Hell on Earth

     Religion is about learning how to love yourself so you will be able to love others. It's about learning how to forgive and turn the other cheek. It is about caring for those who are less fortunate. Religion teaches things like compassion, understanding, sharing, and empathy.  It helps us to understand our suffering and how it can make us stronger. It teaches us how to live in peace in our communities, and accept people for who they are, and understand that none of us are perfect.
     I believe this is the sole purpose of religion. These are important lessons we can learn from religion. If one is able to extract these ideas from religion, and avoid focusing on all the crap that people who know nothing about religion try to emphasize, you will avoid a hellish life on earth. Hell on earth is definitely real.
     Religion is not about judging people and condemning them to hell if they don't believe everything you believe. I am willing to bet my own life that there is no place called hell, where if you don't live a perfect life, you will be condemned to this place for eternity. The idea that a loving and forgiving god would create a place like that is asinine.
     But if there was a Hell, I kinda wonder what would that Hell would be like? For some people it my be an enclosed space with only a single TV. And that TV only will allow you to turn off the power if you have the remote. And the remote is nowhere to be found. As you spend eternity searching for this non-existing remote you are forced to watch re-runs of "Joey" or "Cop Rocks." Or maybe your Hell would be an eternity of driving in Florida traffic where the person in front of you avoids the left-turning lane to make a left turn, stops at green lights, and travels 15 mph under the posted speed limit.
     My personal Hell would be sitting and listening to right-winged fundamentalists speak about religion (something they know nothing about) and being annoyed by stupid, pointless religious messages on an interstate highway. So to all those fundamentalists and stupid religious billboard makers out there; "you are all annoying cock-weasels, and if I am going to hell, I can guarantee now that god knows what my personal hell would be, I will be taking you with me."   PEACE :)