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The Big Thing I Missed, Judging Others for Having Religion
[Partial Spoiler: I remain agnostic.]
I attended Catholic elementary and high school. I don’t recall having a choice in the matter. Before I was done playing with toys I was already noticing contradictions in fear-based faith. I won’t list them. Perhaps you’ve noticed your own. They weren’t hard to for me to locate.
As I grew I developed my own belief system, one in which I would be judged for my actions, but not by somebody perched upon a puffy cloud. No, into adulthood my belief strengthened that blind faith, fear, flagellation and hypocrisy were things I did not need in order to be a good person. In my value system fairness, equity, kindness and observation fueled my choices. I made my decisions based on what I could see, not on what I was told.
And what did I see? Difficulty, challenges, injustice, disaster. Anyone who believed there was an omniscient deity overseeing it all was clearly unwell, and probably to be avoided. My value system became that I must simply do whatever I need in order to get by in this world stacked against me.
So, who cares? Life is difficult for most of us. What makes my story so special? Good questions. Maybe it only matters to me, but I think I’ve learned what it means to live spiritually. Let me explain what I mean by that before I get…
