So quickly it comes up. If you missed it yesterday, Natalia over at the cheese pad had this to say regarding the film Jesus Camp.
Her rant got me thinking about religion and faith and my own beliefs. So for those who are interested, here goes:
Religion
Wikipedia says of religion (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion):
A religion is a set of beliefs and practices generally held by a community, involving adherence to codified beliefs and rituals and study of ancestral or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience. The term "religion" refers to both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction.
So religion is important, on a cultural level, as it provides sets of beliefs, rituals, and traditions. All of these elements are crucial to the stability of society. That isn't to say that these things should be forever fixed, indeed they should be forever changing and evolving to suit the needs of society, and not make society subservient to them. This is where religion today, fundamentalism in particular, has gone wrong.
This then begs the question: Am I religious? Well yes and no. I wholeheartedly participate in many of the rituals and traditions ascribed by the religion of my parents - Christianity - because I believe in their value to my small society. Weddings, for instance, are an important ritual affirming the commitment of two people, and the beginning of family. Funerals are another important ritual as they facilitate the mourning process for those of us who have yet to move on to whatever comes next.
Religion has also been the impetus for many important works through out history. There is so much important music, literature and art that is inspired by religion that to loose it would surely be a setback for humanity.
Faith
To Believe without reason. There are things that I believe without reason. Still, they may not be those things that the rest of society believes as a group. Do I believe in God? Not since I was a child. Do I believe in Karma, absolutely. I also believe that things always, always happen for a reason and that life will never hand me anything I am not strong enough to handle. The list goes on.
Faith in something is what keeps most of us going. Whether it is faith God, or faith in science, it give us our reason d' etre.
This clip got me most worked up. Rachel has faith that God is the only one who will judge her, yet she is being taught to judge others -- and to make sure they know it. She mocks my faith.
4 comments:
Interesting.
See, the definition of religion offered there is not really in line with what religion does, in my opinion. Culture and society could be described as having the same elements, a code of conduct, a series of shared beliefs. All of that is possible without the belief that there is an absentee parent or parents watching up there and that we have to venerate them in order to have a good afterlife. Still, I respect people's decisions to worship (or not) where they please and how they please as long as it doesn't infringe on my rights and my safety.
I guess, more than anything, I am happy that my post can start a conversation.
-N
Natalia -
It is nice when we get people thinking, isn't it. You tend to have that effect.
Yaay me. I rule all.
-N
The whole time Nat and I were watching that movie all I could think about is how bad I feel for poor Rachel. Every word that came out of her mouth was so very, very wrong for so many reasons. But, she's just a kid. A kid who will now, most likely, be a screwed up adult with no capacity for rational thought.
You're right about our need to have faith in things though. That's part of what makes so many people turn to religion - they feel there's nothing else in this world that they can have faith in. Even cynical and skeptical people like me need some amounts of faith in life ;)
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