people, think in such a way that raping and killing people is doing God some kind of favour is absolutely disgusting and misguided. That is total Dark Ages shit, you'd think people's capacity for individual thought would have at least evolved somewhat since then, ( Oh, just so you know the Dark Ages were those 1000 years where zero technological advances were made purely thanks to Christianity. We'd probably all be able to explore space, cure AIDS, cancer and all the rest by now if that hadn't happened. 1000 years wasted...) but no clearly it hasn't. People still clearly feel the need to appease this God that we don't have any hard proof of existence as a direct result of religion to the point where yes, they are prepared to rape and murder for Him. But hey, even as you're being raped and burnt remember God does love you! Right?
Does religion do more harm than good?
There has long been whispers among those with enough balls to question such institutions for a very long time in regard to whether or not various main religious groups are using their funding, income, and power for the right purposes. This also begs the more important questions:
- Where do they get all of this money?
- Is power being abused?
- Why do they get all of this money?
- Do you seriously have that much money?
and most importantly..
- Is religion more harmful to society than helpful?
According to Business Insider Australia, the Catholic Church is the 3rd largest land owner in the world. Over 117 million acres of land around the world. I wonder how many homes could fit inside those 117 million acres for families that have nothing? I've read the Bible, I went to a Catholic school for just over 12 years, and I am confident that God would less prefer shrines or Churches built to worship Him in, and would much rather have the money spent on feeding and clothing homeless and hungry people. The Catholic Church and many other churches internationally do, however, contribute money to the poor and downtrodden - a huge number of charities including The Salvation Army and Childfund are actually Christian-based. The fact is though, charities actually rely on donations. Donations from the public, many of whom I'm sure don't believe in God but rather in helping their fellow man, regardless of religious convictions.
This is a perfect example of what I am trying to say. 'Bishop' Brian Tamaki is urging members of his Church (Destiny Church) to contribute $1000 per person to renovate a warehouse in South Auckland that is to eventually become his 'City of God' that will include Church facilities and a school. There were apparently even cases of families who couldn't afford to raise this money who were saying "We can't raise the money, what can we sell?". As pointed out in the article, no one should be put in that position, especially for a God who is supposed to be really in to helping out the poor. Sadly, many children even bore the brunt of this selfish demand as Pastor Martin Daly said that he loved scrolling through the Destiny Facebook page and seeing families going without Xmas presents because they were saving up for the "$1000 grand slam offering for the promised land." Yep, he actually said that. Once again, if I may speak with knowledge of the Holy Book, I firmly believe God would have preferred kids to get presents and enjoy being children, especially families with little to give in the first place, as opposed to another 'amazing-wow' building in His name.
Founding members have even left the Church as a result of the continuous, unfair demands, which only goes to show how people seem to have forgotten the original ideals of religions. It is a 2 birds-with-one-stone situation, if you are prepared to just 'change' churches it really can't mean that much to you...
BUT
How fucking dare you ask people for any more money. God must be laughing His ass off in Heaven, continuously counting all this money that's apparently for Him, right?
This is not to say, however, that ALL members of this church or others are corrupt, but light needs to be shed the corruption that is happening within an institution that should literally have no corruption at all - according to their own morals! The day religion became more about the money than the actual religion is the day this outdated idea should have been abandoned - it is clear through this that Religion is not fulfilling its original purpose of helping and making things better, and is in fact harming our societies.
Watch this for a laugh :)
- Where do they get all of this money?
- Is power being abused?
- Why do they get all of this money?
- Do you seriously have that much money?
and most importantly..
- Is religion more harmful to society than helpful?
According to Business Insider Australia, the Catholic Church is the 3rd largest land owner in the world. Over 117 million acres of land around the world. I wonder how many homes could fit inside those 117 million acres for families that have nothing? I've read the Bible, I went to a Catholic school for just over 12 years, and I am confident that God would less prefer shrines or Churches built to worship Him in, and would much rather have the money spent on feeding and clothing homeless and hungry people. The Catholic Church and many other churches internationally do, however, contribute money to the poor and downtrodden - a huge number of charities including The Salvation Army and Childfund are actually Christian-based. The fact is though, charities actually rely on donations. Donations from the public, many of whom I'm sure don't believe in God but rather in helping their fellow man, regardless of religious convictions.
This is a perfect example of what I am trying to say. 'Bishop' Brian Tamaki is urging members of his Church (Destiny Church) to contribute $1000 per person to renovate a warehouse in South Auckland that is to eventually become his 'City of God' that will include Church facilities and a school. There were apparently even cases of families who couldn't afford to raise this money who were saying "We can't raise the money, what can we sell?". As pointed out in the article, no one should be put in that position, especially for a God who is supposed to be really in to helping out the poor. Sadly, many children even bore the brunt of this selfish demand as Pastor Martin Daly said that he loved scrolling through the Destiny Facebook page and seeing families going without Xmas presents because they were saving up for the "$1000 grand slam offering for the promised land." Yep, he actually said that. Once again, if I may speak with knowledge of the Holy Book, I firmly believe God would have preferred kids to get presents and enjoy being children, especially families with little to give in the first place, as opposed to another 'amazing-wow' building in His name.
Founding members have even left the Church as a result of the continuous, unfair demands, which only goes to show how people seem to have forgotten the original ideals of religions. It is a 2 birds-with-one-stone situation, if you are prepared to just 'change' churches it really can't mean that much to you...
BUT
How fucking dare you ask people for any more money. God must be laughing His ass off in Heaven, continuously counting all this money that's apparently for Him, right?
This is not to say, however, that ALL members of this church or others are corrupt, but light needs to be shed the corruption that is happening within an institution that should literally have no corruption at all - according to their own morals! The day religion became more about the money than the actual religion is the day this outdated idea should have been abandoned - it is clear through this that Religion is not fulfilling its original purpose of helping and making things better, and is in fact harming our societies.
Wednesday, 1 May 2013
Summary of links
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/8228495/Destiny-members-quit-over-spending-on-church-building
This article details how 'Bishop' Brian Tamaki has urged his members to contribute more and more of their own money to help build his "City of God". Many members including original members have left the church as a result. Members are being asked to contribute $1000 per person which is evidence of greed and corruption within this church group, as well as many others.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7036203/Bishop-urges-his-flock-to-leave-homes-and-jobs
This article shows the 'cult' nature of religous groups, Destiny Church being only one of them. The leader of the church has urged its members and prospective members to leave their homes and families because their spiritual home and family is more important; that being the Destiny family and the new "City of God" in South Auckland that God apparently told Brian Tamaki to build.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pakistani-Christian-couple-refuses-to-convert:-husband-is-burnt-alive%2c-wife-raped-by-police-17949.html
This article is evidence of the way religion can brainwash people and lead them to become extremist in their activities. Some of these activities even being condoned by higher authorities within the church as 'the will of god.' A man was brutally beaten and set on fire while his wife was raped in front of their children right in front of a police station. This disgusting behaviour was justified because the couple refused to convert to Islam.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/jehovahs-witnesses-a-cruel-cult-20130315-2g5x3.html#ixzz2NbKoNxzX
This article explains how religions such as Jehovah's Witness and Scientology are actually funded and subsidised by taxpayer money, as well as some of the practices being funded such as being able to rip a 5 year old child away from their family because Mum or Dad decided to leave the religion. This shows how religion is so ingrained and accepted among modern society and the dangers of that fact.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/indian-woman-dies-after-being-refused-abortion/article4097428.ece
This article details the story of a women in civilised, modern, Ireland dying after being refused an abortion while going through a miscarriage. This is a shocking display of inadequate basic human rights, even if to save a life. The fact that lawmakers voted in by the trusting public would rather two people dying than trying to save one, which could have been done easily, goes to show just how far people will go to please a supposed 'loving' God.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10868155
This article again illustrates how people have universally become so disconnected to ideals within certain religions that it is being treated as a joke, or a source of income. A priest took $150,000 of church money and spent it all gambling. This is total breach of public trust and more importantly trust of people within the church.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/23/world/americas/mexico-pope-cost
This article is about how Mexico spent over $11 million preparing for the Pope's visit in 2012. In a country as unstable as Mexico this is a huge amount of money to spend for one man to drive through a city. The fragile nature of Mexico as nation is evident as 'even the drug cartels have promised to cooperate..'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303241/Taxpayers-foot-luxury-hotel-Popes-entourage.html
This article details the cost and expenditure of the Pope's visit to Britain in 2010. The British taxpayer footed the £12 million bill for the Pope's stay including luxury hotel room. This article notes that with the church's estimated fortune of over £30 billion, which is around $60 billion NZD, and asks why the taxpayer should have to foot the bill. This is further evidence of the hypocrisy and greed within even the highest sectors of religion.
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=17361#.UYG6sLWW-Sp
This article outlines how nearly $2 million dollars of relief for victims of the 2004 boxing day tsunami never got to those affected. A general secretary for the Church of South India diverted over a third of the money intended for relief to give to her daughter to help her medical career. This is just yet another example of universal corruption throughout churches and different religions. The article also states other things that the highest officials of the church have been charged with - tax fraud, cronyism, nepotism, money hijacked from land deals, hospital fraud, stolen Tsunami funds, vote buying, and much more.
http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2013/03/13/reverend-minister-worried-about-immorality-corruption-in-the-church/
This article details the worries of a reverend of the Zion Community Church International. He worries that the catholic church is over-run with corruption and that church leaders had forgotten the basic principles of Christianity. This is evidence of the way religion and the supposed power it gives to people has gone to people's heads and the outdated nature of these institutions.
This article details how 'Bishop' Brian Tamaki has urged his members to contribute more and more of their own money to help build his "City of God". Many members including original members have left the church as a result. Members are being asked to contribute $1000 per person which is evidence of greed and corruption within this church group, as well as many others.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/7036203/Bishop-urges-his-flock-to-leave-homes-and-jobs
This article shows the 'cult' nature of religous groups, Destiny Church being only one of them. The leader of the church has urged its members and prospective members to leave their homes and families because their spiritual home and family is more important; that being the Destiny family and the new "City of God" in South Auckland that God apparently told Brian Tamaki to build.
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pakistani-Christian-couple-refuses-to-convert:-husband-is-burnt-alive%2c-wife-raped-by-police-17949.html
This article is evidence of the way religion can brainwash people and lead them to become extremist in their activities. Some of these activities even being condoned by higher authorities within the church as 'the will of god.' A man was brutally beaten and set on fire while his wife was raped in front of their children right in front of a police station. This disgusting behaviour was justified because the couple refused to convert to Islam.
http://www.theage.com.au/national/jehovahs-witnesses-a-cruel-cult-20130315-2g5x3.html#ixzz2NbKoNxzX
This article explains how religions such as Jehovah's Witness and Scientology are actually funded and subsidised by taxpayer money, as well as some of the practices being funded such as being able to rip a 5 year old child away from their family because Mum or Dad decided to leave the religion. This shows how religion is so ingrained and accepted among modern society and the dangers of that fact.
http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/indian-woman-dies-after-being-refused-abortion/article4097428.ece
This article details the story of a women in civilised, modern, Ireland dying after being refused an abortion while going through a miscarriage. This is a shocking display of inadequate basic human rights, even if to save a life. The fact that lawmakers voted in by the trusting public would rather two people dying than trying to save one, which could have been done easily, goes to show just how far people will go to please a supposed 'loving' God.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10868155
This article again illustrates how people have universally become so disconnected to ideals within certain religions that it is being treated as a joke, or a source of income. A priest took $150,000 of church money and spent it all gambling. This is total breach of public trust and more importantly trust of people within the church.
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/23/world/americas/mexico-pope-cost
This article is about how Mexico spent over $11 million preparing for the Pope's visit in 2012. In a country as unstable as Mexico this is a huge amount of money to spend for one man to drive through a city. The fragile nature of Mexico as nation is evident as 'even the drug cartels have promised to cooperate..'.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1303241/Taxpayers-foot-luxury-hotel-Popes-entourage.html
This article details the cost and expenditure of the Pope's visit to Britain in 2010. The British taxpayer footed the £12 million bill for the Pope's stay including luxury hotel room. This article notes that with the church's estimated fortune of over £30 billion, which is around $60 billion NZD, and asks why the taxpayer should have to foot the bill. This is further evidence of the hypocrisy and greed within even the highest sectors of religion.
http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=17361#.UYG6sLWW-Sp
This article outlines how nearly $2 million dollars of relief for victims of the 2004 boxing day tsunami never got to those affected. A general secretary for the Church of South India diverted over a third of the money intended for relief to give to her daughter to help her medical career. This is just yet another example of universal corruption throughout churches and different religions. The article also states other things that the highest officials of the church have been charged with - tax fraud, cronyism, nepotism, money hijacked from land deals, hospital fraud, stolen Tsunami funds, vote buying, and much more.
http://www.ghanabusinessnews.com/2013/03/13/reverend-minister-worried-about-immorality-corruption-in-the-church/
This article details the worries of a reverend of the Zion Community Church International. He worries that the catholic church is over-run with corruption and that church leaders had forgotten the basic principles of Christianity. This is evidence of the way religion and the supposed power it gives to people has gone to people's heads and the outdated nature of these institutions.
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