Today’s Discussion Topic: Discuss your views on religion
Considering that I am going for a minor in Religious Studies, I think I have this one in the bag. Here is goes:
I’m firmly in the agnostic camp. For those who aren’t sure what that means, here is the reference from the dictionary: “An agnostic is one who believes it impossible to know anything about God or about the creation of the universe and refrains from commitment to any religious doctrine. An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity or of divine beings.”
I feel that is pretty close to how I feel. I do not subscribe to any particular religion, but I do not deny the possible existence of some higher power. That does not mean that I believe there is a higher power, just that I wouldn’t deny that one might exist. I recognize that there are things that happen on this planet that we do not and possibly cannot understand.
All that being said, I am also firmly in the ‘do not try to shove religion down my throat’ camp. This quote pretty much sums up how I feel about other people and their religions: “My dear, religion is like a penis. It’s a perfectly fine thing for one to have and take pride in, but when one takes it out and waves it in my face we have a problem.”
As a religious study minor, I love learning about religions. I recently took a class on Women in Christianity and it was an eye-opening experience to say the least. I don’t want to pick on one religion, as many religion are equally unfair in regards to their treatment of women, but to watch the power women had at the beginning of Christianity slowly be stripped away as time went on was painful. Women are making huge strides within Christianity and its many branches, but there is still a lot to do.
I wrote my final essay for that class on Mary Magdalene, a woman constantly portrayed as a prostitute, but there is very little Biblical evidence that she is a prostitute.this i I feel like this is another post entirely, but I thought I would just leave it here.
One of my biggest pet peeves when it comes to religion is when it is used to try and condemn people, especially people who do not believe. That is like threatening that Santa won’t bring me gifts if I’m bad throughout the year. First, I only believed that when I was a child. Second, Santa still always brought gifts and I was almost always bad. You can ask my mom and dad. That trick only works so long as you believe. I don’t believe in your deity, so telling me that I’m going to go to hell for being gay doesn’t work on me. If I end up in hell with all the gays of the world, I guarantee you, it will be one hell of a party. Besides, I figure if there is a higher power, they have better things to do than mark down all the times I’ve been naughty. That’s Santa’s gig, give it up already.
There tends to be a lot of hypocrisy in religions, especially between the religions fighting each other. Most religions boil down to similar ideals: love, honestly, respect. I can exemplify those ideals without religion in my life and I said as much to the last Jehovah’s Witnesses who showed up at my mom’s door. Don’t come to my house and try to tell me that I need a lesson in honesty. First, you don’t know me. Second, I’ll be honest enough to tell you that I don’t need your lesson. I may have also told them that we were atheists, which is probably what prompted the ‘our pamphlet is about honesty’ line, but come on, if I want to be a part of your discussion, I will join your church. I haven’t yet, so don’t come to my home. I don’t want you there.
So I’m not perfect, but no one is, not even those who follow a religion. In fact, very rarely do religious people actually follow all the rules from their books or practices. Okay, I may be picking on Christianity a bit, but I live in a country that still considers itself a Christian country. I don’t know why considering I’m pretty sure we separated church from ‘state’ years ago. (Side note: I’m sick of people saying ‘Let’s put the Christ back in Christmas’. Please stop.) There is most likely more people who aren’t Christian here than those who are now.
One of the worst things for me is when people use religion to try to hinder the rights of LGBTQ… people and of women. Please stop and go back to the basics: love and respect being some of the most important. I’m not asking you to marry anyone of the same sex or have an abortion. I’m just asking that you let us do with our lives and our bodies as we wish. We aren’t hurting anyone, but you are. Stop it.
Well, I’m not really sure at what point this post became a rant, but it did. So… I should probably just bundle up the rest of these thoughts tumbling through my brain and save them for another post.
Disagree with my views? Tell me why. Agree? Let me know. I would love to hear from you either way.
All is Fair in Love and Writing 