As someone who grew up with a very religious background but later struggled to have a belief in a God I couldn't help but lately observe and wonder about certain things on today's modern religious beliefs. I've been having these thoughts just growing inside my mind constantly and I have finally come to the point where I feel I have to share them because of a growing concern. In this post I will be intentionally talking about Christianity but other religions can also be interpreted through this to some extent.
The first thing I've noticed as a trend lately is that more and more people have been saying that they don't follow a religion and that it's a 'way of life'. A good example of these sorts of people is Jefferson Bethke. In his most popular youtube video: 'Why I hate religion, but love Jesus' he explains deeply and thoroughly this belief. However, I still get confused when people deny that they are religious because in a logical and theoretical point of view this doesn't make sense. In the Oxford dictionary religion is defined as 'The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods' or 'A particular system of faith and worship'. Furthermore, Christianity is defined as a 'religion based on the person and teachings of Jesus Christ, or its beliefs and practices'. I will be referring to religion and Christianity using these definitions from now on to avoid confusion.
When I hear 'it's not a religion, it's a way of life' it's as if the person saying it is getting defensive over something. Why is it that people reject this definition of religion?
At first I thought it's because they don't want to be put in the same box as extremists (people who take religion way too far e.g. Westboro Baptist Church) Yet going back to the phrase, it's easy to see extremists are people who make it a way of life as well.
Going back to the saying, as far as I'm aware religion IS a way of life. It's the same way atheism is a way of life because obviously, atheists lives their lives differently.
From my experiences and observations, there are two types of religious people: The type that just practice the rituals, verses and teachings with little feeling and emotion behind it all and the type that put their heart and soul into. I think the latter is the reason that people deny that they are religious and more readily accept spirituality. The bible distinguishes between these two types in the new testament so this is nothing new.
This is all understandable in my opinion but when someone says that they are not religious it gets irritating when they constantly have to pronounce this. It's not because I disrespect them but because my perception of what religion is, is different to theirs the same way that what my perception of beauty is different. The more time passes and the more often I hear it, the more often I assume that they are just not comfortable with being labeled. Why should it matter how I label them when I can understand what they are like or what they mean by knowing them instead? Not only that, the more defensive they get over it, the more I assume how weak their faith actually seems to be.
It's as if they find Christianity a shaming thing to be a part of. I can understand how that can easily be since it's mostly bad things that they do are noticed but I have witnessed many good things in my lifetime that religion has achieved and I'm only 19! Personally I'd much rather start hearing people comfortably say that they're Christian rather than seeming so ashamed because it seems like an achievement and something you can be pleased about to me.
In Christianity specifically there are many denominations out there that all interpret the bible and practices differently. It's easy to find one today that you may feel that you can fit into. This is especially useful in todays modern society where there are ones such as the Unitarian Church where 'Everyone is free to search for meaning in life in a responsible way and to reach their own conclusions.' So to conclude: it seems that religion is evolving to suit our needs but not enough people are aware of it.
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