Almost all organized religions claim to have all of the answers, almost all of those religions claim to be the only way to salvation, almost all of those very religions say that everyone else is wrong, almost all of those religions I 'aim-to-defame'.

Religious Toleration and Bigotry...

Ceremoniously gracing the pages of Kungfoo, religion has become an unavoidable topic. It has shaped our minds, woven our thoughts and is thus reflected in the romance of art and achievements of all cultures; all people adhere to a religion of some form. While many people are now shying away from organized religion, we all have certain beliefs about the universe that cannot yet be explained by the mundane.

Over the course of prehistory, history, and modern times, religion has made the transition from camp fire stories, to myths, to legends, to traditions, and finally to doctrines, though not all follow these same origins of course.. Perhaps the initial evolution of religion is best described as the search for the truth. Farther down the scale of time, the meaning of truth became more akin to that of knowledge When science took over the role for the search for ‘truth’, religion became the search for contentment, and all of the different orthodoxes which had appeared over the course of time started to label themselves as the only way to ‘salvation’ from earthly suffering. The ideas of ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ have almost always founded the basis upon which doctrines enforced/abused their power. Suddenly the wonderful idea of a ‘heaven’ became a members only fundamentalism, most religions preached against other religions, sects against sects, and regional religious groups versus the like.

The largest religious division which resulted in the most violent feud can be linked back to Abraham. A simple controversy over who his rightful heir would be has resulted in the slaughter of innumerable lives. A majority of the worlds wars and bloodshed have been fueled by this pathetic difference. As most know, his wife Sara could not have a child and Abraham wished for a son more than anything else. He ended up having a child with both Sara and his servant, the servants’ being the first born. One of the sons started Islam, the other Judaism and so on. These religions undoubtedly have had the largest impact on mankind, though not necessarily in a good way.

That’s three religions right there, but then there is the other 19 major world religions and furthermore, countless other religions of other origins, cultures, and in many cases, completely different beliefs. No matter what your Pastor says, there is really no evidence to warrant that only one religion is correct. Almost all religions make claims to have miracles, fulfilled prophecies, or divine intervention of some sort, though not all in a literal sense.

So how can one religion claim to be the only truth? How can any religion persecute and condemn others to eternity in their hell for the others’ differences. Is this any less discriminatory than racism, sexism, or any of the other plagues of society?

The most referred to example of this bigotry is the very first commandment of the Jewish/Muslim/Christian text, the Bible. It basically speaks of there being only one God, all other Gods are wrong, and if you believe otherwise: your wrong. This is meant to strike fear into the hearts of non believers, and obedience in the hearts of followers of this text. May I remind you however that the Bible is just a speck upon the vast pallette of religious answers in the world.

The Bible can provide a means for love, ‘truth’, and spiritual contentment, but as soon as something claims to be the ONLY system for love, ‘truth’, and spiritual contentment, it throws all of its validity out of the window. There is many arguments against this type of idealism. First of all, how can any religion be the only truth?

*Most statements deal with Theological Religions.

1. If it were, it would be the only religion and everyone would follow it? Why would everyone follow a lie?


2. If Christianity was the only correct religion, then that means that the other 6 Billion people on earth with different beliefs are going to be condemned to ‘hell’. Most of them good people.


3. There is no evidence for ‘faith based’ religions.

I will start with the first statement. Say there really is a God, he has appeared to Abraham, Moses, and sent his son Jesus to save man.* But that was the last resort when you look at atrocities such as the great flood..

If God really had appeared to man on various occasions, wouldn’t there be a much larger impact? Wouldn’t everyone admit there was a God? Some people like to explain that not everyone is Christian because they are mislead by the Devil: but if that was true, wouldn’t everyone admit that there was a Devil? Those who don’t believe in a Devil; who mislead them? God?

Second, if we accept the belief that Christianity is the only correct religion, then we are stating, in pure ignorance, that the other 6 Billion people of this planet are doomed to eternity in ‘hell’. Most of these are innocent, and loving people, as shown through their actions rather than beliefs. To say that these non-believers are condemned is to say that Ghandi is serving eternity in hell despite his actions, and so will the Dalai Lama, and even from a Protestant view-point, Mother Theresa.

Many of these Organized religions try to silence these questions by demanding faith from the followers. They can’t explain it, so you just have to believe. There is no evidence, so you just have to believe. Your parents are going to hell because they divorced, but that’s okay, just believe. Look, if Christianity were the only correct religion, it would have a good case for this by now, as opposed the overwhelming evidence that and omnipotent God is impossible.

Perhaps, despite all of the evidence, there is a God. Is he a nice God? Or is he a God that follows the eye-for-an-eye rhetoric? Is this the type of God you would truly like to spent eternity with? A vengeful, homosexual destroying God? Abrahams God? With all of these facts, you can’t possibly claim that there is only one correct path.




For quite some time I searched for the answer but with so many religions, how do you know which one is true? Then a friend broke through my collective ignorance.

“There can only be one truth.”

[Well, not right away, it took a while.]

What? So there is only one religion that is correct?

I had missed the point, but he went on to explain; there is only one truth, but many means by which to find this truth. When you really dissect this statement, you see the validity of its meaning. There is so many religions, not one can be correct, so they must all be correct to a certain extent. After all, you can test the partial truth of some religions in this very life, and so too can you test the partial fallacy of those same religions.

Most religious bigots use God as the precursor to their condemnation of other religions, but if we can prove to them that God cannot and does not exist, then they have no basis for their accusations.

Jesus him self said that if something is contradictory in nature, it is impossible; Mark 3: 24-26. [link]

God is perhaps the most contradictory ‘being’ I could ever make reference to. There is a few simple tests to prove this nature.

• During the Passover, the Jews painted lambs blood on there houses so that God would know who to pass over, and to proceed on the killing spree. If God is omnipotent, why kill all of the lambs to mark the houses?


• If God is omnipotent, he knows the future, so he would be powerless to change it. If you know the future, all of the choices you and others are going to make, and the consequences, you are powerless you change the future. You know what you would change, and the outcome, so you really wouldn’t be changing anything because if you knew everything, you would see that from the very begging.


• Surely, if God is omnipotent he would have seen that we were going to turn against him. The Bible says that God was saddened and surprised when we turned against him, but he would have known this ahead of time. He would of foreseen Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge, he would have seen them being cast out ahead of time and suffering being set upon the world. He should have heard the screams of the damned.

So if God is contradictory in nature then according to Jesus: God is impossible. Using this as a basis for my inference, Christianity cannot be the only correct religion because of the undeniable contradictions within it. With all of this lashing at the heels of the bigots, they continue to insist that they are the only ones following the truth. I state again however, all religions must hold some part of the truth. It’s all or none.

Regardless of this, these very people have recently begun to attack the Eastern Religions. The systems which have never pointed a finger and have always promoted peace are now being attacked for harboring Satanism, leading people from the truth and other such pathetic accusations. Why? Is it because a growing number of people are leaving Christianity and turning to these alternative trains-of-thought? Most likely. Most of the official western religions have never had power in logic, or power in rational, so they rely on power in numbers. Even the fact that they have to propagate their religion through fear shows that they are becoming ever more desperate to gain supporters.

A central idea behind Christianity, Protestantism mainly, is that the only way to their ‘heaven’ is through a personal relationship with Jesus. If you don’t have this personal connection, this covenant: you go to hell. This applies to all of the people in other cultures who have never heard of Jesus, who never had a chance to have the covenant. This also applies to people with mental handicaps, some of them can’t possibly have a personal relationship with Jesus and truly affirm their beliefs; they too, are going to hell. This is yet another example of how the claims of authenticity made by organized religions actually lead to their logical and rational demise.

So now what? What is left to follow?

Out of the 8 Billion people on the earth not one is exactly same, so you can’t apply one religion to all of them, you can’t force them all to believe one thing. There is 84, 000 different teachings in Buddhism for 84, 000 different types of people. There is almost 300, 000, 000 Gods in Hinduism for 300, 000, 000 different types of followers. So it really is up the individual to decide their beliefs. Borrowing from religions and formulating your own conclusions about the origins, path, and purpose of the Universe is best for most people. This is only done as an individual affair. What’s the meaning of life? Again, it’s different for everyone. There is really nothing wrong with following an organized religion, just shy away from the bigotry and don’t become blinded to teachings of others. Who knows, maybe one of those ‘tool-of-the-devil’ religions has something right for you.

-Thomas Dubbin-McCrea

Ed Note: graphic borrowed from Vanderbilt Department of Religious Studies [link]