"Take the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you walk is holy ground."
-  God, as portrayed by Dreamworks

I'm gonna blab about religion for a second - big surprise, hm?  You do have to admit, it's an interesting topic.  Think of all man has accomplished in the name of God.  Or Buddha.  Or Jehova.  Or Joseph Smith.  Or Allah.  Or whoever one prays to.  Think of all the wars and hatred and bigotry that has gone on in the name of the Almighty.  There's not really any cause for religion other than pain and suffering, is there?  

I don't know if I believe in God or not.  I do believe in a parental figure, sure.  I hope that someone out there is watching out for all of us - and by all of us, I do mean all of us.  White, black, brown, big, small, wide, thin; I'd like to believe in something that guides all of us to peace.  It might be God, or it might be conscience.  I don't know.  People never really know for sure whether or not there's a God, and that's what makes it so unbelievable.    There's an invisible man in the sky that loves us, spoke to everyone a few thousand years ago and even had a mortal son.  It raises way too many questions.

Questions that no one really has the answers to, save "It's in his plan."  Whose plan?  God's plan?  Does God have a plan?  Is there a God?  Who knows?  I certainly have no idea whether or not God exists.  I don't know whether the bible is fact or fiction.  I don't know whether or not he actually loves us all.  But the interesting thing about the idea that God is real or not is that it opens him up to interpretation.  It allows people to make their own answers.  

What I'm writing is my own interpretation of not only Catholicism - which I was raised in - but all religion as a whole.  I'm going to write about the bible, about God, and about what I think of what goes on in His name.

So first things first.  The Bible.  It's a book written by a bunch of guys who lived long ago about a guy who they can't prove exists.  Why is it such an important piece of literature?  Why is it one of the most quoted, referenced, and discussed books in the world?  Because of, like every other book that's brought up, what's inside of it.  It's a book that describes who God is, and what he has done for us, what he has done to us and why people think he did it.  Jesus Christ walking on water, God appearing to Moses as a burning bush, pretty much everything God did.  

The thing about it is that everything in it is just so out there - Jesus walking on water?  Yeah, maybe if it was winter and it was frozen.  But there's another side to this - remember, I'm stating my version here - what if the Bible is just stories?  What if Jesus didn't really walk on water, what if God didn't really appear to Moses?  What if, instead, it's just a collection of stories written not as fact, but just to describe God?  Jesus may have walked on water, he may not have - what matters is that he walked up to his Apostles to deliver the good word.  Moses may or may not have seen God, but he believed that what the Pharaoh was doing to his people was wrong, and tried to change it.  

It's not really a book of what happened, what might happen, what's going to happen, whatever - it's just something that says "Hey, this is God.  He's a pretty cool deity.  Check him out."  Of course, checking God out means going to mass.  Which means waking up early on a Sunday to go to Church to hear a Priest talk about how awesome God is for an hour, and then we go home.  That's something that a lot of people don't like.  It's something I don't like as well.  God told us to praise him, right?  Well, what's the problem with praising him outside, in jeans and a t-shirt?  

I don't really see a problem with people gathering to worship - it's not really an issue for me.  But it just seems that we made - yes, I said "we made," as in our interpretation of him and the advances that the church has made in his name both in service to Him and in His name - we made God too egotistical.  He made the world.  He made everything on the world.  He made us.  And what do we do to show thanks?  We all gather in a big building in uncomfortable clothes, sing, and sit on our hands for an hour.  Does this seem odd to anyone else?  God created the world.  He created everything on it.  Why aren't we out somewhere, skiing down slopes, picking flowers, having water-fights?  You'd look up at the sky and say "Hey God, thanks for making a mountain and snow.  And flowers.  And water.  They're really neat."  And God looks down and goes "No problem.  Enjoy it.  I made it for you guys."  

Speaking of things we do in the name of God, why... should I really say this?  I guess I will anyway - Why in God's name are we killing both each other and other people who we term as non-believers?  The crusades, the witch-burnings; I know I'm lacking information here, my theology and history might be lacking, but didn't God say "Thou Shalt Not Kill?"  Wasn't that one of his rules?  If we're attacking those who don't believe in God, aren't we disobeying God in the first place?  Am I the only one who sees the problem with this?  

When people get sent to the afterlife, waiting judgment at the pearly gates, St. Peter's gonna go "So what happened to you, what's your story?"  And they'll say "Well, I died in the Crusades."  And Peter's gonna go "What the heck were you doing in the Crusades?"  The afterlife is a funny thing, which is really, really open to interpretation.  I don't know what it's gonna be like.  I don't.  I find it funny that it's turned into a sort of reward system where if you're good, you'll be rewarded.  If you're bad, just the opposite.  But hey, what can you argue?  What would be the point of arguing about religion in the first place?

Well, the point, which is also the point of this rant, is that religion is important.  All religion.  Religion tells us that there's someone who loves us.  Religion shows us a way, essentially to understanding.  It tells us that there's peace in all people.  The most important thing in religion:  It gives people strength.  Like I said, I'm not sure whether or not I believe in God.  He might exist, he might not.  I do, however, like people.  I like to make people smile and be happy.  Religion accomplishes this task by giving people hope.  And in that hope, they find peace.  And peace and hope are things that are worth preserving, whether or not the cause of them is real.