Freethinking V Religion

An introduction to Freethought, and why I believe it is better than aligning oneself to a religious organisation... Basic Wikipedia interpretation: Freethought is a philosophical ideology which holds that positions regarding TRUTH should be formed on the basis of LOGIC, and REASON, rather than authority, tradition, and divine revelation. In particular, freethought is strongly tied with the rejection of traditional socio-religious belief systems. For more on that see Wikipedia yourself, you may argue its written by common folk, however research suggests that the majority of Wikipedia pages are written and edited by a core few thousand dedicated journalists. About me: Anyways, here is why I am a freethinker: Haters may argue bias, but its important to explain narrative. So as mentioned on other pages, MRAAJ is a Centre Liberal in a Conservative household, growing up I observed more than I listened (still do), so I'd call myself anti-authority, simply because I saw how horrible the world was around me, and I was the only one doing something about it, while others continued being hypocrites. For example, my dad is an alcoholic, everyone ostracised him for it, but I applied logic and studied psychology to help him, and it is working. Tying this with religion, my gran would teach me about the horrific struggle that the Sikhs (my religion) had with the Muslims, but I quickly caught on of how biased those stories were, and that the Muslims had their own side of the story to tell. Nonetheless I was intrigued by religion during my teens, but at the same time remaining an independent person. By studying religion you can notice all mainstream religions have a common objective. Especially the Abrahamic religions. That goal being "gain as many followers as possible because what we say is the word of god (ie holy text)", its funny how similar they are, but all contradict each other. What I mean by this is, religion can not thrive without violence, see ISIS now, the crusades of Christianity, etc. So yeh the victors get to tell the story. In short, actions speak louder than words, and I observe. The flaw with religion: Religion should teach you to form a connection with god, instead organisations have been plagued w/ corruption, money, and sin (eg priests raping kids). The only positive about religion is that may help in time of need, and there is a sense of community. Any smart man knows they can connect to god without going to an organisation. Dogmatic Religion is highly appealing to a sinner: Example: people feel "I have sinned, so must to go to church to rectify myself", I did this several times during uni ( I WAS PROB THE ONLY STUDENT WHO WENT TO THE TEMPLE REGULARLY). But a true good person knows to treat others like they'd want to be treated. Not matter how many times I went, I kept sinning, SOUL SEARCHING and KNOWLEDGE resolves things, not going to temple. Why we are prone to Sin, and how religion exploits it: This society is evil, those who don't fit in (like me) can either become lone wolves or sell out due to insecurities (girls want to be thin, men want to have muscles-example). No one is perfect, but institutions make us feel like dogcrap just so we keep coming back, donating money that may or may not be reinvested in to the org. Just last year, a man was killed by a gang for witnessing a priest steal money from my local temple. Freethinkers accept people: We are not going to deny people based on their sexuality (my family is homophobic, and unfortunately I am too because of this), gender, or race, just because a bible speaks out against it. Freethinkers like me will always point out ignorance and challenge authority. Problem with a holy text: God did not write them, Man did, the Quran was written by Christians ffs. My religious scripture (the SGG) was ripped to shreds by rivals hundreds of years ago, and had to be rewritten, so how knows what the original said. Why religious folk can not call me fake, ie am I an atheist?: No, because i do believe in a higher power, sometimes i show contempt against god, but like in the book of Job, i rely on him, or her, in times of need. Would i take a million cash or spend a life trying to find god?: I would take the money, and do good with it. Why you can't discredit me: I understand Gideon's, some of the Quran, the Sikh SGG, and then I have basic understanding of the other religions (Buddhism, paganism, deism, Hinduism). Apologies for the lack of research, i needed this to be authentic, can add it in the next round.