Just thinking

I saw a friend today, who obviously is a believer in a higher power, deny that belief somewhat due to his own personal lack of conviction...which is fine; his choices are his own. In fact, due to observors, he chose to not use the word "God" but instead skirted around it while trying to get a message across which he wished to share. Why did he do so? Perhaps due to that very lack of conviction, he allowed the pressure of current views on religion in America and worldwide to affect the words he chose to use while in a public setting. Concerned over how those he didn't know well would receive his tale and their reaction to it, he made the conscious choice to omit the word "God" while his tale required the use of it to emphasize the message he wished to convey.

I had to think about his actions and so many similar actions across my own nation and how people world-wide are having to defend their religions as if the religion itself is the cause of any existing conflicts when they aren't. It's the people using the religion who cause the conflict. There is no religion existing past or present which would have done so without it's members who chose to believe the doctrines set forth by others such as themselves. The old saying, "Birds of a feather flock together.", proves true in most situations. Those of a like mind in religious belief mingle together and create lines along which they identify themselves and present themselves to others. Much of what we believe is ingrained during childhood and while we may attempt to escape it, it influences our thoughts and emotions even as we study another religion and even practice it for we can't escape the knowledge gained or the experiences which shape us. Take two people from different backgrounds who are studying religion new to both, and while they will learn and understand the concepts of the new religion, whatever they bring forth with them will affect how each truly perceives it and relates to it. We individually choose what to retain and what to discard, shaping what it is we need from what we expose ourselves to. While I might say I believe in the 'Golden Rule'..."Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."...with each recitation of that line, I'm going to have my own feelings come into play which belong to no-one else even though they, too, might follow the rule.

As a child, being raised Baptist, I knew from the earliest days the influence of that religion in the form of my parent's handling and care of me and my moral development. There was not a time that religion was not a part of my development and because of this I formed the belief in a higher power, I learned that hope existed in an afterlife, and I learned that certain behavior was expected to conform to the dictates of that religion and the society into which I was born. Had I been born into another religion or without one at all, a large part of who I am would be dictated by that. It is easy to create a religion; all it requires is a leader, a concept, and foremost the necessary followers. We've seen new ones created within our lifetimes and yet we call them cults. What is a cult today if not a religion tomorrow ...if it flourishes? Did not Christianity and other religions begin with one individual whom many others ultimately chose to follow and believe in? Why did, and do, we choose to believe Jesus or another a deity, omnipotent, as did the ancient believers of Zeus and the heirarchy of gods? What is that need in us to believe there is something beyond what we can percieve as truth, concrete reality, in the present? Why did even the Natives look beyond the sustaining forces of nature to someone who had to have provided it? Why aren't we content with what we know to be real without looking beyond that for the answers?

Regardless of the reasons why we choose to believe, whether it is just the need for hope that there is more to our existence, the fact remains that for most of the world the individual inhabitants follow some religion and completely by choice. Why then would we choose to deny that part of ourselves? Because someone else says we should? Because a few are loud enough and persistent enough to attempt to take away our right to do so? It is an inherent right of all human beings to be free. We are born free as merely an element of this amazing universe and yet we've been set apart and above by our mental and physical abilities. It is the society and the time to which we're born which dictates what our life then becomes unless we hold on to that freedom and refuse to be bowed by the weight of adversity. Given the choice, we sometimes opt out of a society which hinders the person we wish to be.

America is not on the favorite country list at the moment despite all the individuals who have and still would enter its borders. Some countries, as I understand it, look at Americans as infidels, corrupt, etc. Western influence is seen as negative in a lot of places. Why is that? It's not due to our current state of affaris, though that hasn't helped by any means, because this view existed long before the war in Iraq. What was, and is, the lure of America for many...the elusive American dream, the economy, the proported freedoms, democracy, Hollywood? How is America or its citizens any different from the citizens of another country? All nations have their share of inequality and inequity; their share of fanatics and achievers, their share of good and bad. None are different, nor can one be defined by representation of few individuals when so many more exist. We, as always has been the case, are reliant on outside news regarding our neighbors because we're too busy living our daily existence or too frugal to traipse the globe for first-hand information. We are slave to the media more than any other source for our global awareness and yet too often that media is biased. So, we form images in our mind and beliefs based on second-hand knowledge and until further information is available, the impression gained is one we base our opinions on. Though a group of people may exist which in some way designates the individuals within it, the group does not define the individuals for they are just that...individuals. We were not given one heart and one brain to share. Each person on this Earth possesses his/her own and every thought and emotion is one of choice...individual choice. Though many may band together and seem similar, each possesses unique and individual ability for thought, reason, and emotion. Unfortunately, there are many who choose to be followers, choose to not think for themselves, choose to adopt thoughts and feelings of another as their own, choose to participate in mob mentality...but there are many more who do make conscious choices of their own and all people should have the freedom to do so. Why then relinquish your freedom as my friend did today? Why, to placate the majority or save face, did he choose to alter his tale and deny an aspect of himself?

Religion is just one difference among us and though my own is familiar to me, I don't discount that of another. Just because one fanatic may belong to a religion does not mean that everyone who practices that religion is a fanatic. Stereotyping individuals based on differences is dangerous not just for the individuals but for human society overall. Within America, we've seen the effects of the ultra-conservative and, while a country based on freedoms, American society has shown little freedom for certain individuals at times. As well, unto today, there are individuals persecuted by the religious majority because they choose to live lifestyles alternate to those standards. There have been and continue to be races which are mistreated by individuals who practice religion which supports "loving thy neighbor". It is the evidence of such harm to these individuals and the conformity which everyone must follow which has breached my own earlier conviction. That is not to say that I've changed my basic beliefs and hopes regarding religion but, instead of following blindly as a child, I opened my eyes to the duplicity which can be perpetrated on one who doesn't choose to see. I choose to believe, but I also choose how I believe. The message remains the same but the difference lies in how man delivers it to the people and how they then carry it forth.

Being American, I'm allowed individual freedom but am governed by the law of the land...as it should be, if equitable. I have a right to disagree with those who represent us in government as I have a right to change things however I can if I don't agree with the status quo. I'm very thankful for my freedoms and, after seeing my friend today deny one of his own, I had to stop and think. Daily I receive the chain emails which urge me to forward them "if I believe in God." I often recieve doom predicting text messages which offer dire consequences if I don't forward the "I believe in God" messages. (These really tick me off.) The choice to believe or not is a personal one. The choice to follow a religion is a personal one. The choice to be an aethist is a personal one. When it comes down to it, everything about our lives is a personal journey which no-one shares with us. We have no concrete answers regarding what 'might' lie beyond the end of this life; for everyone it's a matter of what we choose to believe. It would be a more correct action to live this life as it should be lived with respect, acceptance, and love for all rather than depend on what 'might' be as we go about our days filled with prejudice, disregard, and with lines drawn. However, in choosing to believe, it behooves us to stand by our beliefs even in the light of adversity or persecution, and in having the freedom to do just that, it behooves us to exercise that freedom and not squelch it for anyone or we do ourselves an injustice.