Questions from YeaJordan:
1. What is Religion
Religion is an attempt to make sense of the mysteries of life.
2. What meaning does it have for you?
To me religion is an attempt to answer the unanswerable. Some years ago I decided I didn’t really subscribe to the worldview that religion (specifically, Christianity) had provided me with. It is funny though because I still have moments where I revert to old patterns of thinking. I commented whimisically on twitter recently that despite not really believing in ‘God’ I still get angry with ‘him’ periodically.
3. What contribution does religion play in your life.
My interest in religion these days is mostly academic. I find it interesting. I listen to religiously themed podcasts, read religiously themed blogs, and write entries on the subject myself. This confuses a lot of people. At the risk of offending people, I tend to think of my interest in religion as extensions of my interest in the paranormal and the psychological. My concern is that religion is used to justify all manner of atrocities. It is remarkably easy to decide God’s will, beliefs and intentions since ‘he’ hardly makes television appearances or press conferences himself. (And as Delos McKown noted, “The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.”) Interpretation of religious texts has become a theological art, and used to reinforce the beliefs and prejudices of practitioners and clergy. Atheists can be equally militant.
It is my hope that people can find some middle ground, be afforded the opportunity to practice their religious beliefs in their own way while being respectable of others.
Happy Sunday!
