Religion or not

This week i cannot help but notice certain issues that linked heavily to religions. Firstly is the survey carried out by NTU regarding Singaporeans' acceptance of homosexuality, and around 70% is nay to homosexuality. Out of these 70%, majority are rather religious, especially Christians and Muslims. Secondly is the street protests carried out by the Buddhist monks in Myanmar against the price hike in fuel prices in the country.

Not that i am surprise about how religions heavily influence us in our daily lives, after all religion is one of the 5 pillars of society. But i have always thought that religion is more than mundane issues, that is it is more for the spiritual well-being of individuals. Apparently not in the case of many issues, when religions start to mix with political agendas. I remembered from my Making sense of society module, where Karl Marx i think argued that the state carry out legitimate use of violences, and i wonder if religion is starting to legitimize the use of violence by it's follower too. In fact through out history it happened a couple of times.

I caught The Invasion on ppstream just now, and some points were mention inside the show. It was mention that our media is covered with acts of violences, and that violence is what makes us human, though i think i am not that accurate with the interpretation. However, my point is that it is sad that religion is influenced by agendas and vested interests, such that it is no longer for the spiritual goodness of mankind, but rather used as yet another tool to achieve one's aim. I just do not see the goodness in any religion where they deem all homosexual will go to hell or some people just deserve to die. The boundaries of religion seem to diminish in a world where everything can be used as a weapon to advocate one's interests.