Religion 1.1

Religion1.1

Bath, UK 2009. Picture taken from Roman Baths.

Okay, might as well start with one of the big taboos. First, I am closer to agnostic than atheist. I don’t believe in any religion or any god. Is there a god, higher being, etc.? What happens after death? I don’t know. And for someone who hates surprises, I am not bothered with not knowing. I view it as being the biggest surprise of my life. My husband who is an atheist and teases me about this saying; there is still too much Christian fear in me to believe that there is

nothing after death. I have many reasons for thinking

differently some logical, some not…like energy doesn’t just disappear, and my intense yearning for deeply personal

reasons that Karma really does exist! Here is my take on religion; there are literally thousands of current and extinct religions so how can I consider that only one is right? That leaves a whole bunch of people very, very wrong. And what happens to all of those poor souls who lived centuries before or continents away from let’s say Christianity (as it is a relatively new religion with pretty clear definitions that I am somewhat familiar with)? These are the questions that come to my mind when faced with the question of religion. What I find most fascinating is throughout our human history just about every culture has had some form of religion and now even the lack of religious affiliations is a religious affiliation. Look on any form….astonishing isn’t it?

My morality challenged- I believe that within all of us is a moral compass that guides us throughout life. Everyone is tuned differently, no doubt, but I don’t believe that religion is the best indicator of whether or not a person is “moral” or not. For me, there is no bigger hypocrite than a person that claims to be religious (doesn’t matter what religion either)knowingly and persistently break the beliefs of that religion because they know that they will be forgiven by that religion (I want to perhaps unfairly add here, if they are caught but not always true) when they plead for it. Contrition is lost. I am sorry but there is a bitter taste that comes with that back door logic. If you recognize its wrong, don’t do it…end of story. We all know the difference between truly right and truly wrong. Many shades of grey follow but the basics are pretty clear. To imply that I am without morals because of my lack of religious attachment is ludicrous, infuriating and totally without merit. The cloak of religion is not a coat of arms for morality, rather a badge of affiliation. There is a vast difference between a righteous man and a religious man, they can be one and the same but it has nothing to do with name attached to their religious affiliation. I often think, show me the quality of your raw soul; not the façade you present, not your good deeds or the greatness of your charity…your soul in its purity. I would not hesitate to show mine even with its imperfections; side by side with those people who declare that I am immoral for my beliefs and show me the superior soul.

Faith, now that is a truly beautiful and awesomely powerful human gift. Faith gives us hope, strength, solace, and the courage to do things that seem impossible. Faith is one of the things that ALL religions share and encompasses people like me without religion. It is infectious and hard to snuff out. Faith can change a country and cure disease. It challenges us to get up, dust off our pants and start over even when it doesn’t seem sane. Faith has been the principal source for some of our greatest adventures, discoveries, and inventions. I think we typically consider that religion and faith are synonymous with each other; I feel its roots are far bigger, more deeply embedded and uniquely a part of the human race. Something that is nearly impossible to accurately articulate and for each person profoundly personal, just try to do it? Primarily you would hear, it is the strong belief in something. But why do we have Faith? Why do we need it? Now try to imagine a world without Faith? Even the worst pessimist has faith that things can only get worse!

Religion is an intensely personal journey for everyone. I wholly respect that people have differing beliefs than mine and that those beliefs may take us in different directions. I also want my beliefs to be respected as well.

That about wraps up this session. I will definitely be re-visiting the topic, because I haven’t had the time to talk about God in Schools /Politics/Government and Religious Intolerance….just off the top of my head.

Stay Tuned: Next time I will be swirling around…..The Media