There is a difference between belief and religion..............believe me.

I should probably start by saying that I am not a religious person and for this purpose of this blog I want you to understand that when I speak about "belief" it does not automatically pertain to religion. I follow no particular religion. I was raised as a Roman Catholic but have since decided that this is not what I believe. Through what I am about to write I intend no offense and wish only to convey my personal beliefs and opinions. I do not expect anyone to agree with, like or even understand my beliefs but that is not my aim. 

Having said that, lets move on.

A slightly amazing thing happened yesterday. For the first time in my life I voluntarily and without obligation went to church. I did it for several reasons but all of them boil down to the same thing: understanding. If you didn't know already, I am fascinated by everything, especially things that I don't understand or agree with. Religion is no different. I'd never been to a church in England before and I wanted to know what it was like. I tend to embrace religions as a way to learn more about people and their culture. As a result of that I also learn more about what I believe as an individual. A combination of intellectual and spiritual curiosity would be a good way to explain why I went.

I don't believe in a god, but at the same time I don't completely disregard the idea of there being one or many. If somebody comes up to me and tells me they believe in God or Allah or Yahweh, fair enough. I don't have to agree with them but I don't have a problem them believing it either. They may even prove me wrong one day. What I do believe in is that, regardless of which religion you do or don't follow or even if you completely deny the existence of a god/creator, we all have the the same inherent aim in life: to be good people.

The core beliefs of all religions promote exactly that, being good people. The ways in which people go about that tend to differ but the aim is pretty much the same. Believing in a god and going to some form of afterlife is just an incentive to be a good person but you don't need to follow a religion to realise that its a good idea anyway. Praying, sacrements and going to church don't make you a good person, you just need to accept people for who they are. Don't let differences in beliefs, culture or language turn you into an ignorant, negative and hateful person. 

This is one of the reasons I dislike most organised religion. Many have a habit of focusing on the consequences for those who believe anything different rather than the positive reasons for which they should conform. This just creates a negative effect on people outside of their religion rather than giving painting it in a positive light to those of us who don't believe. So many religions were started simply because somebody had a different interpretation of a religious text or didn't agree with what somebody else believed. Yet most of these religions seem to have forgotten that and as such refuse to accept other people's difference in lifestyle, opinion and, especially, beliefs. 

To give you an example, the service that I went to last night opened with the welcoming of newcomers, giving the appearance of what was, for the most part, a very nice place. However the atmosphere, for me at least, changed quite a bit when it came to the sermon. Whether or not the gentleman speaking intended to make his point in this way I am not sure. However, while speaking about keeping the strength of your faith he said that "Christians can not enter into relationships with non-Christians" without being drawn away from the church. It was point that he had drawn from the study of the story of Lot and his daughters taken from the book of Genesis and I understand how, to him and many others, it would seem a valid point. Unfortunately, I found this offensive and, to a large extent, ironic. One of the reasons that I went to this service was that I have recently entered into a relationship with someone who is a Christian and I wanted to have a better understanding of her beliefs and why that is a part of her life. 

The last thing I would ever want to do is turn someone I care about away from something that they believe in. Beliefs make a person who they are and to ridicule them for it or to try and change that would change them as a person. Yet in my attempt to gain a greater understanding I was told by this religious organisation, one which not thirty minutes earlier had welcomed me, that without changing my beliefs, and therefore who I am, I should not be with this person as I would ultimately make them unhappy. In a sense this person was encouraging the faithful to discriminate against someone like me simply on the small chance that I would take them away from their beliefs. Regardless of whether or not it is a nice way to preach your religion, it definitely makes for a terrible sales pitch. What made the whole situation even more ironic is that the particular branch of Christianity that this church follows originated from one man being drawn away from his faith because he wanted to start a relationship with a woman. 

I am not trying to paint this church in a bad light. The opposite, in fact, is true. I actually enjoyed the evening and had some very interesting discussions with some very open minded people. I just use it as an example of why I don't agree with any single religion, but at the same time I'm comfortable with my beliefs and that if I continue to spend my life being a good person, regardless of whether there is someone out their to reward me for doing it, I'll have done the right thing and made the right choice. 

My beliefs are very hard to explain simply because they cannot be categorized into a single religion or even into simple Atheism and to be honest I prefer it that way. Belief in a particular religion isn't something that you just choose to have and if it is then you've chosen for all the wrong reasons. It is something that comes to you personally. I may not be able to label my beliefs, but that doesn't make them any less legitimate than anyone else's. 

Till next time....