My take on religion

I thought I would make my first post about a broad sweeping topic on which everyone has an opinion... religion. I believe that the institution of religion has deviated so far from the path of its original intention, it barely resembles the vessel of spirituality it needs to be to enrich people's lives. Everyone gets something different out of religion, whether it be a tool for personal development, a guideline of the pious, or to use as a scapegoat and have the world make sense from a basic level, i.e. "Why did God do this to me?", and the like. What most people, especially devoutly religious people, fail to realize, is that your religion is not determined by choice or a logical examination of the doctrines of each faith, but by where you were born and who your parents are. Many people might deem that because they were born to a certain faith that they were "chosen by God" to be of His people. Well, that might work on an individual level, but that would mean in the grand scheme that for every person God chooses to be born of his flock, there are 4 or 5 people born at the same moment that he is condemning to an eternal existence in damnation unless they throw aside the contstraints of their culture and upbringing to realize which faith is the "true" faith. Really, if that is the case, God is more cruel than benevolent and I don't want to believe in that kind of God.

Now, back to my original point, of how far the institution has fallen, or maybe was never there in the first place. Religion is a vessel of faith and spirituality, which is a part of overall well-being and there is no doubt of the benefit it can have in your life. But instead of focusing on how religion can help us become better people, many people focus on religion as a tool. A tool to scare practitioners into a standard of morality, a tool to elevate yourself above others who don't hold the same beliefs, a tool to fall on and use as a scapegoat in your own life such as thinking spending an hour at church per week and donating $30 to the church is going to buy you passage into "heaven", a tool to give life meaning beyond the mundane day-to-day tasks that people fill their lives with to give them purpose, or a tool to inspire hatred in those with beliefs that differ from your own. Regardless of what it is being used for, the true purpose of religion should be to inspire personal development and create harmony among you and your fellow man. It is okay if your religion helps you believe in something bigger than yourself, it is okay if it serves as a moral guideline to curb our more flexible morals, but we shouldn't lose sight of the fact that unless it makes the world a better place, people, we are missing the mark.

I can offer no insight on how to better use religion in your own lives, only to say to keep an open mind and don't compare your spirituality or religion to that of other people's beliefs or institutions. Develop your spirituality on an individual bases, but always keep in mind your role in creating harmony both within and externally. Is there really so much debate over what a "right" or "wrong" action is? Do we really need a list of ten commandments to know that you should kill someone or fuck your neighbor's wife? It's common sense people, being a good person means doing the right things when no one is looking, even if you know you would never get caught. Live your life like that, and no matter what God you worship, he will appreciate that you are making a positive impact on the world and trying to be the best person you can be.

In closing, I just would like to put things into perspective a little. Let's, for the sake of argument, assume that most people believe that God is some sort of conscious being and that he is aware of what actions you are taking and sort of keeping a "naughty" and "nice" list like Santa Claus to see who is going to heaven and who to hell. I'm not trying to disprove this, nor could I even if I wanted to, I just want to point out the improbability of this and indeed, the absolute arrogance of thinking so. On average, every second since the dawn of time, a supernova occurs somewhere in the universe. For those of you unaware of what a supernova is (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova), it is one of the rarest occurrences in the universe and represents the culmination of a giant star's several billion year lifespan. Now, in a galaxy like the milky way, a supernova is said to occur once every 50-100 years (one has not happened in over 400 years). So if a supernova has occurred every second since the beginning of time and in our galaxy only occurs once every 100 years, you do the math. Do you really think that God pays attention to a mass of cells that represents 1 person out of nearly 5 billion, on a planet that represents less than 1/1,000,000,000,000th of the known universe? Of course I can't answer the question, and nobody ever will be able to, but I still would like to point out the arrogance of thinking that you matter that much in the grand scheme.

So people, lets stop worrying about whose imaginary deity is the best and focus on our time here on earth to make the world a better place. And if you can't do that, at least don't be an asshole, try to do the right thing, and keep an open mind, we are all just trying to get by. Here is a great quote to conclude upon, from Kingdom of Heaven:

"I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What god desires is here (pointing to his head)"

Tom Pain