So, I have had thoughts about faith that make me wonder how "good" religion truly is. It has been an ongoing joke that I think religion is evil. And I figure might as well explain myself. So here we go.
I am lucky to have a wide variety of friends all with different faiths and even different views on their faith. So what have I learned? I suppose the first question I should answer is do I follow a faith. I was raised Roman Catholic. I went to a Catholic Grade School. Went to a Catholic High School. I went to church every Sunday and religious holiday with my parents until I moved out. And I even played for the folk group in my parents church (and yes I enjoyed doing that.) Do I consider myself Roman Catholic? Well, if I am I am a non practicing patron of the church. However, I do not agree with everything taught by the "Church."
Yes, I believe there is a "God." And I believe in evolution. Now back to what I have learned. So far I see lots of similarities between all faiths as far as God and the creation man goes. Christianity being the big different one with the whole Jesus was the son of God thing going on there. I have also learned a little about the history of each faith. So why do I think faith is "evil?" Well that is the thing I do not think faith is evil. I think the institution that people choose to follow is flawed. And it is flawed because it was written by man. I know all about the inspired by God and all that fun stuff, but I don't think that any religion is flawless. If it was why are there so many?
I also look at all the hate in the world today. And what do we see in the media? Lots of infighting amongst different religious factions. As I read the different books of faith that I have looked at I see the same thing all the time. Socially accepted segregation. And this is where my problems with religion begin. If you wanted to look at the religions from a totally non religious point of view I suppose I would say that each religion is a revised edition of the last. Is that wrong? Does it matter? It shouldn't. And why does it.
Every religion promotes being good to others, blah blah blah. Same sauce different name. But what about the stuff written into them that contradict those thoughts. It is okay to marry this person of this faith but not these people. Who cares! Why do we put so much stock into a choice. Yes faith is a choice in my mind. You are born into the Catholic Faith. You are born into the Islamic Faith. You are born into the Jewish Faith. You can convert from one to the next as long as you follow the rules. It is a totally different animal. I mean it is not like I can be born an Irish person and decide later in life that I want to be African or Indian or Russian.
Look at me babble on here. I think I will let this rest for a bit. Just needed to get it off my chest I guess. I mean having faith is a great thing, but people need to learn to grow as times change. A book written thousands of years ago will have things in it that can not be applied to today. But the underlining message is good and is there to teach us how to be morally good people. But if you ask me, hating someone because of what they believe is not moral or good no matter what a book says. Neither is judging them by their religion.
