Embracing Individual Beliefs

First, we created invisible and non-existing gods, then we eagerly created enemies from others who don’t share the same beliefs as us. Just to feel a sense of belonging and unity around something bigger than ourselves.

Your faith must be kept between yourself and your god (or whatever you believe in). At least that’s what I was taught when I was little. But for centuries, we seem to ignore this very simple and crucial rule about religion.

Religion turns into something dangerous when it becomes collective rather than personal. It’s no longer about practicing your faith on your own terms. It became a tool for the power-hungry individuals (politicians, dictators, etc.) to control the masses and shape the future as it benefits them. This is one of the biggest reasons for the conflicts that we are having around the world these days (and throughout history).

They control your education, your resources, your votes, your life by constantly pumping religious ideologies into your minds. If you were raised conservative or your own willpower is not that strong to make your own decisions in life, you easily fall into this trap and you stop questioning why.

In my home country, until recently they used to write your religion as Islam on your ID card automatically once you were born. Yes, there was a section for religion on our ID cards. Then they tell you that 99% of the population is Muslim. No wonder!

That’s like an ultimatum for you to start with. It’s like saying “99% of us believe in this, so you also have to. Or you have to act and live your life according to how we say so”. Depending on how young or how open-minded you are, you barely question these things and get along with it. Because if you go against it, you would get a huge backlash.

We always hear the phrase “religion is about tolerance and love”. But the reality is very different unfortunately. People get excluded, harassed, beaten up, even get killed for eating/drinking during Ramadan (because you HAVE TO fast), showing a bit of their hair in public or wearing shorts, loving someone of the same gender… Or simply, for practicing another faith that is not matching their beliefs.

You don’t even have to be a member of a different religion to receive hatred. There are big conflicts even within the same religion against different sects. I was shocked when I heard that there were even bomb threats between “competing church brotherhoods” in some hardcore Catholic countries. You can also see clear examples of those kinds of clashes in the Middle-East. The current situation speaks for itself. As the human race, we’ve always been very capable of finding reasons to fight against and hate each other.

Another problem with the intolerance of collective religious movements is that, whenever you question their ways, they usually have the same excuse: “it’s our tradition and you have to respect that”. It’s a dangerous thing to blend fanaticism into tradition to get your way. It damages the actual good traditions and changes people’s positive perspectives towards them.

You can’t blame people for getting angry and questioning why they are woken up early in the morning by bells, prayers, even “bombs” that are set off during the religious feasts, why all the restaurants are closed or refuse to serve you food because it’s fasting times, or why you close all the main streets for the whole week because you want to carry huge thrones of Virgin Mary and Jesus to show which church has the most impressive one.

Besides the inconveniences, all those resources and efforts spent on such “shows” could be spent on more valuable and useful purposes. I’m not an expert, but most beliefs teach being humble and advise against showing off. So why are we doing the exact opposite in the name of God and religion? Why do we pour all that money and manpower into those events just to show off instead of helping the environment, people, and/or animals in need?

I’m sure some of you would say “but religious groups always help the unfortunate and the people in need”. I agree, but why can’t we do even more? Why can’t we just stop and think about how we can change/adapt our ways in order to help more by ditching some of the “traditions” that we follow blindly and without questioning?

I have a lot to say around this topic, but for the reasons I mentioned before, I feel like I’ll get in trouble if I do so (you see what I mean?). I feel like I’m drifting away from the main point I want to make. So, to sum it all up:

Individual beliefs should be embraced fully and kept between ourselves and whatever it is that we believe in. No good comes out of going out of our way and spending extra effort to pressure, ridicule or hate others for what they do or do not believe in. That extra energy can be used for much better and rewarding deeds instead.