Ramblings on Religion

Hi again,

Oh religion. How grand a topic. Lets have a go at it shall we? I love a good debate on the subject, or a discussion. I love to do both with people who can not grasp the concept of a different view point. They can't understand why someone would believe something that they were told is wrong. Why others would believe in something so "wrong".

To fully understand and be on the same page we must by all accounts be dealing with the same definitions for the key words. Because so many of these words evoke different emotions and different definitions in different people we will turn to a trusted source, Websters. So here are the key terms and their definitions.

Reality: the quality or state of being real
Religion: a cause, principle, or system of beliefs held to with ardor and faith
Belief: a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing
Atheist: one who believes that there is no deity
Agnostic: a person who holds the view that any ultimate reality (as God) is unknown and probably unknowable; broadly : one who is not committed to believing in either the existence or the nonexistence of God or a god

This may be a good time to bring up that any discussion on the topic of religion will at its very bases be biased. This is no different. I am biased, but I shall try hard not to be. It won't work, just as it wouldn't if you yourself were writing this. We are, from the time we are able to carry on a conversation, forced to discuss religion. This is the time when we turn to what our parents have said and we mimic their beliefs. This is how most get their religion and they stick to it.

There also is no discussion on this subject without debate. There are exceptions to every rule, especially when it comes to religion. So for the sake of argument I am going to use what I know and very broad senses of religions. I also will not capitalize the word god or the name of any religions, just in case I forget, and show biased in capitalizing some and not others.

You should also note what I consider myself, and even some of my family background. I am realistically, undecided. I am socially classified in the Atheist or Agnostic category. This is more than likely correct. I also have some leanings toward buddhism. My parents are protestant. My brother is catholic. My mothers friend who has been an aunt to me is jewish. Lets just say I have seen a lot of religion.

A good friend, who I often discuss religion with, brought up the fact that some people refuse to see others beliefs as plausible, or even sane, because people define their reality by their religion.
People have a tendency to like their view of reality and not want to change it.

So lets look at reality. It is, as defined by the widely accepted Websters, the quality or state of being real. To be real is, again we turn to Websters, a) not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory or b) capable of being detected. So we define our reality by religion. Is this right? Well reality is the quality or state of being real. We must look at this as two pronged. A) real is not artificial, fraudulent, or illusory. For people who truly believe in a religion they do not see it as artificial, fraudulent, or illusory. But do we leave it up to them to decided what is real and what is not? Is real a personal choice? There are two sides of me on this. One says who am I to define what is real and what isn't for the person sitting next to me? The other says there should be a set rule of what is real and what isn't for everyone so we can distinguish reality from the imaginary. I think the later is what most of modern society is striving for, and essentially why the debates on religion still are battling to this day. Now to the other version of real. B) capable of being detected. This is more concrete. Can it be detected? For religious people the religion can be detected. It can be seen that they go to church, or that the church exists, but can the deity be? Can the bases of the religion be detected? Some people argue that miracles are us detecting some of the bases for a lot of religions. Others argue they are flukes that after further understanding and investigation can be explained. I believe what Websters was trying to tell us was that if there is debate on it that it cannot be fully detected. Thus it all isn't real, isn't it?

Whoa! what just happened? What did I just say? I am assuming you are asking yourself that. I just said that belief in general was based in something not real by present standards. I'm not saying the god does or does not exist. Either way if you believe it, you have to have tangible proof for modern society to label it as real. We don't have proof one way or another. Thus non of it is real. Take a moment, think on this, try to digest it. If you can't just move on. You will, and more than likely have been, told more profound things.

The only things I will tell you is true in this blog is we all believe in different things, and we are as a society agnostic. We are just unsure.

This, however, is not okay in modern life. You should put all of your eggs in one basket and hope you are right. But I am saying be unsure if you want to, love the unsureness of it. There is something beautiful about not knowing the answer to these big questions.

Should we be looking for answers. That is what I see religion as, a way to look and try to find answers. We feel the need for a finality to our questions. We are human, we ask a lot of questions of a lot of things. We ask them to different people, including scientists and religious higher ups. We generally accept answers that are in fact the persons educated guesses, seeing as few of them are facts (i.e. theories, and hypothesis). We take these answers until they overlap. Then we are confused, unsure. This is where religion and science ask you to pick a side. Most of the population does, and a few don't.

So what is defining us. Is it our religion, society, our community, science, genetics? Is it all of them combined? My answer is who knows? But that is just my best guess. Take it or leave it. The things I ask of you is to have a reason for why you believe something, don't condemn others for their views (they could be just as right as you think you are), be open to new opinions, and always ask is this real?

Ta Ta