Just watched the documentary called “Deliver Us From Evil”. It’s about one of the Catholic priests who was convicted of being a child molester. It’s very good and i highly recommend watching it, regardless of your opinion on the church.
Once i was truly old enough to form an opinion and think freely for myself, church became something i thought about often, mainly because i hated having to wake up on Sunday mornings and go. I was raised Catholic, but as soon as i left for college, i quickly stopped going to church for the most part. Partially because of my laziness, and partially because i never got anything out of sitting on a hard bench listening to the exact same old geezer say the exact same thing at 11am every sunday.
As i have gotten even older and hopefully wiser from events in my life, my understanding and beliefs have began to take shape. It truly bothers me that people get so obsessed and argumentative about religion. It’s almost like they are brainwashed into thinking that there can only be one way, and if you don’t believe that one way, then you are eternally screwed. And if somebody things different of you, then they must be wrong. Many people close to me because of my catholic upbringing seem to idolize priests, like they are above the common person and know more about life. That’s amazingly rediculous if you ask me, almost cultish. Wars are started because of religion, which is beyond comprehension to me. Something that always bothered me growing up, even when i was really young, was seeing all these people, some who had very little money, give so much of there money to the church. To me, it’s like if you are going to give your money away, give it to somebody who actually needs it. Don’t give it to an organization so they can redecorate the walls with nicer pictures and fresh paint!
I think my parents generation wasn’t allowed to have an open mind about life or the world, and they assumed that everything there parents did was exactly right. So when it came to religion, they never got to choose what they believed in, they were told what they had to believe in and if they didn’t they would be punished. I might be wrong, but in most cases i doubt it. And that bothers me.
I’m not saying that being a catholic or part of any other religion is a bad thing. If you truly believe in something, and that something gets you through each day, then by all means believe in it. But the motto of my blog and my life for that matter is “to each his own”. So when somebody tries to strongly push their belief onto somebody else, I have a problem with that. It doesn’t make sense to me that as smart and unique as we as humans are, that millions of us could actually believe in the exact same thing. How is that possible? Why does one have to profess their beliefs anyway. To me that seems like it should be something each of us should carry inside us, and not advertise. It’s too personal.
In my perfect world, there wouldn’t be religions. There might be gathering spots in which people could discuss the world, their beliefs, and what they need somebody to help them with either emotionally, spiritually or physically. Like a swap meet of ideas and philosophies for making the world a better place. But to me, if you need to meditate and talk to your higher power, you should be able to do that at home. You shouldn’t have to put money in a basket for an organization to believe in what they believe in.
What’s wrong with just being the best person you know how to be, and hope that how you live your life has a positive impact on everybody you come in contact with? Isn’t that the fundamental message of all religions anyway? So why do we need all of these religious rules that only seem to cause problems and wars?
I rarely come meet people my age or younger anymore who 100% claim to be a certain religion. I’m not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing. But usually they are very intelligent people who are capable of forming an opinion, and so i assume they probably have and idea as to why they don’t profess one religion over another.
Interesting to see what i believe 20 years from now, if i look back and read this. Could totally of changed, but hopefully that new thing is getting me through the day.
