The first real discussion we had in JASC revolved around religion and whether we believed God existed or not. More specifically, "Does God exists, and if so is he a benevolent God?"
My View:
I personally believe that the question of whether or God exists or not is irrelevant in my life. To me I believe that there are points in all religions that are worth learning and limiting myself to worshiping only one God or one religion is a sad loss of knowledge. Does it matter if a story is fictional or non-fictional when the main aim of the story is to teach morals? If God doesn't exist, does that mean the bible is invalid and the morals it teaches doesn't matter anymore? The question of Divine Beings is largely meaningless in my case. I am more interested in the knowledge than the character the knowledge comes from. Perhaps validating the Divine Being might make it seem like the morals are more absolute and surely true, but at the same time that is just too dangerous to play with. Morals aren't always absolute and require a case by case basis when applied to real life. Another benefit that might come from believing a Divine Being is that we can rid ourselves of the burden of responsibility in finding meaning and reason in life. The unknown in the world and the unknown questions of ourselves leaves a depressing reality of helplessness in our lives. In having a Divine Being that has the answers, we relieve ourselves of the burden of dealing with and having to acknowledge the fact that there are things in the world we simply don't know and cannot answer. Having a Divine Being helps us make sense of the world and have hope in moments of life's despair.
In a more general scope about religion, I believe that it is a philosophy of life. Religion is a way for people to find their moral code and meaning in life, but at the same time, it is not the only way. There is nothing wrong with believing in a religion and in fact, it is most powerful and good when people interpret and use it beyond personal benefit. However, there are also many other paths a person can take to gather knowledge and create a meaning and moral code to fulfill his own philosophy of life.
How I Came to this View:
To be fair, I grew up as largely an atheist who has only gone to church only a few times when I was invited to go with friends. I thought people had to be crazy to believe in some imagined intangible being way up in the sky, and also thought religion incredibly stupid because of all the media portrayals of radical followers so full of hateful actions. But also on the other end, I felt as if though I was missing out on something important in the world. The profound power of hope and healing religion could give fascinated me, and the sheer number of believers told me that no, this wasn't some kind of brainwashing mind control magic. People must feel something very real in order to be so committed. I decided that I wanted to search for this secret connection they seem to have. Attending a private Catholic school (Villanova) was definitely a first step.
Going to Villanova I was able to attend an Ancients class. In this class we read books pertaining to St. Augustine, Socrates, and most importantly the Bible itself. And while my class was taught by a Father, Father Lee, he was probably the coolest guy in the world. It was perhaps the first time I read the Bible from a literature standpoint and I just couldn't believe how beautiful the moral stories were. Especially for the Matthews parables, I deeply agreed in many of its teachings. I realized that religion was beautiful and could teach strong morals, but often times it is the people that twist the views in a way that make religion stupid. In other words, religion is beautiful, but the people are the ones who ruin it.
At this point I believed strongly in God. But my definition of God is nothing like the one that is up in the sky and watching us. My God, is my inner strength. The inexplicable strength in myself to do good. I believe that miracle within me is God. To clarify, I am not saying God created this inner strength. I am saying inner strength is God. It is not tangible, and it is not something I can pray too. It is simply a power that I believe in. I believe in the power to do good, and that is what my philosophy of life revolves around. In short, "God" simply means, strength in which I draw life. I would never say to someone "May God Help You", but rather I would say, "May you find strength within yourself to overcome what life brings you".
Next Up: On the Issue of the Wealth Gap
