Religion

I've been thinking a lot about religion lately. I think that there is a problem with laziness when it comes to people's views on religion. I think it is incredibly lazy to think religion is all made up and useless. I also think that being a fundamentalist, and believing that we should stone gay people, and thinking the earth is 10,000 years old, or whatever, is incredibly lazy. I think that religion should be somewhere in between, although I may be validating myself.

I think religion can and should be a guide for individuals. I don't think that rules for everyone should be made from religion. America's laws are based on the Constitution, not the Bible, and it is very important to remember that. At the same time, religion offers meaning and guidance that a secular document can't provide. Religion also offers some common sense, when everyone seems to reject it.

As far as common sense goes, most religions tell people not to have pre-marital sex. This is a good thing. It is seen as a bad, naive thing, but its a good thing. I think sex can be beautiful. I don't think sex is wrong or evil. But at the same time, unprotected sex leads to a lot of bad consequences, such as pregnancy and disease. Sex is supposed to be emotional. Sex is supposed to mean something. I know some people think sex can just be for fun, and I guess that's their prerogative. But I think it should be meaningful and emotional. Its true that some people get married and don't love each other, but I think that "don't have sex until your married" is a nice, concise way of saying "sex is beautiful and intimate, but done improperly, can cause many negative physical and emotional side effects."

Married people have better sex. They have it more often and it is more meaningful. That doesn't mean gay people shouldn't be allowed to be married, it doesn't mean I'm going to vote for Robin Hayes. But it is important to accept that sex should be special and should mean something. There are a lot of negative aspects to marriage; it has basically been used to control women for thousands of years, but that doesn't mean there aren't any benefits to marriage. Just because its been done wrong before does not mean it can't be done right. And that's my larger thought about religion. Just because people have messed it up doesn't mean there isn't truth in it.

Religion is important because it holds us to a higher standard than we hold ourselves. Secular government, which I'm a big fan of, basically asks us not to kill or rob each other. Religion can hold us up to much higher standards. And holding yourself to a higher standard is important for self respect.

I'm doing pretty well, by secular standards. I have a good, stable job. I don't have any addictions. I pay my bills. That's pretty much all the government and Citibank require of me. So should I be content? Or should I try and better myself? At a certain point, we're past the "Competent Member of Society" mark. Once you pay your bills, don't mess up other people's lives (for instance by impregnating people in high school), and generally don't embarrass yourself, you reach Competent Member of Society level. But there should be more than that. There should be more to life than that.

I've been praying a lot. I've been trying to figure out what God wants from me. I want to be who God wants me to be. I think about the examples from religion, Christ, the saints, that sort of thing. I'm never going to be as good as Jesus or as good as Saint Francis. But I'd rather shoot for that then try to be content. I want to be somewhere in between Competent Member of Society and Saint Francis.

So that's what religion is to me. It's holding myself to a higher standard. Its difficult. Its very difficult. Nothing is easier than being an alcoholic or hanging out at strip clubs. But when I'm eighty years old, and getting ready to leave this world, I don't want to think about the horrible things I've done. I don't want to cross my fingers and hope I've done more good than bad. I want to be able to go to sleep for the last time with the knowledge that I tried to be the best person that I could be.