A lot of my opinions about religion has changed. Before, I went from being an agnostic to being an atheist to being a Buddhist. Sometimes, within the span of a few days. It might have been a “rage against the parents” type thing.
You see, my parents are religious and believe in God. However, they are not heavily religious. The never took me and my brother to Church, despite saying multiple times that they would. I don’t know specifically what religion they practice, but they believe that Jesus Christ is God. And every time someone (including me) would make a joke about Jesus or God, they would be offended. They would say things like, “don’t you dare say that about Jesus.”.
I have a confession to make: I have never read the Bible. Ever. So I don’t know what is actually in there. I should read it some day. My parents believe in a few things, such as the belief that men were put on the Earth to love women and not other men. I don’t know if that’s in the Bible or where they got that from. I also haven’t read any other holy book, but I should. Religion is something that I know less of than Politics.
Centuries ago, religion used to rule most societies. Today, religion does not rule over most countries, especially the United States. The separation of church and state is one of the most important parts of American society today. As a result, religion does not have the same pull that it did and less people practice it now.
On this forum I frequent, Girls Chase, there was this series of threads made by one of the members on there. They all had to do with Buddhism and Enlightenment. The guy who started the threads, Hector Castillo, studied Buddhism intensely. He said some things on there that opened my eyes. For example, in his second thread Hector says that “all beliefs are dumb”. I agreed with him, and reiterated in an online forum for a Philosophy of Religion class that I had later in that year. Those four words changed how I viewed religion. Later on in that thread, he said, “if all beliefs are bullshit (and they are), why not believe the one that is coolest?”.
With these realizations and more that I got from the threads, I realized that all religions are the same and that they are different ways of getting to the same goal. To my surprise, it was later confirmed when I was in the office of my school newspaper later that year. During a conversation, I brought that idea up and everybody there agreed with it.
Now, every religion looks the same to me. Same holy books, same prophets, same rituals. Only difference is that the goalposts are different. I don’t know much about religion, but I do know more about it now than I did when I first wrote Religion: My Stance. In order to know more about religion, I need to read book by philosophers, historians, scientists, and great men on the subject.
thiswritersmind 