Religion

My boys know this about me, but I have a love/hate relationship with religion.  On one hand, I find it to be a foundational component of our country.  We abandoned Britain because we didn't want to be held to a state run single religion.  The freedom of religion is a freedom that, up until recently, has been one of the most unique freedoms (for some reason) in the world, with places of worship around every corner, representing all faiths, not to mention a complete lack of faith.  I know people whose faith in religion has saved their lives, given them meaning and direction, and is a foundational part of their existence.  Their ability to worship freely to that end, is immensely important.  I would never, in a million years, want the freedom to worship taken away from anyone, for any reason.  For those reasons, I love it.

That being said, the reason I hate it is, for me personally, I have zero need for it in my life and am extremely offended at the idea that the freedom of it has been abused in the US to the point where Christianity, specifically, has permeated elements of our SECULAR government.  The overreach is disgusting.  I hate religion as well outside the US as it is still the single source of most wars, death, destruction and hate, the opposite for which religion is meant to stand. 

I am interested in religion for the historical and the sociological aspects of its existence.  I do not require a spiritual foundation, so being a participant in the worship of a religion simply does not occur to me.  Personally, I was baptized (very late) as a Presbyterian, but that was essentially because my mother wanted my brother and I to be, and we agreed.  Other than that, religion has meant absolutely nothing to me, spiritually.  In fact, my cynicism with the concept of religion stems from my own personal experiences, as well as the very classes I had to take with our pastor to become baptized back in 1987, I think.  1988 maybe. 

In the US, I feel like the construct of Freedom of Religion was superbly done.  Legally speaking, anyone can worship, or choose not to worship, with essentially zero impact to their daily lives.  Any of ours.  The world as a whole should operate in this manner, but I'm not so naive that I don't get why it isn't that way everywhere.  I guess you could say, it's how I WISH things were.  On any given day, I listen/watch the news and some kind of war/conflict/tragedy has occurred or is occurring simply because of differences in faith.  As an agnostic, I find it absurd, ridiculous and a waste of time, money, energy and human life.  It's strange too.  When I have conversations with my religious friends and family about this, I inevitably get the, "See!  What you're seeing is the hatred Muslims have toward Jews and Christians!  They need to be dealt with!"  And, honestly, I couldn't care less.  Yes, I'm not so blind that I don't realize that some religions are more prone to violence and radicalism, but to me all religions are the same.  They're just a belief system you've chosen to attach to in order to explain the inexplicable.  Great!  But I don't see any religion better than another.  And if they all got wiped out tomorrow, I couldn't care less.  I don't have a strong support for Israel.  I don't have a strong support for Islam. They all literally mean the same, or nothing, to me.  

As is my belief system politically, I believe in the truest of true freedoms.  Literally do whatever the hell you want, whenever you want, however long you want to do it, as long as you don't infringe on the rights of others doing what THEY want to do.  In other words, nothing is illegal except violence, murder, theft, etc on another sovereign person.  THAT is freedom.  And that there should be a secular structure that supports ALL belief systems, but provides a service to all.  So, laws should affect all equally, and not take religion into account at all.  This is so the law can be universally applied.  No individual group's beliefs can sway the overall law that governs everyone.  Make sense?  Honestly, it seems very simple.

Freedom of religion is a RIGHT.  A RIGHT for you to exercise as you see fit.  At no point should even the remotest concept of religion even play the slightest part in the construction of, or enforcement of, a law in a secular world.  In other words, unless the class is specifically to teach religion, religion plays no part in a secular classroom except when notating its historical element to our existence, or its sociological impact to how we, as a world or country, live.  

Now, I believe, as I said earlier, that the US was constructed to handle this "world" perfectly.  Unfortunately, most of the rest of the world is not.  

However, we in the US are not immune to religious interference.  For instance, some of the most un-American laws are being put forth now that take tax payer dollars, meant for SECULAR education.  The beauty of freedom is, if you want to go to private school, go to town!  But you cannot use tax dollars for a secular country, for religious based education.  That is against everything America is about.  

Then you get into the weeds with things like abortion, a religious-based (although not Biblical) opinion that has, for some reason, always been a contentious topic in America.  Bottom line is, secularly speaking, abortion is the right of the person whose body is impacted by it.  No one has a right to prevent that person from doing whatever they want to do to their body.  Again, the beauty of freedom is that, if you don't like abortions, don't have one.  But stay out of the way of the FREEDOM for anyone else to do the opposite, if they so choose.  Your religious opinion you may apply to abortion has no business in the national conversation.  It's your personal belief, period.  And the idea of leaving it up to the states is one of the most broken things in this country.  No, it's a freedom.  You can't have that freedom in one state, then not in another. 

Now, for the record, I hate abortion.  I would never ENCOURAGE anyone to have one.  In fact, I would actively discourage, were I to be asked, someone from having one.  However, I hate the politics of abortion and the fact that it's a national topic of discussion, even more.  The bottom line is, everyone has to answer to their own religious structure and deal with those consequences.  It should never be morally enforced.  Everyone's morals are different.

The word God (as in, "In God We Trust" or "One Nation Under God), which only came about as a tactic against Communist Russia, has no business in anything American.  At all.  And the idea of "swearing" on a Bible could not be more un-American.  It's absurd.  Even Donald Trump wouldn't do it, and he has Christians licking his balls every day believing he's one of them (which he most certainly is NOT). 

So, bottom line...keep religion in your house, your head, your heart and your house of worship.  Aside from that, it's no one's business and should never carry any weight on anything in the government.  Pretty easy.  That's the way the founders intended. 

But that's the US. 

As for globally, what I have to say on the matter really doesn't mean anything (well, actually none of this means anything.  It's just my opinion).  Sovereign nations are allowed to govern as they see fit.  If they want Sharia (or some other religion's version of Sharia) Law, then that's their business.  However, I want the US to get the hell out of supporting wars and conflicts, even taking a side, with countries who get into them due to religious reasons.  As cold as it may sound, my response to those kinds of conflicts is, "Well...if you weren't stupid enough to run your government or take such hard stances on how you live and interact with each other based on your own made up belief system of how we all came to be, and where we go when we die, you wouldn't be involved in so many wars and conflicts."  

So, bottom line...become a government that is constructed and operates as a secular country that benefits its people and, when possible, provides products and services to those outside your country to help us all thrive globally.  

Religion can be a precious thing for the right reasons, or the dumbest thing ever for the worst and wrong reasons.