I have always been squeamish about tackling this topic. It is one of my passions. I love talking about religion and religious beliefs. I am fascinated by the different approaches and the remarkable similarities that they share. If we shaved off all the other rules, everyone is really on the same page. But these little technicalities or little cultural spins divides us and there have been high costs as result. Massacres, displacement, and persecution. I was raised as a Catholic whose parents are devout. I also was born with an analytic mind that has a love for science. I also have travelled, met, and became friends with people of different faiths. I refuse to believe that anyone is condemned eternally simply because they are not wearing the right shirt or were not born in the right faith. It seems ridiculous. I can never be an atheist though. To say that everything is how we see it in front of us still isn't viable for me. There is a magic that exists in life that science can not measure. So I guess I am a hybrid? Agnostic? The labels are overwhelming. I get the feeling that us humans are more caught up with these labels and rules than God is. How else do we bring order or meaning into our small little world?
One of my biggest beefs with religion is the "My God is better than Your God" attitude. I love the fact that people have found their spiritual communities. I think this is very important. I love the sense of love and harmony that result of these gatherings. However, I do not like how the "other" is treated or viewed. There is this need to be "right" and disregard the other. There are so many different living species that live on the earth and no snowflake is the same. So why aim for sameness? Why not celebrate these differences? Why not be okay with it? One answer could be is that we are "too high on ourselves". We are egoistic. We are too busy upholding what we believe is right that we often lose sight of the whole point of having spiritual communities. I attended a non-denominational church and was attending their orientation session. They showed us a map of all the nations that were not Christian. So I asked the pastor, "Is it not enough that they believe in God?" The pastor answered that it was our duty as Christians to convert. Which I can see that from the early church where the disciples were spreading the "Good news of Christ" throughout Europe and the Mediterranean. My problem with this is that right away this church is saying it is their job to conquer the other religions because their religions are wrong. We must "assimilate". Sounds like the Borg, if you ask me. "You must assimilate. Resistance is futile". I have lived in Japan with Buddhists and I have been friends with Muslims. How dare does one religion dictate how the rest of the world should celebrate God? They dismiss the cultural beauty that is often intermingled with their religion. I think God purposely did not make all flowers red or blue. There is beauty in differences. Some we all may not agree with. I know! I think because of that experience, I have been turned off from ever enlisting with a church. I just haven't found a fit yet. There has been some close calls like Agape International. But they are in LA and too far away.
As far as atheism is concerned, I completely get why people become atheists. They are either turned off by the hard rules of certain faiths or they base their belief systems on empirical data and turn to science which has explained many phenomena that we use to attribute to the cosmos. I have many friends who are Atheists. The beauty is that we respect each other's views and we can talk about it without getting emotional over it.(I can also speak the same for my religious friends who respect where I am at). I had a grade 11 student who declared that he was an atheist. We talked about it and I explained to him where I was on the spectrum, but that I wouldn't condemn him for being one. I said it was perfectly okay. Ironically, he was on a mission to convert others to atheism. I told him blatantly that faith cannot be disapproved empirically. It is a state of being. People put a lot of themselves into faith. No amount of data or case studies will move a person with a strong belief system unless they make that assertion themselves. Again, nothing to do with who is right or wrong. It is what it is. The reason why I am not an atheist is because spirituality is not something I cannot turn off.
Spirituality is a part of who I am. I felt just as comfortable in a Buddhist temple as I do camping in a remote natural site. It is what brings me peace. Why should I deny this because it is not popular?
I bet I am not the only hybrid out there.
Helga
P.S. I found this blog where a man resolved his asthma with the paleo diet. His symptoms are exactly what I am experiencing. I have been prescribed a steriod to clear my lungs and it is working, but I do not want to dependent on it nor do I want to go through the side effects. Have a read!
JD Moyer: How I Cured My Asthma
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