Religion is not evil. PEOPLE can be evil, and can use religion for less-than-virtuous purposes, but it is not inherently evil. One could say the same thing about science. Science has brought us evil, horrible weapons, but has also freed people from the pain and suffering of horrible diseases. Just as the same folks who brought us the Inquisition, the Crusades, centuries of violence in Northern Ireland and the Middle East and people like Jim Jones, religion has also provided a moral compass and brought hope and comfort to millions in times of need. As with any source of power, some people use that power for the wrong reasons. It can be used motivate people to give of themselves and help those less fortunate or motivate people to fly airplanes into buildings.
Like Angela, I've struggled with the concept of religion. At worst, I saw it as a means of control over people. At best I thought it unnecessary.
My upbringing was "Ambivalent Catholic". My parents felt that I needed some sort of religious foundation, so I was indoctrinated in the Catholic faith (because that's how they were brought up). After I'd made my Confirmation, it was pretty much left up to me what path I would follow.
Good thing, too. The Catholic faith and I were NOT a good fit. MCMAWG has an independent streak a mile wide and a mile deep. Nothing gets my Irish/Italian hackles up quicker than to be told to do something and not question it "because I/we say so". I also bristled at the inequality I saw inherent in the Catholic Church. According to them, God only talks to men.
The whole concept of an angry God who was waiting to smite your ass if you strayed just didn't sit well with me, either.
Years later, I ran across the painting "The Laughing Jesus" and it knocked me for a loop. (A quick Google couldn't find the right one, but for those who've never seen it, it's just a head-and-shoulders painting of Jesus letting out a big belly laugh). I was stunned. It called into question everything Sister Mary Discipline tried to beat into me. It seemed so.... blasphemous, yet there was something just so right about it. Part of me said "...dude, that's just so wrong..." but part of me said "YES"!
Over the years I drifted further from religion. "Man needs religion like a fish needs a bicycle" was a frequent quote. The hypocrisy of self-righteous TV preachers who turn out to be guilty of exactly what they were railing at other people about, didn't set well with me. (Hypocrisy being ANOTHER thing that gets MCMAWG's hackles up). At best I've been a "Mildly Curious Bhuddist".
Most of what I saw of religion was select groups of people saying "We're right. Our Way Is The Only Way. Our God Is The Only God". This led all too often to "Our God Can Beat Up Your God". Far, far too often, it seems like people's motivation for following the straight and narrow is either wanting to cash in on "the Big Reward" or fear of "The Lake of Fire". I've often said "Show me an atheist who lives a good life and I'll show you a truly righteous person - they're not doing it for the WIFM, they're doing it solely because it's the right thing to do".
Media reports of child molesters hiding behind the church, genocide in places like Bosnia, nutcases like Jim Jones, David Koresh leading trusting people to hell in a handbasket... didn't help either.
But, a couple of months ago, I ran across something in the catbox liner that passes for a local newspaper. I was blown away. An article about a man who's living his faith. Quietly, and without accolades. Here's a man who's giving himself to help others in need - others who are not even of his own "race", country or religion; many of whom are "sinners" in the eyes of the church. If that weren't enough, I noticed that, despite the fact that he's surrounded by death and unspeakable suffering, he's laughing or smiling in most of the pictures.
Media reports of child molesters hiding behind the church, genocide in places like Bosnia, nutcases like Jim Jones, David Koresh leading trusting people to hell in a handbasket... didn't help either.
But, a couple of months ago, I ran across something in the catbox liner that passes for a local newspaper. I was blown away. An article about a man who's living his faith. Quietly, and without accolades. Here's a man who's giving himself to help others in need - others who are not even of his own "race", country or religion; many of whom are "sinners" in the eyes of the church. If that weren't enough, I noticed that, despite the fact that he's surrounded by death and unspeakable suffering, he's laughing or smiling in most of the pictures.
If you can read this without rethinking religion a bit, if you can read it without a tear or three, if you can read it without feeling selfish and like something you'd scrape off your shoe, then you have no soul.
2 comments:
I'm going to church in the morning, and when I'm done, I'll respond to this. By the by, I appreciate your gentile rules regarding politics and religion in blogland. I have no such prohibitions, obviously.
I agree with so much of this. I was raised Catholic, and it was the single most significant factor in keeping me out of church since then. I read the stuff Jesus said, then sat in church and listened to so much judgment, saw so much hypocricy, so much "we're right and they're wrong" smugness when they couldn't explain what made them right. And nothing got me wound up faster than being told I should be meek and submit and basically be ashamed of being female. How did a message so full of love become twisted into so much hate?
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