Alice's Adventures in Religionland: And Who She Found There

The Answer is Herself

Since religion seems to be a topic that my prodding friend has recently been looking into, I figure I'll offend some people with my views, just as theirs will surely offend me, and tell the internet what I think about religion. I explored quite a few regions back when I first realized what utter bullshit the Catholics around me were spewing, (Not to say all Catholics do, just ones I know personally.) and I found that they were all very interesting, but that I could never be part of one.

I have a moral set that is a mix of things society hates, and things it accepts and religion concentrates on what is accepted as "good" behaviors. This does not describe all of my personality, I personally see my flaws and outright admit that I am a bit of an asshole. And yes, I know that most people who are religious don't necessarily follow the moral code that their religion dictates, but do I really want to be a hypocrite? No, not more than I already am, thanks. As I was exploring these religions I found that I didn't really want to be part of one anyway. It seems like people "find" religion because they need something to believe in, or because something good happened so it must have been a deity saying "Join my religion today and get a free toaster!" Looking at different religions taught me that I don't need a magical, invisible man in the sky to believe in so he can judge me.

But, that's not to say that I didn't find myself very interested in a couple. The first being Wicca. I actually practice some of the nicer things about it now and again. Such as lighting white candles for purity and gathering flowers and plants to ward off vindictive spirits and ill will against me, but that last part is more psychological than anything else. Anyway, what drew me to Wicca was that I had a few friends that were Wicca at the time, and I had actually read a few books by a Wiccan author before all this. It was all rather fascinating, but, religion likes nice people, Wicca especially, and because I have quite a lot of respect for that particular religion, I decided not to get too into it. Unfortunately, one of my mother's friends found out that I was interested and lectured me about how Wicca was a branch of Satanism and how there are horrible, horrible things that can happen to practices of Wicca. Whether or not the Satanism part is true or not, I know that consequences with Wicca depend on what you use it for. People who play with demons and pissed off spirits end up like my friend M. She mad herself miserable because she was doing things Wicca teaches you not to do. While my friend J became very close to nature and is very much happy and didn't do anything stupid.

The other was Islam. This was before I was introduced to all the hate that Mulims were being subjected to, and after I was, I couldn't understand it. It was like everyone suddenly hating Christians because a Christian guy blew up a couple buildings full of people. It made no fucking sense at all. That aside, what drew me to the religion was how they lived. I had read a book in which the main character was Muslim, Hindu and Christian at the same time. (If you like to read it's a pretty good one, it's called Life of Pi.) Although I found this to be ridiculous, the description of how he lead his life as a Muslim was very interesting. I actually liked that they faced Mecca and prayed to their God five times a day. I thought it was beautiful, but I wasn't as very serious about it, mostly I just wanted to learn about it, and I got the chance when I had to write a report on it in High School. 

I'm not saying, "Don't join a religion, don't look into them, they're stupid and they suck." Breaking away from Catholicism and exploring other religions I liked more, helped me become who I am. In fact, I insist that if you have no religion, or you only know about the one you're in, look at other ones, it could change your view on them and help you appreciate other people's cultures. If you're monotheistic, start with polytheistic religions and vice versa. I personally love polytheistic religions, their Gods are usually cooler, sorry monotheism. I recommend Hindu.

Again, I'm not to saying that there definitely isn't some greater force making the atom stay together despite it's flagrant disregard for Physics, I just don't think it's any God that is recognized by religions today. Hell, for all I know it's the gorilla from George of the Jungle thinking that humans are all rather quaint in his British accent while making tea and having a biscuit. Anyone up for making a new religion based on that? Because people will probably join it and Christians will tell us to stop worshiping golden bulls. It'll be lots of fun. But seriously, I don't mean to insult people's religions, just the people in them.