I went to a private Catholic grade school. A good school, in fact it is also where I have chosen to send my children. Yes, they have services, and religious education- but they did not push religion upon people-what I always got out of my school was the importance of being kind and good, loyal and giving-be it time or tangible items.
In second grade, I asked my teacher, after reading the story of the Tower of Babel from the Bible, why “if God was good and forgiving why he could be so angry and spite filled.” My teacher told me that I was not to ask questions of why, that I just needed to have faith in my God and in my religion. Always being a child of questions and reasoning, this was not sufficient for me. So out I looked. I explored through food, art, and reading the vast worlds of religions, and lifestyles, and cultures. This became the primary focus of my collegiate studies. But it was due to a course in philosophy of religion that I really felt the most comfortable with the fact I did not have to have one.
The world is made up of many classifiable parts, customs/ laws, cultures, and people/individuals. Religions, the same, made up of laws regarding actions or commandments, per say, holidays and celebrations, cultures, and individuals that follow these customs. Why must I pray to my God in my church, can I not pray to him while through meditations of Buddhist or Hindu customs, or while listening to the Baptist choir sing-out.
Religions- I don’t care how they started or what origination story they contain- are about three things, upon being boiled down to the most minimalistic generalizations. This includes both monotheistic and polytheistic religions.
A higher power(s)
Inner peace/self- clarity
A methodology for living
Knowing this, I have become agnostic. I simply believe in a higher power, I utilize the pieces of all religions that help me both be at peace with my life and the earth, and the parts that assist me in a minimalist lifestyle of giving and doing for others whenever I can, not passing judgment as to each his own, and being thankful for the blessings I have been given.