Since coming to IIT, I've hated the Christian rhetoric I so constantly seen strewn about.

Russ and I were speaking one day and looking at Dave Chapelle's Wikipedia entry. He said, "Mostly, any subscriber to religion makes me sad."

I'll agree with him on that point.

When I look at my relationship with religion, I can't find a single point at which I've put any faith in, well, faith. I was raised Christian, but I have always been agnostic, whether or not I knew it at the time. It's not that I've been let down by religion - far from it. It's that I never put much stock in it to begin with. Why would I?

Part of it comes down to that I was taught that I'm responsible for myself. As far as I could tell, my relationship with Christ was the saem as one would have with a pair of lucky socks. I figured, I could pray and pray and pray about my multiplication tables, asking God to grant me the strength to learn how to do math. At the end of the day, a reassuring older brother figure would say, "But Joe! Your lucky socks were in the wash! You learned your multiplication tables all by yourself."

In the end, I found taking communion to be no more useful to my everyday life than knocking on wood and throwing salt over my shoulder. That's all it ever was to me. They were rituals, superstitions. Sure, the message of the Bible is genuine, but that seems like an idiot's guide to being a good guy. It was like Aesop's fables - a moral at the end of every story. You've got some basic sociology in there - treat others as you would like to be treated. Which is understandable via reason - If everyone did that, everyone would be nice to each other. Not difficult.

So what would I need religion for in the first place?

I don't need it to lead me by example - my parents instilled me with good morals. I don't need it in my darkest times, as I find I'm responsible for my own problems.

An interesting question comes up - what happens when I die?

Well, what? So we have this record of St. Peter, or what not. You're admitted into heaven if you've taken Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Maybe he asks you to take Eric Clapton as your Lord and Savior.

So we're clear now, I'm agnostic. I find it comforting that there's something out there, but I don't think I need to run around in circles and count to a thousand every day to appease that god.

The phrase I think should be stricken from the books is "Relationship with God". I'm a firm believer in "Relationship with Self". Once you get down to it, they're one and the same. Isn't God supposed to be Love? If you live as God intended you to, aren't you making yourself happy without giving in to temptation?

I like to call that self-respect. I understand myself and I respect myself. I make myself happy through understanding and respecting myself.

All in all, a solidified religion seems like nothing more to me than a way of making things easier. After all, having God on your side means never having to stand alone. I feel that you're much better developed, mentally and emotionally, if you can inter and intrapersonally work out why you feel something is right - rather than just saying "'cause Jesus said so." After all, the conclusion means nothing without how you got there.

A little bit more
1/24/06, 5:15 PM

I feel the need to expand.

First off, I find that if I were to follow a religion, it would be for selfish reasons alone. I have my own code of morals and I'm fairly self-aware that it fits in with society pretty well. If I was, for example, fairly devout, I think I'd only find myself turning to it when I'm in doubt. Which, I suppose, is valid. On the flip side, it seems like an extraneous supplement to my critical thinking skills, which, no matter how efficient they become, always do well with some practice.

I think Religion can be valid for someone who doesn't have any proper model for good behavior. Like I said earlier, it's an idiot's guide to good morals. In a sense, it seems like religion, in general, are for people who need that example, rather than setting their own.

It seems like I could only be religious for selfish reasons because I don't need any spiritual assistance to establish my morals. Those come from within. If I were to accept organized religion, it would be solely for the purpose of trying to achieve salvation. After all, isn't that what it is for most capable people? You live life by religious example, and go through the rituals to acheive salvation. Thing is, the rituals are meaningless to me, and I live by my own example. So, really, what's the point?
prev
next
archive