Having Faith

WARNING: If you are easily offended by discussion of religion, skip this post.

I recall briefly attending Sunday school when very young and attending mass on Christmas Eve during my teenage years with my mom. My younger brother played hockey and Sunday mornings were usually spent at the arena for a practice or chores or travelling to visit relatives. Church was never the first priority. Christmas eve was the only time I went to church with the exception of weddings & funerals. My mother has attended Free Methodist church regularly for the last 20 years or so. 

I found actual church services very cult-like. All the chanting and up/down, repeat this, repeat that – I didn’t find healthy. I believe as everyone is different, people have different levels of faith and different levels of worship. This felt too forced. It wasn’t for me.

When I turned 20 I decided to move into an apartment with my then boyfriend and was harshly judged by religious family members. Not to mention I was looked down upon for not having the same level of faith as they did. Not cool.

All these things made me push against religion further and further. Add in tales of others struggles dealing with friends/families not being able to attend this or that due to their differences of religion and the rules that come with that religion.

  

You see I’m tired of hearing "because these people believe this, they are bombing this” or “because this person belongs to this faith and these rules he/she cannot attend this event”. I’m tired of all the separation and rules mandated on those who follow religions. 

My mother once argued “What about being a good person, and having morals by following the 10 commandments?”  I don’t believe you have to follow a religion to be a good person. I can tell you right now the church did not teach me my morals or what is right & wrong. My public school teachers, and surrounding myself with those people who were great mentors is what did it for me. I didn’t attend church regularly and I consider myself a pretty decent human being.

Maybe you don’t think I’m a decent human being because I’m not religious, there is probably some rule about those who reject religion. The thing is I don’t reject it; it just isn’t for me. Do I have faith? Sure. Do I believe you should be able to follow what ever ‘faith’ you want to and not have to abide by every rule set out by one specific religion you choose to join – yes. And I think more and more young people are going that way. 

We chose to not be married in a church. Why? Because we don’t go. We chose not to have our children baptized. Why? Because we want them to choose their own faith. We want to teach them the concepts of many religions and allow them to make the decision instead of us making it for them. That way hopefully we will also give them a greater acceptance of all cultures and do a tiny part of easing the divide.

I can’t tell you how many arguments this has caused in my family. The last one was over my mother bringing Christian items for the kids the last few times she visited. I tried to explain we weren’t introducing religion to the children yet and she asked why we were even celebrating Christmas. My answer:

To me Christmas is about tradition. It is about family. It is about showing those close to us that we love them and giving them gifts to show this. It is about time spent together as a family as far too often we can never all be at the same place at the same time anymore. It is about the magic for the children. Seeing their smiles and hearing their laughter and experiencing the joys of Christmas as a child once again, that over the years seem to have been forgotten.

I told her if that wasn’t good enough to not celebrate it with us. That was hard; she got upset and left my house. It took a few days and me explaining that my view on religion is in no way saying she is a bad person. I am all for what works for you, but this works for us.

So, that is just a tidbit. As with religion, and politics, etc. there are many views and no one view is correct. You may agree or disagree, that is fine. I don’t judge. 

Religion rant over.