Religion In Society

This post was written in response to a post made by Kendall on his blog: http://poetikzone.blogspot.com/2005/09/biblical-blah-kensexuality.html

I really enjoy reading about any form of objective religious analysis, primarily because it makes me think about how religion fits into my beliefs, and why I haven't really subscribed to the Christian faith. I was baptized as an Anglican, but never really accepted the existence of God. I was taught to approach life with a scientific view, and I was never quite satisfied with the answers to my religious questions.

In high school, whenever religion came up in conversation, I often jumped into explanations as to why God doesn't exist and how stupid religion is. As I have aged, I've mellowed in my anti-religious beliefs, mostly because of the fact that my understanding of the reasons for the existence of religion has greatly improved.

As humans, we require a purpose. Most of our lives are spent searching for that purpose, and for reasoning behind it. Why am I here? Why do I exist? Could it be that I am here on this earth because of some galactic miracle that sprinkled the right ingredients at the right place at the right time, billions of years ago? Or are we the product of some higher form of life that we can only hypothesize about? What am I supposed to do with my life? Who defines right and wrong for me? Why are our feet so funny looking? Who am I supposed to spend the rest of my life with? What happens after I die? There are so many questions that are just unanswerable without some form of hypothesizing, but that are ever-present in our subconscious as we progress through life.

Enter religion. Christianity has been around for around 2000 years now. The religious institution is stable and unchanging (mostly). After hundreds of years of study, the bible has been interpreted, and answers to all of my questions have been provided. Most people accept what they are taught, and use these teachings as a basis for the development of their personal moral code. Christian religions have extremely powerful messages that "feel" right, like forgiveness or acceptance. Unfortunately, only "accepted" interpretations of the bible are taught. What people often don't realize is that the bible is so far-reaching and open to interpretation, that it often provides two or three or ten answers to any given question.

The debate about gay marriage is a great example of a controversial issue that the bible both supports and admonishes. Everyone seems to be able to find some passage in the bible that backs up their side of the story. This brings me back to my view of religion...it definitely has a place in society, and exists as a moral guide for us all. Unfortunately, many approach religion with excessive rigidity, using the bible as a proverbial rule book that can be used to support bigotry and to reinforce many preconceived ideas, filtered down over hundreds of years of humanity's subscription to the institution.

Three statements are enough to satisfy my need for answers to the questions I asked above:

- I am here for a reason.

- This world is far too complex to have been created by accident.

- After I die, I will live on.

Nothing I do in my life will affect these three basic truths. We're all here for a reason, and it's up to us to define our space in society. I have my own moral code that I have accepted, influenced by society and by my upbringing. I will live my life to satisfy my values, and to not let down the people that share this earth with me. Some celestial force is behind our existence, be it God or something else. And after I die, I will be remembered, and the energy that holds me together will be reintegrated into our world.

We have the ability to think rationally about the teachings of the bible on our own. The bible is full of stories intended to provide guidance on issues that humanity faces. People should educate themselves using their own God-given intelligence before blindly passing judgement based on biased historical teachings.