This is a big one. Where to start, where to start… I suppose I should explain that this article will probably upset a lot of people, if said people were to actually read this. I try to approach all aspects of life with morality, common sense and logic. Religion is no exception. I believe that faith and religion are very separate ideas. You can have faith without religion. My aim here isn’t to convince any one person that their faith is wrong, nor their religion. I am also not trying to target any one religion; however, I am more familiar with the Christian based religions so it may seem that way. Where everyone is entitled to their own faith and practice, that entitlement does not grant them authority of persuasion. This is one of the underlying problems with religion, I believe, that has tainted faith for centuries.
I was initially raised in a Catholic setting, as my Dad was Catholic, and so we went to a Catholic church. My mom, I believe was protestant, because her parents were protestant, or something along those lines. Apparently Catholics and Protestants don’t get along too well, which is surprising to me because they come from a Christian background. Anyway, I don’t remember much of the teachings, as I was pretty young, and more or less went by force – not the kind of force, like I was shackled and dragged to church. The kind of force where, I was a child, and it was either go to church peacefully, or I wouldn’t get to play with my Legos afterward. Later on in my childhood, after my parents divorced, I would sometimes attend my Grandparents church as well. I could not discern the difference of either sect. It was just another boring hour on Sunday to me. At the same time, my stepfather was practicing his parents’ religion – Mormon. Oh god, that was the most painful of the three because it was THREE HOURS LONG on Sunday. Sure we got to go out to Boston Market afterwards, but I would have gladly made that trade if it meant sleeping in longer and playing in the woods. I’m not sure if it was the lack of pressure to pay attention to the teachings, the lack of consistency of a distinct sect or religion, or some inherent trait that led me to be rebellious to religion, but I never once used faith based teachings in my daily life; at least none that I remember.
I find that the center of all religion is fear. Fear of the creator. It’s a bit socialist to me – that fear is instilled in the believers in order to keep them conformed to the faith. I also find it a bit frightening, and borrowing a line from a Death Cab for Cutie song – “fear is the heart of love” as dictated by a nun, is particularly harrowing. Love should have no fear. You should not love out of fear, rather you should love out of compassion and loyalty. You love someone because you choose to, not because you fear the alternative.
Now faith – faith to me is completely separate from religion, although every religion has faith of some sort. Save the atheist, everyone has faith. Even scientists have faith. What you cannot prove but believe to exist is the nature of faith. Theories are the scientist’s faith. I identify more with a scientists proof than a religious proof as there are evident mathematical equations, physics, chemistry… all things science that have created many mechanical and electrical wonders that we can see, and that work. So they have to be doing something right. The reason we still have a conflict of religion and science is because of the ultimate question in the reliability in both faiths – You can’t prove God exists, but you can’t prove that he doesn’t, either. Lack of proof doesn’t necessarily promote faith, but it also does not negate it.
I believe religion is a faith based government. It is a governing power over a group of people that teaches them, and holds them to a set of rules in order to maintain an organized and growing society. Religion happens to use faith as the basis of their governance. Take Christianity for example. The word of God was passed down to the people. These people must follow the word of God throughout their life. The reward is entrance into His kingdom. However, if you do not follow the word of God, you will spend eternity in Hell, which apparently is not a very nice place this time of year, or any other time for that matter. None of this is proven, it is a matter of hearsay and mass acceptance. I believe that many basic religious followers use religion to promote a set of morals that all men should follow. This idea is actually very good. Imagine a world where everyone was held to the same moral values and principles. The only problem is that these are written by God, or more specifically translated and taught by the highest followers of God. Some of these morals and principles are logically flawed.
First of all, most religious texts are known to have been written by man, as an interpretation of God’s word. The religion is based on this book. However, man is fallible, therefore religion is fallible. Most religions hold its followers to a code of deliverance. It is their duty to convince the non believers that the word of God is the true word, and that the non believer’s faith is immoral and wrong. This may be the one flaw that creates the most problems. Thousands of lives have been lost to this ideology. In my opinion, if religion were taught to live and let live, the world would be a much better place. I don’t believe that religion should be abolished. Faith in an organized sense is important to those that need it to believe there is a higher purpose to their existence.
My biggest peeve with religion is that it is used as governance for all of society, whether individuals in said society believe or not. Many will quote religion as if it is an ultimately accepted standard for all people. For instance, some will quote our very government, and country as a Christian based country, that our Country was made on the basic principles of Christianity, and therefore the citizens must be accountable as such. I doubt many of them know that our founding fathers had a variety of different religious backgrounds, and that none of those beliefs laid the groundwork for our constitution. The pledge of allegiance was actually written by a socialist named Francis Bellamy in 1892. Congress later adopted this in 1942 and added the phrase “Under God” in 1954. Many people forget that practicing their religion in this country is a right, but not an absolute. This should be a globally accepted norm, rather than just an idea by those who seek peace – You may practice your religion, you may have your faith, but you have no right to impose your beliefs by force, physically nor legally, upon any one person. The bottom line is – Religion should never be used as a basis of governance over any society. Religion has no value in government, and it is ignorant to believe so.
There are two topics I rarely bring up in public discussion unless it is with close friends. These are politics and religion. The two systems are so complex that there is no logical one any one person can be completely versed on the subject or their point of view. This does not stop people from justifying their beliefs regardless how logically flawed they are. The main problem with religious argument is that their word must be taken literal in order for it to be valid. Everything must be followed as it is written without argument. This is the basis for the argument against same sex marriage – the only reason there is opposition to same sex marriage is because marriage is deemed as a religious act, and in the Bible it is written that it is to be between a man and a woman. This poses a problem for those that are homosexual but wish to be married as acknowledged by the society and government they are a part of. Whatever you believe, there are benefits to having the government recognize you as man and wife. Some use religion to deny these people of this right, and this is fundamentally wrong. My biggest argument is that one who is religious, and clings to the word of God as absolute and unchangeable, chooses to ignore those teachings that are archaic, barbaric and immoral. This, I believe, is the definition of hypocrisy and if you do not allow yourself to reason then you should not be allowed to impose law over those with many different faiths. I will not go into specifics, but I will say that my thoughts on this matter come from the fact that there are religions that promote stealing as wrong, but rape as an act that is not necessarily unethical. Not to single out Christianity, but many cling to the bible as the basis for their morality and judgment of others, without actually knowing what is in it. I have a sneaky suspicion that this is true for many other religions.
I will admit that this article is extremely compressed, and I could write a book resembling a work by Ayn Rand that explains my thoughts on the matter. The bottom line is that I believe there is a very unstable pressure by many religious individuals to the masses. Simply forcing one to believe in faith will not ensure acceptance and obedience. One must choose to believe, and the religious should only preach, not force, their faith to others. They must put faith in their teachings that they will inspire someone to follow them. I think this was the intention of religion that was eventually degraded and tainted by greed.
I have never attached myself to any one religion. I would place my ideology of morality close to that of Buddhism, as they preach acceptance more than any other religion know of – including the absence of faith (I am not Buddhist, I just like their style). I am not atheist – I cannot discount the existence of a creator simply because we cannot prove it. I am neither faithful to religion in a sense that I must believe there was a certain way or reason we are here. I am also not an antitheist, which is an opposition to organized religion. I may disagree with it, but I also must accept it, even if I do not accept their involvement with government and large scale society. If anything, I would say I am Deist. This is the belief that God may exist, and that many religions may coexist. Some may view it as a weak faith. I believe that you should not put absolute faith in anything that you do not fully understand. When you really look at it, I don’t believe we should even be all that worried to hurry up and figure out exactly why we are here and where we go when we die. The only thing we should be doing is living with each other, without imposition, but with morality and compassion.
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