Religion is the opium of the masses. Do you agree?

Thank you for your comment, bhanusb. Hope to hear from you, again, soon. Cheers.

Thanks for your comment, Pose123. It is a great eye opener for those who are religious but not spiritual. Yes, you are absolutely right about religious leaders wielding immense power......power that can be used to steer large masses of religious fanatics to the whims and fancies of the religious leaders. Have you watched 'Jesus of Nazareth'? Why was Jesus crucified? What about Galilei Galileo and his belief that the Earth went round the Sun and not that the Sun went round the Earth as proclaimed by the powerful clergy? What happened to these two GREAT MEN? One died on the cross while the other was imprisoned for life...... both cases were the result of the practise of religion of the day!!!!! Jesus was a spiritual leader NOT A RELIGIOUS LEADER while GALILEI GALILEO WAS A SCIENTIST. I hope I have opened the way for more criticisms from bloggers in cyber world now...

Thanks cloudwatcher, great thinking!!!! You are bringing home a very good point on what is being spiritual and religious. There is definitely a vast difference. No man who is spiritual will ever hurt or destroy anything that is precious to life. For Christ even a sinner has to be given a chance to turn his life about. Jesus preached LOVE NOT HATE... Some religious leaders preach hatred and intolerance which can lead to chaos and disharmony!!! This is because these religious leaders are blinded by ego and self importance.

Thank you. Yes, a believe in God and a relationship with God is unique with individuals. My relationship with God makes me bond with God in a way that is different from the way you bond with God. We learn different lessons in these relationships and become aware of our shortcomings and our mistakes. In this way we are learning directly from our maker and creator. My believe is that as long as we are morally and ethically conscious of our behaviour and actions while listening to the inner voice the world will have no problems with us.

For many years, I have been trying to understand religions and God. I wanted to know why are there so many religions but the basic principles underlying all religions are the same. If that were the case, all religions are actually branching from ONE BASIC CODE OF BEHAVIOUR AND INTERACTION rooting from the moral and ethical values. Where is the difference? It lay in the rituals, the culture, the traditions, the civilisation and the EGO from which it first rooted.

Thanks 1hopefulman, for your response. I remembered this statement which was given as a topic for debate in my school days and decided to open it here in mylot for comments. What you have just stated about true and false religions can be applied to any philosophy that has positive or negative impact on the masses. Even certain countries that practise unequal treatment of different communities can be categorised as practising false religion. Do you agree?

If I understand Jesus' teachings correctly, then doing good to our neighbour (the good Sammaritan) is practicing true religion. Also,

John 8:31 (New International Version) "To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples."

It seems that the religion we belong to or the country we live in is not the criteria. It's what we individually do. With God we have individual accountability. (Please read Ezekiel chapter 33) Of course finding a religion where there are many people, all striving to follow Jesus would be encouraging to us.