When I was a kid, my very French-Canadian, Roman Catholic family went to church every Sunday. Our religion was central to our daily lives. We sat in the first pew, took part in the mass (alter server, collection, readings, offerings, choir for midnight mass, etc.), said grace before every meal, marched at pro-life rallies, volunteered out in the community, volunteered during church events, and did what good little Catholics were supposed to do (more or less).
My church community was like my extended family. After my family, my faith was my everything. But that is no longer the case.
I still believe in a higher power, an energy source that connects everything in the universe, because I see its presence everywhere and feel its infinity within me. I still rely on it for strength and guidance, but I no longer believe in any religion.
Not everything is as it seems
Since my late teens, I’ve started seeing the cracks in the facade. Residential schools, missionary work, the Crusades, children being abused by the clergy, misogyny, hypocrisy, inflated egos, patriarchy, religious nationalism, etc., not to mention all the madness that’s happening in the United States, Gaza, Afghanistan, and around the world right now, all done in the name of a so-called loving God. It’s to the point where I now wonder if it was ever really about God or just something men invented (women helped enforce) to control others and boost their own fragile egos. Was man made in God’s image? Or was god created in man’s?
One thing that the Cafeteria Christians (and others) don’t seem to comprehend is that beliefs are not facts (religion is a belief system, not empirical data). Faith by its very definition is a trust in something without evidence, which is why we don’t have a right to impose our beliefs on others, no matter how ardent our beliefs may be. Plus, what religion you practice is highly influenced by where you were born/raised, not just the merits of any religion alone, so that needs to be taken account as well.
We don’t know for sure that we’re right, we just believe that we are. We can speak about our beliefs and invite others to follow, but they’re allowed to say no and we need to respect that, without any consequences being dished out (that includes threats of going to hell). They have every right to choose a different path without being harassed or oppressed for it.
The bible is an ancient text, written by multiple authors over the course of decades, long after Jesus died. If it ever was the word of God, I don’t believe it is anymore. If it were the word of God, men wouldn’t have had the audacity to edit it, remove parts they didn’t like (like the parts written by women), or translate it in ways that benefited them (the word homosexual wasn’t added to the bible till 1946).
There wouldn’t be parts that become irrelevant when society evolves (i.e. planting different crops side-by-side) or parts of the bible that contradict other parts of it. The contents of the Bible wouldn’t be open to hundreds of interpretations; you couldn’t just choose which parts you took literally or followed, and there wouldn’t be multiple types of Christians. It could be said that every Christian religion exists because someone (often a man) decided that they knew better than God. If the bible were the word of God, insecure men and their inflated egos wouldn’t still be dictating how they believe God wants the rest of us to live our lives or deciding how we should be punished if we don’t obey.
If it were the word of God, then women, those God chose to co-create life with Him, who sacrifice their bodies and risk their lives to bring life into this world, would be revered, not made to be submissive to the insecurities and egos of men.
Should we abolish religions?
I’m not saying that we should abolish religions. Many people, all over the world, including many of my extended family members, find great comfort in their religion. It’s foundational to how they live their lives. I don’t want to take that away from them. I just want to stop religions from being weaponized, especially for the purpose of upholding the imbalances of Patriarchy.
Stop quoting the bible to try to control others or to excuse violence. You may believe what’s written in the bible, but not everyone does, and not everyone has to. They’re allowed to believe in something else or nothing at all and live their lives as they see fit. It’s called free will, remember? Everyone is born with it, no matter who they are. Nobody has a right to take that away just because they don’t agree with how someone is using their God-given free will.
That doesn’t mean I believe people should be allowed to do whatever without consequences or accountability. I’m just saying that it shouldn’t be up to a random individual(s) to judge, on a subjective basis, how others should or shouldn’t go about their business.
Because the bible can be used to justify almost everything, it shouldn’t be used to justify anything. Also, you can’t prove the validity of the contents of the bible by quoting the bible. The bible is the claim, it can’t also be the evidence. If a book could prove itself, then I could say that Spiderman, Superman, dragons, and vampires exist because books say they do.
It’s not the same, you might say. God is real, fictional superheroes or mythical creatures are not, but let me remind you, that’s just what YOU believe. You can’t prove it’s a fact, so stop quoting the bible like it’s some big gotcha. If the existence of God could be proven, then there wouldn’t be so many wars fought in the name of religion, and people wouldn’t be persecuted for their religious beliefs because everyone would be worshipping the same God(s).
This is why the separation of church and state is so important. The only reason people want to insert their religion into government affairs is for power and to satisfy their own ego. It’s to control the people, not to be in service of them. It’s the arrogance of saying that the religion you choose to believe in is superior to everything else, when that’s not a provable fact, nor is it always what the voters want. It’s making the act of believing an obligation instead of an invitation and that usually leads to exploitation and abuse.
There’s beauty in almost every religion and belief system. I just want to appeal to people’s better angels and encourage them to be humble in the practice of their beliefs.
So, I implore you to quit attacking people with your beliefs. Quit harassing people with your interpretation of religion. Believing in a god does not make you one, so quit acting like it does. God doesn’t need you judging people for Him or punishing people on His behalf. He’s quite capable of taking care of His own business, when and how He sees fit. To think otherwise means you are following your own ego, not God’s will.
Believe what you want, live your own life according to those beliefs, but put your ego aside and let people live a life less confined.
