Is Religion Poisoning Our Souls or Promoting Happiness? Let's Discuss the Real Impact

Religion is not opium, it's cyanide.

December 14, 2005

'Religion is nothing but institutionalized mysticism. The catch is, mysticism does not lend itself to institutionalization. The moment we attempt to organize mysticism, we destroy its essence. Religion, then, is mysticism in which the mystical has been killed. Or, at least diminished... not only is religion divisive and oppressive, it is also a denial of all that is divine in people; it is a suffocation of the soul.'
-- One of my all-time favorite authors, Tom Robbins, in Skinny Legs and All.

What set me thinking about religion was a recent article in the Indian Express which spoke about how Hindus cannot adopt Muslim children and vice versa. Read more here: http://in.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/15ram.htm Source - Rediff.com

Dear friends! Mr. Sengupta's conclusion is wrong. Intrinsic religiosity promotes health and happiness whereas extrinsic religiosity generates ethnocentrism, cyanide within. Regards.

Dear members,

I would like to request everyone not to copy complete texts from other websites and post them on CiteHR. This is a violation of the copyrights act. Instead, what you should do is copy a paragraph and provide a link to the original article - this is called fair use.

As per the notification posted at the footer of the website - "All trademarks and copyrights are held by respective owners. Member comments are owned by the poster." CiteHR is not legally responsible for such violations, and this may create unnecessary hassle for the violating member. So please do not copy-paste entire articles.

Warm regards,
CHR

Dear Dr.,

Even if you paste something, mention the source of the article so that the credits are given.

Regards,
scare_crow