“Religion Is Like A Penis…”

Posted on by under Life14

“Religion is like a penis. It’s fine to have one and it’s fine to be proud of it, but please don’t whip it out in public and start waving it around…”

Oh my! Did I really just write that???

Please do not take any offense when reading this post. I only share my thoughts with you. I am only telling you about how I feel in regards to religion and the way it is handled and lived by certain people, by certain groups. I am not telling anybody out there what they should do or shouldn’t (well, as long as you don’t force anything on me).

I admit, I had to read this prompt again and again when I first saw it. And I also admit that I was laughing while reading it. This just brought up a million of thoughts or let’s even call it “inner discussions” I had over years and years. And here we go: I think that this quote or prompt or whatever you want to call it, nails it!

Religion is one of those things I feel is very personal. Do I believe? Yes I do! Do I go to church? More or less and basically almost never. But I believe.

This world is too amazing to not have something/someone up there who created it. And that is what I believe. I call this something/someone “God”. Only because this is what I was taught in school. I am not comfortable by calling this something/someone “God”. I think that we should not name this something or someone.

Maybe it would be better if we would have never named whatever is out there. Maybe we would have less issues out there. Imagine, if we would have to describe it, would have to find a definition for it which suits us and what we believe and what we actually most need and enjoy. Maybe it would be more peaceful… Because, as we all know, the different names we gave it only lead to bigger issues all around the world and let’s be honest: Those issues are just about a name and maybe some different translations of what might have been the same script thousands of years ago. And it is all about who is right, who has to cave in and who doesn’t.

Unfortunately the peaceful side of it disappears very fast, when it comes down to manifest whose believe is the “right one”… Why really can only one be right?

If we would really really really follow the essentials of a book, that was written such a long time ago by someone in flesh and blood and translated a million times (and I am not only speaking about the Bible), we might not go to war. We might respect everyone and everything around us…Maybe…

Look, I don’t really know the Bible but this is what I was always really confused about… I am confused that we treat the Bible as if it was given to us by that something/someone. How can we be sure, that it was not just a person like you and me, who decided to start a nice story and kept writing? Kind of like a blog, you know… And at some point someone took over and maybe added some little things here and there? Maybe that someone added some rules because they just came in handy. How do we know, that it was not just written to manipulate certain groups? We don’t. Because we were not there. We only have a book which was passed on over generations and generations, which has been re-written and translated (I know, I mentioned this before, but I feel like this is a major fact…) a couple of times.

And I know that a lot of you will probably cringe while reading this or maybe get upset. But please believe me: I am not questioning you. I think it is amazing, that you find peace and strength and your truth in the book which is important to you. And I am glad it works for you! I understand that faith provides you with a safety-net and that you feel at ease with your faith. And I admire that. I am aware that so far it sounds like I am generalizing, I know. I don’t think that everyone is extreme or uses their faith in a bad way. As always people are different and they handle and approach things in a different way.

I do see and approach it in a different way. I don’t see why I need to visit a place which is built by human beings to be “good”. I don’t see why I have to pray in a certain way, use words which are given to me by somebody else and follow rules which someone decided on in a time, which was so crazy different to ours. I have my conversations in my way. And I feel good about it.

I believe. And I want my kids to believe that there is something out there. That something created this beautiful world and is hopefully looking out for us and our world. I feel closest to this something (and I am letting the someone out here on purpose) when I am outside. When I feel the wind, the sun, the cold, the heat. When I hear the birds or watch the waves rolling in. When I see the starts, the clouds. When I smell the flowers, the soil, the ocean. I believe that there is something which is looking after us, which makes the world go round and round. I believe in my own way and I am grateful as well. Grateful for everything that is out there. Grateful for my healthy kids, for my family being healthy. For my life.

So please, please, please: Let people believe what they want to believe. Let them believe and follow their religion in their way. Find your truth in what is right for you but don’t force it on others. Don’t judge other people just because they don’t believe in the same things or in the same way you do. Don’t judge them because they have different values. Leave them alone if they leave you alone! Let them do it the way they feel is right for them.

Why is it, that in the name of religion, people try to overpower others. Why is it, that you can excuse every violent interference in someone else’s life in the name of religion? Why is it, that you are allowed to punish in the name of religion? Why is it, that you can restrain and hold down in the name of religion? Why is it, that other believes are labeled evil just because people think theirs is the one and only? Why is it, that people who are good who never hurt anybody are singled out and labeled evil just because they don’t fit the normal picture (ie homosexuals)? Why is it, that we go to war and kill in the name of religion?

I was thinking about this prompt for such a long time. In addition to this prompt I stumbled across  a post by a pastor and dad yesterday which was so interesting to read and is so spot on. In addition to the post itself there were some spicy comments there as well… It sort of came in handy as a little example. In case I ask you: Why is it, that we dear to judge a pastor and dad for being prepared to love his kids for the way they are and will be or might be? I loved that he pointed out that his kids are the way they will be already now, given to him the way they are and will be. A very refreshing open mind…

Please understand, that I am not trying to imply that religion is something bad or is always used in a bad way! I am not saying it is bad to believe and to follow. I know that it is used in really great ways and that there are so many good ways to live your faith. I know that there are great people out there (like this pastor I’ve just mentioned), who use their believes to help others, who are open minded and have an open heart. What I am saying is that unfortunately, and too often, religion is used as a tool. A tool to control and manipulate people. A tool to find excuses. A tool to blame others. A tool to explain and excuse a personal aversion.

And this tool hurts and will hurt in the future. This tool starts wars and this tool destroys cultures (look at what the missionaries did. Native Americans, Aborigines, the tribes in the Amazon and so on). All in the name of religion. Cultures which were living in peace and in harmony with nature. They just lived their life in a different and unknown way. And in the name of religion it had to be changed. And destroyed…

Yes, I think religion is like a penis. Some people have it and some don’t. It is something that is very close to those who have it and something they are happy with and maybe even proud of. But it is something which should be personal and well looked after and maybe checked out every now and then… Please be proud of it. But enjoy it in your world and please be respectful of others and keep it to yourself. And maybe, just maybe it might be good to have a fresh look at it. And please, even if you enjoy it and you are happy with it: Never shove it down someone’s mouth without permission…

As I said: All of this above are my thoughts, my believes. I will not tell you what is wrong or right. Be happy with the way you choose to go. I highly respect how you choose to live your life and I respect your thoughts. Please show me the same respect and if you do not agree: I am happy to hear your thoughts if you manage to put them in nice words. Thank you 🙂

92 thoughts on ““Religion Is Like A Penis…””

  1. Wonderfully written post. Religion is a man made commodity. Faith and love are not. You most certainly can know truth, without the trappings of a creed. In fact, there are times, I find religion fails to adequately express God and His love and power. It fails, because you cannot take an incomprehensibly complex object, such as a limitless immortal being, stuff it in a book and expect the finite power, of men’s brains, to access such knowledge. Look forward to reading more of your ideas.

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  3. I definitely agree, your opening paragraph is gold! What comes to religion, keeping it as your own business works also the other way. I don’t know if I believe or not, but I belong to church. In Finland, you automatically do if your parents do and once you turn to 18 you can decide whether you resign the church or not. Most of my friends did. And what happened next was that they started to push it to everyone everywhere. “Resign the church, resign the church”. Sometimes I felt they were worse than the believers who go from door to door to spread the word. So whether your decision is to stay in church and believe or resign the church and not believe, that’s cool…
    “…but please don’t whip it out in public and start waving it around…” 🙂 Great post!

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    • Thank you. It works the same way in Switzerland. And you are right, the ones who decided to leave can be as pushy as the others. Maybe this is what religion does to you? I don’t know… In any case, it seems as if when it comes down to religion and your believe people always think they know it better…

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      • Probably, I don’t know why people leaving the church are pushing it even harder than the ones trying to keep you in the church. Maybe on some level they need backing up with their decision. Either or, I’m sad for the people who don’t believe in anything. Like you said, it doesn’t need to be God, it can be anything, someone or something, but not believing in anything but the ultimate truths proven with science leaves no room for imagination. And I’m sad for people who have no imagination…

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      • I agree. I just think it comes down to life and let life. I need something to believe in. Science is fine but it also does not explain everything to me. And as you said: It’s sad not to have imagination.

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  4. Thank you so much for putting into words what I have been feeling for so many years now. I believe that there has to be something greater than all of us out there, but I don’t believe that it manifested itself in the form of religion. Religion was made my man.

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  6. Reblogged this on caroline.in.iowa and commented:
    I’ve wanted to post something along these lines for such a long time. It’s been a long process, but I’ve finally accepted what I know I’ve always felt and it has been so liberating to allow myself the freedom to admit it. A Momma’s View has put into words what I’ve always been terrified to write about. I commend her bravery and appreciate her honesty.

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  7. Well I’ll agree with you on one thing- visiting a place made by human beings does not make one “good.” It makes no sense why a building (church) paid for by the people is not owned by the people. BUT saying “religion is like a p*nis” is crude. I know a few christians who push their belief on people, but their personalities are obnoxios to begin with. Now a muslim behaeading an 11 year old for not fasting long enough, or killing a woman for wanting a divorce, now THAT is a real example of religous fanatics truely using religon to “overpower” someone. Some outspoken Christian blogging about their belief, or knocking on doors inviting their neighbors to church should hardly be considered overpowering. Just my 2 cents 🙂

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    • It was my intent to keep it as open as possible as I do not want to talk about one specific religion. I believe there are extremes in every religion and that’s what I wanted to point out. I appreciate your input 🙂

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  8. When you write: “I am not telling anybody out there what they should do or shouldn’t (well, as long as you don’t force anything on me)”, to what are you referring when you use the term “force”? I ask this because too many people view any public affirmation of theism as “forcing” their view on others (whether that public affirmation is knocking on someone’s door to share their faith or simply living out the principles of their faith throughout every aspect of their life). However, using the term “force” in such a way is, in fact, telling theists what they should or shouldn’t do (e.g., “Don’t share you faith with me”, “Don’t talk about your faith around me”, “Don’t form public policy around your beliefs”, etc.).

    You noted, “Maybe it would be better if we would have never named whatever is out there. Maybe we would have less issues out there.”
    Unfortunately, history proves otherwise. Marxist-communism, an atheistic worldview, is responsible for more deaths in the 20th century than any dispute over God’s name. And while there are many muslims running around killing people, most people in prison are not there due to a dispute over God’s name. In fact, it could be observed that the crimes for which they were imprisoned were anti-religious, i.e., had they actually had some commitment to God’s moral standards, they would not have ended up in prison (unless they belong to a marxist regime which is itself hostile to religion and is imprisoning them for their faith).

    You stated: “Those issues are just about a name and maybe some different translations of what might have been the same script thousands of years ago. And it is all about who is right, who has to cave in and who doesn’t.”
    Actually, the differences between varied worldviews are far more numerous than a mere dispute over God’s name. Very little (if anything) is doctrinally similar between Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism, Wicca, Christianity, Judaism, Shintoism, marxism, atheism, Bahaiism, Taoism, and the plethora of other world views out there. A knowledgeable person would never suggest that all of those worldviews are equivalent and that the only difference is with respect to God’s name or holy books. These worldviews are mutually exclusive and differ over such important matters as origins, ontology, epistemology, soteriology, eschatology, and ethics. Such issues touch everyone’s lives, whether or not one has any religious commitment whatsoever and whether or not one takes any time to reflect on such matters.

    You later ask: “Why really can only one be right?”
    Laws of logic do not afford that mutually exclusive worldviews with their contradictory positions can all be correct. And I trust no one wants to exchange truth and rationality for quixotic views that have no relation to the real world. Perhaps the better enterprise is to do the hard work of researching different worldviews and finding which best provides for the preconditions which make the world around us and all of its phenomena most intelligible. For example, humanity throughout history acknowledges good and evil, so we can eliminate worldviews which reject objective ethics (which eliminates atheism off the bat). We have evidence from science, theology, and philosophy that demonstrate the universe is finite, so we can eliminate any worldview which holds to infinite time or an eternal universe. The point is, one can go through a process of elimination and at least start to eliminate worldviews which are not tenable or feasible. This isn’t rocket science. It just takes a willingness to apply oneself and think rigorously about such thinks.

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    • By “forcing” I do mean putting a knife in front of me or a pointing a gun at me. Not talking or writing. And I want to point out that this remark was meant in a really general way. I am not speaking about religion here. At least not exclusively. Everyone got brought up differently and was influenced differently. By different people with different views and different knowledge. I talk about what I was taught and told over years by certain people. What I watched and processed over the time. Maybe I should have even more pointed out that I do not want to generalize. And I agree: Better research might have made a difference. And I guess I should have done it back then. But to be honest: I got turned off too much about what was said. So maybe I will get to it in the future. For now I like the way I believe. Thank you for your input. I appreciate it and I honestly take it in. And this is what this post is also about for me. I love to hear your thoughts. I am open minded even if it might not seem like it to you.

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      • Given such use of “force”, I certainly agree with you. And I suspect most everyone else would agree with you as well (with the likely exception being those groups who engage in conversion by use the sword).

        You noted: “For now I like the way I believe.”

        While I certainly respect everyone’s right to believe what they will, it’s important to understand why people hold to their beliefs.

        Some people hold to their beliefs for emotional reasons (e.g., “I believe it because it makes me feel good” or “I disbelieve because it makes me angry”).

        Others hold their beliefs for prejudicial reasons (“I believe because it allows me to engage in this thing that gives me pleasure” or “I disbelieve because it opposes my predilections”)

        Others still hold to their beliefs for evidential or intellectual reasons (e.g., “I think it’s true because of the evidence or due to an inference to the best explanation” or “I disbelieve it because I have insufficient evidence or falsifying evidence”)

        I am not here attempting to tell anyone to which worldview he/she ought to subscribe. However, since neither emotion nor personal bias provide any rational basis for adopting a worldview, it seems incumbent upon the rational person to ground his or her worldview on the available evidence. The thinking person ought to ask, “Is this true?”, and then follow the evidence where it leads.

        Finally, thank you for being open and allowing me to participate in the conversation.

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  9. Love, love, love it. I saw a cartoon and it said, “If you are using the bible to hurt people, then you are using it wrong. Same goes for all belief systems in my opinion.

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  11. Hey- Great post, and I totally agree, especially since most religion was imagined and then written by phallices– or phallises or phallii… Tower of Babylon? Penis. Did God have a daughter to come and save the world from itself? Nooooo… God even turns lot’s wife into a pillar of salt (penis) for disobeying HIM. All religion is a penis. Thatnk you for bringing it into the light. (Back then light was a candle— PENIS)

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  12. *Very* good point. I’m not religious myself, being an atheist scientist, but I have the same frustrations (that people are far too public and openly criticizing with their beliefs). This post was very refreshing, after seeing so many religious attacks on other beliefs. Thank you!

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  20. I laughed at your opening line and then wondered if somehow you got inside my head and read my thoughts. I believe, too Why? Because if there wasn’t something more than this why would we even exist? To me God is about love and acceptance. Religion is man made and pits one group of people against another because one feels they are more “right” than the other. Before the bible was even written the stories were passed down from one person to the other. Ever hear of the telephone game? If things can get misconstrued from the beginning of the line to the last person in the line, just imagine how the stories changed over hundreds of years. And as you said, the people that ended up writing down the words, could have easily added their own thoughts and beliefs, just to make it interesting. I believe, I pray and I talk to God almost daily and thank him for my blessings. I used to go to church, but not anymore. I got tired of the hypocrites who went to church every week and yet didn’t know the first thing about love, acceptance, forgiveness or truth. The world is my church. Now, please stay out of my head – that’s a little too freaky! 🙂

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  22. You state that everyone should be entitled to believe whatever they want. But your own children seem to be exempt from that statement, since you want them to believe in a higher power. That to me seems a bit contradictory.

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    • You’re right. It is. I guess I’m just happy for them to see how beautiful this world is. And then to keep an open mind. What they then make out of it… Who knows…

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  24. and I quote… I will not tell you what is wrong or right. Be happy with the way you choose to go. I highly respect how you choose to live your life and I respect your thoughts. Please show me the same respect and if you do not agree: I am happy to hear your thoughts if you manage to put them in nice words. Thank you

    This statement in and of itself says enough!
    Thank you and Kudos on such a powerful post!

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  27. Your title caught my eye (and made me a bit uncomfortable), which I think is a good thing because it got me to read your entire post, think about the subject and follow you to see what you’ll “dare” to say next:)) I like your courage.

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  31. Humor is an excellent method to use when discussing topics like religion and politics. Humor is so human and so helpful to connect us. A tad long of a post but excellently shared and the opening and closing paragraphs were both very memorable. Well shared.

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  36. Just read this. Hilarious but also true, imho. The greatest part of the whole blog is how many people responded and discussed it. If only more of us could openly discuss important things as they did here, we would all benefit.

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    • It’s what I love too. The exchange afterwards. Reading everyone’s take on it. Back then I was surprised that I didn’t get more critical comments. I love how everything was and still is very open.

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  39. Just found this one again from forever ago. I wonder why this one post is the one that’s stuck in my mind for so long…I saw it in my view of your stats and was like, “I remember exactly what that one was about.” Either way, I read it again and liked it just as much now as I did when I commented before. 🙂

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  40. I had to come by here and read this after I spotted the title at the bottom of the blog I read today. Still catching up but what the heck, I’m always behind. I LOVED this post and especially how you handle those comments that were a bit antagonistic. I get what you are saying here and saved your lead in sentence. It’s priceless. I read a lot of quantum physics. They refer to what we call God as the Field of potential or the the Field. My beliefs have changed radically over the years. If you are reading and growing over the years, they have to change. I started questioning the beliefs I accepted so placidly and that opened the door to more widespread acceptance. As it should in a world of ideological rigidity. You said this perfectly and kindly with an open mind and heart. I wish I’d had the cahoonas to say this. Bravo!

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  42. Most of the points I made about religion is absolutely correct. But the point is that we might not be the only beautiful world in this universe, possibly millions of others (with life) so you can’t expect God to look out for us. We are like nothing to God. I am an agnostic and I believe if you believe in God you shouldn’t let it interfere with your life in any way. There is a reason why popular scientists like Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawkings, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and famous innovators like Elon Musk don’t believe in religion. If you think deeper into life and the universe, you will find that nothing has a meaning to it.

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