Why I Love and Hate My Religion. Religion has always been a normal part of my life, and thus something I took for

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Megan McDowell
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1 Why I Love and Hate My Religion Religion has always been a normal part of my life, and thus something I took for granted, especially in the younger years of my life. I was born an Orthodox Christian, and ever since I was a little kid, I ve more or less practiced it. Everything I knew about religion back then I learnt from my mother and aunts. The only times I ever had to be a little more discrete were around my father, because he didn t like anything that wasn t practical, but he was away with work most of the time. Throughout primary and middle school, religious education was a normal part of the curriculum, thanks to the department of education. Most of the country was Orthodox as well. On TV, nobody was of any other religion. Add all of these together, and it seems just natural that I wasn t really aware of the existence of other religions, much less of the potential of conflict between people of different religions. I mean, sure, some of my father s Turkish business partners had been Muslims; the news occasionally mentioned crimes with religious motivation; the history books mentioned that the old Ottoman Empire sometimes forced their conquered enemies to convert; but all those were just random facts and information. To me, the world outside of my own religion didn t really exist. It took a trip to the United States and two years in high school here to really open my eyes and mind to the existence of other religions, the relationships between their followers, and some of the problems religions can create. And the best part about those years is that, in the end, I learnt more about my own religion and myself. 1

2 You see, in my teenage years and now, I really respect my religion. I feel that a lot of the credit for the person that I am now should go to it. It has taught me a lot of good values that are now carved into me. My code of ethics, which is a very important part of me, shares a great deal with the philosophies of my religion. Do I need religion in order to become a better person? That s debatable, but so far it has certainly brought its share to the table. In my junior year in high school I came to the U.S. as an exchange student. I lived with a family that happened to be Protestant. The following year I was an exchange student in a different state and again lived with a Christian family. In that time I consolidated my knowledge of my own religion, and incorporated a lot into my constitution. I now follow the 10 basic rules a little closer, as well as the Golden Rule. I am as concerned with doing things for the right reason as I am concerned with doing the right things; I keep my eyes open for everything I can learn from good or bad. And the list goes on. I am thankful for the way my religion has helped better me. But a big problem with becoming a better person because of your religion is that, at the same time, you have the potential to become a worse one. The more I improved myself and the more confident I became of the person I was turning into, the easier it was to consider myself superior. The easier it was for vanity to take root. Even outside of religion I had always been concerned with ethics. When I chose to add one thing or another to my code of ethics, I was aware that others might not see things that way, or it might just be a matter of preference. So I didn t judge people too much based on their code of ethics, or lack thereof But with religion, that is impossible. Unlike with codes of ethics, with religion you innately believe you are right. Your 2

3 religion tells you you re right; everybody else is wrong. So when you do what your religion preaches you are doing the right thing, going down the path you believe to be the best or only good one. When someone else does something different, they are wrong. It s just that easy to think you re superior, because you follow your religion, and to think less of those that do not share your beliefs. I was really lucky to be able to see this, because I was not as immersed into my religion as were some of the people I ve met during my exchange experiences in the US, and besides, it s always easier to see fault in others than in yourself. From this sort of vanity a lot of things can stem. For instance, my second hostfamily displayed quite a lot of self-righteousness. They believed they were near-perfect because they followed the Bible to the letter, and in their minds, there was no better option than that. Anybody that wasn t a good Christian was well a sinner! And while I had a great experience living with them, I can tell you they were far from perfect. In fact, past a certain point, what religion represented to them did harm as much as it did good. This self-righteousness affected the way they thought of and treated many other people or groups of people, from political groups to whole nations. Religion deals with good and evil. For that reason, people have historically tried to use it as a political tool, either as an instrument of power or out of true belief. And once they mix them things get messy. My host family displayed this every day. In the U.S. being a near-fundamentalist Christian goes hand-in-hand with being hardcore Republican, or so I ve noticed at the local churches. For instance, President Bush was elected by God, so he was His hand. And if you disagreed, you were blind, you were not a Christian, or you were a sinner. The media 3

4 out there was the Devil, since they *sometimes* criticized him. You had to read The Conservative Christian s Journal to get good ole fashion Christian Truth. The war in Iraq, which ruined countless lives over here and over there, was entirely justified. It did not matter that people had no water or electricity for months, as long as those Muslims were being converted by the Christian U.S. soldiers. JFK was possibly one of the worst presidents in history. It did not matter that he prevented the Cold War from getting hot, or that he was involved in the Civil Rights movement, all that mattered was that he was Catholic (yes, Catholics aren t Christians, they are all non-protestant sinners). A few times I quoted him on memorable lines and they frowned upon me for admiring such a sinner. It s not worth listening to anything he ever said. Take JFK out, put the Conservative Christian Journal in, and you get a voluntary blindness and blissful ignorance where anything that they don t agree with or simply don t like is not worth being taken seriously, because it s not Christian. Now, you think these just might be harmless views, but in truth, they help create a worse world for anyone who doesn t share them. These views influence the way they treat others. They outright hated Democrats (who were all sinners, of course) and I saw them turn their back to a family of Democratic supporters at one of their daughter s school events. They see almost all other nations as misguided countries in need of religious conversion. They had a lot of exchange students before me, from various countries, but the Hindu and Buddhist ones were to be converted, since they didn t know better. The same goes for foreign countries where it was their mission to go convert people. And of course in the Middle East people are too stupid to know what s good for them so we need to invade them and tell them that Jesus loves them. Same goes if you re 4

5 Muslim or any other religion here in the U.S. When we had non-christian guests in the house, I felt that my host-family could barely hold back from shouting but Jesus loves you, come to church with us! The very few times I entered political discussions and disagreed with their views it quickly reverted to religion, and if I disagreed, I was not a good Christian. The gays of course were all going to hell, and so were you if you even thought of supporting the gay rights movement. If you watched any R-rated Hollywood movies (except for Mel Gibson s The Passion ) it meant you liked violence and foul language and sex, and you were a sinner. And the list goes on. What was worse than their general disgust towards non-christians was the fact that they taught all of it to their kids. I got to witness part of it with the youngest of their daughters. A senior at the local Blah-Blah-Blah Christian High School, she was ready to head out into the world all alone with nothing but all these views. She had been shielded by her parents from almost everyone and everything mentioned above. And I m afraid she will act with the same hate towards them when she first meets them. And if that s not enough, add to the list all the politicians they will vote for who will perpetuate this at city, state and national levels. These are just a few of the ways religion can make you do things you should really not be proud of (but if you do them in the name of religion, you will be proud anyway!). And believe it or not, the people I am talking about are some really great human beings. They were truly a family to me for a whole year. A Nobel physics laureate named Steven Weinberg once said With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil - but for good people to do evil - that takes religion. And I certainly got to experience that. 5

6 But mistreatment of others doesn t have to come from fundamentalists. It can also come from people that barely follow their stated religion. Many people are born in a country or a family that is primarily of a certain religion, but they didn t really grow up practicing that religion, it s just stated. Like a Catholic that doesn t even know who the current Pope in office is, or a Jew that eats ham and cheese sandwiches everyday. Then, it s not about religion anymore it s simply another basis for differentiation, just like nationality or any other identity you re born with. For instance, when I was a teenager and met Catholics here I felt they were more of a stranger, more alien than everybody else. Even though I didn t know why or what made them Catholic. And if you know anything about the insignificant differences between Catholic and Orthodox Christianity, you d laugh at that statement. To be honest, I am ashamed to even admit that people of my religion could hold such traits and beliefs and act this way to others. It almost makes it seem like Christianity is the worst of religions sometimes. But then again, every other religion has its fundamentalists, its fanatics, its liberals and its saints and villains. Christianity seems to have some of the greatest hypocrisies we see today. For instance it preaches love and forgiveness...backed up by the world s strongest military. But wait, Islam is the same, except the fundamentalists back it up with guerillas and bombs. Israel also wages its fair share of wars in the name of religion. So if everyone is wrong, who is right? Judaism, because they are God s chosen people? Christianity, because they are Jews saved by Jesus? Islam, because the Prophet Mohammed was instructed by God Himself? Hinduism, because it s the oldest in the world? Buddhism, because it was invented by a real person? Atheism, because the physical plane is all that matters? Agnosticism, 6

7 because they are realistic? I don t think the question is even relevant. I think religion isn t right or wrong for you. On the contrary, I think you have to be right for your religion. Religion won t do anything in your name, but you can act in the name of your religion. That s where you can be right or wrong. 7

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