Woo boy. This seems like an even larger chunk of text to handle now that I'm sober. I think I'll take this a bit at a time, a few days at a time. This is a casual talk after all.

I'm finally able to deliver a proper response.

Pfft. Bro. Any response, as long as it's respectful of course, is a proper response. :)

So, I'm going to skip down to the bottom a little bit here, because you touched on some points I'd like to focus on . . .

You quote a line in a book that most of those behind the religion have never read, fully or at all. The cynic inside me even screams for me to point out that you may have went out of your way to find it, but I won't yield to the screams and remain in good faith of your actions and arguments. That's one.

To be honest, I didn't have to search for that quote. It's on the back of a homemade bookmark given to me by a friend. I keep it around because it reminds me a lot of the Buddhist concept of Mindfulness. If you click the link, just give it a brief glance. While the concept is worth a deep perusal, it can get kind of confusing pretty quick. There are tons of Christians out there who know their Bible well and they love to quote it. Me personally, not being a Christian, have to resort to using a “Where to Find it in the Bible Guide,” which is actually very useful as a jumping off point sometimes. I then often use a combination online study sites and Wikipedia for cultural and historical insight into various passages. I really need to gather similar tools for other faiths, but seeing as how America is very Christian dominant, Christianity is for obvious reasons one of the easiest religions for me to work with, even when you account for the seemingly countless denominations. But I'm wandering here now . . .

As for Christians and studying the Bible, there's a whole spectrum of Christians. On one end, you have the people who profess to be Christians but never step foot in a church except on rare occasions. On the other end you have the Christians that not only go to church on Sundays, but also attend church events throughout the week, host bible studies on the regular, and so on and so forth. Personally speaking, I've seen a fair mix of everyone on the spectrum and it seems to me to be an even spread.

I actually have a friend now who I've started going to church with from time to time. While the church he goes to is vastly different from the churches I've been to in the past, they seem like a decent bunch of people and he's very happy there, which is great. One of the things I like about him is that he has a decent grasp on his Bible. Is he a theological scholar? No. Could he teach me a thing or two? He absolutely can and I look forward to learning from him. That said, if you want to talk to people who really know their Bible, devout Catholics seem to have their shit down tight. I think it might be a cultural thing for them.

Another is that, while one passage in one of the religious books in Christianity might be supportive and encouraging (which I always extol), their view of sin as I understand it (from my own little experience with Christianity and Christopher Hitchens' arguments) is scaremongering at its plainest. "You're all sinners from birth because your supposed progenitors became sinners (we'll omit how they were capable of it in the first place, being perfect humans and all) [sorry, couldn't resist - TFG], and therefore you shall repent for the sins you haven't committed because you surely will".

Really? Punishing yourself for non-existent crimes? Hell: punishing yourself, period? Nothing good ever comes from it; like therapies go, "Accept what happened and move on", implying that one's best course of action is to also remember what went wrong and never go down that path again.

Once again, I'm not Christian so take this with a grain of salt, but the concept of Original Sin is a bit of a mixed bag. It's used to explain why we live in a world of pain and suffering. It's used to explain why we are imperfect and sometimes driven to do things that aren't in our best interest or the best interest of others. Christianity isn't alone in trying to address this concept. Hindus have Karma. Buddhists have Dukkha. Other religions address suffering more or less in depth in other ways. For each religion though, while there is a cause for suffering, there is also a solution. In Christianity, it is through accepting Christ and his teachings, through redemption and through repentance. It gets kind of complex, but for the most part, the very idea of redemption and repentance is in a way, “Accept[ing] what happened and mov[ing] on.” It's a system of relief. If we really want to get into the brass and tacks of all of this, there is actually a debate among various Christian doctrines as to whether or not accepting Christ alone is enough for salvation or if deeds play a crucial role.

And that's not even diving into Christianity's hipocrisy, when Pope, the highest figure of the religion on Earth, proclaims aloud Crusades - that is, killing infidels - in the name of God (right, you asshole, in his name, sure), right after citing "Thou shalt not kill"...

Eh. That all ties into politics, religion, national identity, etc. A great example would be The Troubles in Ireland. It wasn't just about Catholic and Protestant identity. Religion just happened to be one facet of a much bigger issue. It's important to remember that we're all human and everything in our lives is very intertwined almost to the point of being a jumbled up mess. Religion isn't some static concept. It's something that's integrated into people's lives in such a dynamic way that not only does it change us, but collectively and over time, we change it. That said, the whole “Thou Shalt Not Kill” is more like “Thou Shalt Not Kill But Read the Footnotes for Exceptions.” There are many ways, theologically speaking, where killing is seen as permissible. Warfare is one of them.

But, like I said, historical evidence means nothing. What matters is the course of action religions take nowadays. From what I'm seeing, Christianity speaks up against scientific education and no Christian speaks up against it (or are we not hearing them?), Muslim bombing human gathering in order to sew chaos and fear and no Muslim speaks up against it (or are we not hearing them?), fucking Buddhists, of all religions, killing ethnic minorities in the Tibet region (do we even hear about the atrocities at all?)... Is it just that the assholes pick up the mic when the rest are talking constructively and quietly with those who're willing to listen? I hope so - but is it what's happening?

So, before I address this, let's get one thing out of the way here and I'm going to address something you said that I bolded out. We are all human here, trying to navigate very difficult lives in a very difficult world. Nobody has all of the answers. No concept, be they religious, philosophical, psychological, or what have you, applies perfectly to every thing every time. Buddhists aren't special just because they see the world a bit differently than us. The same goes for Hindus, Native American religions, or whatever other concept or culture the western world wants to romanticize and mystify. No matter who we are or where we come from, as a collective whole we know better. For the most part we know what is blatantly right, what is blatantly wrong, and we have developed the tools needed to navigate through the gray areas. That said, we're all flawed and it's very easy to get caught up in the world around us and do wrong things. Any one at any time can slip. It's our job as human beings to help each other from falling, and when we do fall, to help each other get back up. That's why it's important to be loving, to be neighborly, to be vigilant, and to always encourage those in our lives to do the right thing.

Now. What you're talking about is the effect that bad news travels farther and faster than good news. We find it exciting. We sensationalize it. It gets us talking. The fact of the matter is, Muslims speak out against terrorism frequently. There are many successful and influential scientific figures throughout history who happen to be Christian. There are interfaith organizations around the world focused on helping people reconcile their differences and get along. On and on. I know you're cynical. You confess to being so quite often. I encourage you to think about it this way. There is so, so, so much good in this world, everywhere you look. You just don't notice it because of how you focus on things. Think of it this way, if you were in a room with the whitest of walls and you notice a single smudge of dirt, what are you suddenly going to start thinking about? All the whiteness or the one smudge that stands out?