BELIEVE IN GOD, NOT RELIGION

"Religion is the opium of the people." - Karl Marx, 1843

No, I am not an atheist (or a Communist for quoting Marx), nor am I an agnostic. I grew up in a Protestant church environment, first the Methodists and, for a long while, the Baptists. But I bounced around, attending many churches: Presbyterian, Episcopal, African Methodist Episcopal Zion, even nondenominational Christian. Like everyone else, I sought answers to the great questions of life: Why was I born, what is my role in the Universe, and what happens to me when I die (i.e., does my soul live on)? For some, belief in one of the Big Three religions - Christianity, Judaism and Islam - or one of the less widespread ones (Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, and the like) is comforting in that they provide ready-made answers to perplexing questions.

Indeed, there is something soothing in knowing that there is an explanation for everything, including the meaning of life, no matter that such explanations often lead to far more questions than answers.

All religions also offer their own version of order and structuretradition if you will. It's OK to have faith in something larger than oneself, to believe that there is some sort of intelligent design to the Universe and that the unifying precept is to treat your brother and sister as you would treat yourself.

Where individual religions go wrong is to be so certain of what truth is that they arrogantly impose their "truth" upon others, whether they believe or not. Why should we have to follow an unproven tenet largely made up by flawed men over many centuries, without question? And which of the many religions is supposed to rule? More wars have been started over religious conflicts than for any other reason. Clever demagogues have always used people's belief in religion to gain power, substituting themselves for a Supreme Being that cannot be seen. This has always led to disaster.

If you are looking for answers to the Great Questions, search, then search some more. Don't settle for someone else's version of "truth." You may never find those answers, but it is far better than being fed both the answers and the questions.