The webster definition of faith is "a firm belief in something for which there is no proof", keep this in mind.
Today I found out that my school is going to recieve the holy sacrament of reconciliation tomorrow, I have already decided not to go, as it is a study period if you decide not to. I have gone to Catholic school all my life, have been an altar boy for four years, and am currently taking confirmation classes. In all this, I have gradually had my views changed on religion. Considering how it has been force fed to me, it was only a matter of time before I have completely grown to distrusting religion. Another part of it is also my interest in studying the aspects of religion, and other religions, to better understand them.
When I found out about going to confession, it got me thinking, how actions throughout history from struggles of power have impacted the lives of people today. In the view of the great William Blake, God was an invention of the poetical genius, and man forgot that and worshiped God. From the earliest times, great philosophers tried thinking of explanations for everything, especially what happens after death. For things that could not be explained, they said that a supernatural force was behind it. The cause of this supernatural force was God or many gods.
Eventually monotheism obviously outlasted polytheism, making the worship of one supernatural force universal. However, great minds such as king Numa Pompilius, the emporer Constantine, and king James, used the concept of religion to furthur thier power by making themselves the authority and changing different aspects/testaments to better fit themselves. This has critically warped the concept of religion to the point where it is modernly intertwined with every aspect of everyday life. What is not morally correct in religious views, is not politically correct on social views, which leads to censoring.
Take cloning for example. We may never clone/biologically create a human, because we are hindered by religious views. I would love to be a biological engineer, but there would be no future for me, considering how morally incorrect I would be viewed as, and how a bill would need to be passed for every procedure involved. We call it taking the place of God, but if it was not meant to be done, why is it possible?
I do believe there is a God but not the "brand name God"; I just don't trust what is commonly believed in faith. Of course we should not have sex with animals, and kill our neighbors, and it is pretty much unhealthy in our era to be unfaithful to your spouse (considering that you may bring an STD home, which is not fair to your loved one). Civil laws are based off of instinct of what is "right" and what is wrong (Actually, when women first started getting blamed for witchcraft, and the male sex started to get threatened, left meant evil, or bad, and right meant good, it has of course been changed. The two definitions of the word right however, are no coincidence.), there is of course obvious reasons for that; as they mean survival for us. I do believe in a higher form of Karma, meaning that if we start doing bad to others, it may cause bad to happen to us. I also find nothing wrong in celebrating mass, as I find the concept of celebrating faith pleasant.
In conclusion of my rant, I would like to cite the one moral law for the Wikkan belief that goes "An it hurt none, do what ye will". While I am not Wiccan, I think this rule is universal, meaning as long as we follow this we should be fine.
[This message has been edited by Lt_Flippy (edited 04-21-2006).]
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