What I Believe...and Don't Believe

 

When I was a little kid in school and we had to pray every day, I wondered why? I did it in church and in Sunday School. Why in school?

As I got older, I thought about people of different faiths. Why weren't they allowed to pray too? It didn’t seem fair to me.

I asked a lot of questions about religion when I was younger and nobody gave me any good answers. They got mad at me or told me I shouldn't ask questions.

Why not?

I saw and heard a lot of things that I knew wasn't right.

Supposed religious men were saying and doing things to me that I knew were wrong. My very religious Mama told me I must have misunderstood or that I was lying. So, I stopped talking to her about it. Later on, she saw that I was telling the truth and she apologized. Sort of.

As I read more and tried to understand, some folks told me I didn't need to go to college because they would teach me things.

What things?

Again, no answers.

I heard more homophobic comments, more prejudiced discussions, all kids of hateful and mean things that shouldn't have been going on in church. I won't even talk about the sexual wrongs.

But I began to think as I got older that I didn't need to be involved in all that stuff. I didn't feel comfortable. I didn't feel at home.

I went with my mom to some of her Baptist conferences. The preachers were straight up showing their asses. They weren't acting like leaders. I wasn't seeing very many people who were real leaders at all. So, I started distancing myself from it all.

But then something really awful took place at the church I belonged to and I was appalled. And my Mom, the one who had always told me to not judge people and to be open minded and love everyone made some horrible homophobic comments.

I felt stunned, shocked and hurt. How could this be? She taught me to not be a bigot and here she was, sounding like a bigot.

I stopped going to church that very day. I began to mistrust so-called Christians. The people who displayed the most hatefulness, who told the biggest lies and were the biggest hypocrites sat their butts right there in church every Sunday, trying to tell others how to live.

I sat down and evaluated my own feelings and thoughts and came to the conclusion that I didn't want to be a part of that number.

I know that God and Jesus an'nem know we have a complicated relationship and I know They are ok with it. I know They don't require this blind, stupefying devotion that many seem to display. I don't think They mind my questions. Right about now, looking at these folks down here acting a straight up fool and blaming God; They probably have questions too.

Religion is one thing. Politics is another. Mixing the two is wrong and causes trouble. And it's not fair. These people here think that being a Christian makes them superior. They feel like they have a right to force their beliefs down everybody's throat.

But the problem is that since the beginning of time, everyone thought their religion was better than the other one. How many wars have been fought; how many people have died because of misguided religious beliefs?

Christians thought slavery was all right and took some stuff from the Bible to prove they were right. They said Black people weren’t even human to justify their treatment of us.

Someone said years ago that the most segregated hour is in church. For the most part, it’s still true. Some of the most horrible bigots alive thought themselves stellar Christians. Even the KKK claimed to be a religious organization.

Right now, there are Christians wanting to kill people because they are gay. They justify rape and child abuse and many more still worship and follow known pedophiles.

What are we supposed to think or believe?

I’ve studied the Bible both as a religious document and as a mere book. I’ve listened and learned. I’ve been in class where Christians got angry because we learned philosophy from people who weren’t Christian and wanted the professor not to teach it.

Why not?

If your faith is strong, you can stand criticism, right? If you know what you believe is right, what others think shouldn’t matter, should it? Does it shake your faith?

Why is what you believe more important than what others believe?

I have friends and relatives who are Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. I have friends and relatives who are atheists or agnostics. I have friends who have questions like I do and like me, never got answers.

But I also have friends who are Christians and others who claim to be Christians. I don’t have a problem with them as long as they know the boundaries.

I don’t force my beliefs on you, so be kind and do the same.

The one thing that sticks in my craw is how can you claim to be a Christian and then support and embrace Donald Trump who is as far from a righteous man as one can be? How can you follow him and worship him and then hate Barack Obama, who is everything Trump is not?

Ok, I know the answer to that so don’t protest.

You know what you are.  

Separation of church and state is a great thing. It is how this country was intended to run and how it should run.

If you get elected and you represent a constituency that does not agree with your beliefs, you should put that aside and vote and support them. That is why you were elected. Your job is to represent their beliefs, not yours. Don’t bring your church to your job.

Same with school.

Parents, it’s YOUR job to teach your children about religion. You are supposed to teach them morals and ethics and all that. Teachers are supposed to teach them reading, writing, math, etc. Oh yes, and history and science. Ugly as it might be, yes, they are supposed to teach them history. And science. You can tell them your beliefs and then let your children make up their minds about what they think and believe.

You pray with them before they go to school. Pray with them before they go to bed.

Prayer does not belong in school unless you take the whole first hour so that the Christians get their prayer and then the Jewish kids and then the Hindu kids and then the Muslim kids (and they pray 5 times a day!) and then the Buddhist kids and then the Native American kids…

See?

If you get to pray, everyone gets to. It’s only fair. Don’t want to do that?

Then no prayer at school.

Now you might think you want to argue or debate me on this.

Save it.

You will not change my mind anymore than I will change yours. Keep it to yourself. If you don’t like what I say, that’s fine.

Live with it.

I have a right to my beliefs just as you to yours. Let’s just agree to disagree.

But if your beliefs butt into my life and try to decide my own choices and decisions…well, we have a problem.

And I will fight you.