On this memorial day we remember those who gave their lives for our freedom.
The vast majority of those who have died in war over the last two decades have died in what many term a holy war (by any other name as valid). A war based on religion.
Those who try to rationalize this put blame on a small group of what are termed "fanatical" which could be interchanged with the term "crazy". But the fact is that however big or small this group is they have a belief that is a strong or stronger than your religious belief whatever it is.
These people believe that they are doing what is right for the world and for their people. They believe in what they believe in.
And YOU believe in what you believe in.
You are not much different from them in your following. You follow a god that has no tangible element. You practice a way of life dictated by a book and by people who interpret that book for you. The latter more than the former.
I don't dispute that for some religion has value but I tend to think that the vast majority just haven't evolved. That those who are strong in religion need to escape. Escape from temptation, escape from excess, escape from "their demons". That is fine and good for the world no doubt.
But for the majority of you who were raised with this and still participate in it 40 years later I think you have just not awakened. You are either stubborn or scared or you don't know another way to be.
My parents led me down the best path they could as a child and part of that was to not impose religion on me. To give me the opportunity to explore for myself. And I did. I spent three years trying to find this warmth and togetherness that my faithful friends told me they had. I tried a number of different sizes and shapes of religion. Many flavors and colors from one god to many and in the end I was left thinking no. There is nothing here. There is community sure and I can see the value in this but it is not de rigueur to include a supreme being.
It's just not.
If you could end war as we know it in this world but giving up your religion.
Would you do it?
