It seems the Pope has decided to chide parents for naming their kids things that have nothing to do with traditional Christian names. He doesn't want any more Apples or Dakotas or Ladygagas. Instead, he wants people to choose from the list of names Jesus said were acceptable.
Oh wait . . . see, the thing is, that never happened. Jesus never said he cared what you named your kid.
And, yes, I don't think the Pope went so far as to state that you needed to pick a name Jesus approved of, it was more or less implied, like all the other hoohah the Pope says.
Look, I have no problem with people living by basic rules. (Don't kill people. Don't be an asshole to people. Don't be greedy. Don't hurt others. Don't embarrass me by doing crap in my name.) Having some general tenants and codes for people to follow is fine. It probably helps to make the world a better place.
What gets me about religion is when the knitpicky shit kicks in. Shave this! No, don't shave anything. Don't cut your hair. No, cut your hair all the time. Observe this holiday. Don't observe any holidays. Don't drink. Don't use birth control. Don't talk to people who don't follow our ways. Don't eat this, don't eat that. Eat this now, but not later. Wipe your ass this way.
Yes. . . some religions even get THAT invasive.
And that's the problem for me. I dislike most organized religions because they get really invasive. They don't just stop at giving you some guidelines, a message of hope, and fellowship. They want to tell you want to think, how to live, who to be.
Maybe for some people, this is the best thing about religion. After all, when someone limits your choices, life certainly is easier. If you can't cut your hair, it certainly makes choosing a hairstyle easier. If you can only eat certain foods, you don't have to stress so much about the menu. If you can only choose a very narrow number of things to name your kid, finding a name for them is far less complicated.
See, that's just not be though. I can't buy the concept of free will and then follow something that limits my free will. I don't want my only real choice in life to be "Oh, I choose this religion that is now going to make all the decisions for me."
Life should be about our experiences. It should be about our experiments and chances. It's about our mistakes and our moments of hurt. It's about our consequences and our learning.It can be painful and you can fail and fail horribly. You will reach moments when you feel you've made tons of missteps . . . but at least YOU made them.
The alternative, while perhaps safer and less complicated, is just being cookiecutter. It's just following the path others have set for you. Oh, I choose to do this because religion tells me to. Oh, I choose to not do this because religion tells me to. Now I get married. Now I have a baby. Now I name it what they tell me. Now I raise it just like they tell me to. Rinse, lather, repeat.
If this is really the way things are supposed to be, why make us all different? Why give us all our own voices and hair shades, and curves, and quirks? Why give us all our own specific DNA? If some deity out there just wants a bunch of people doing the same thing over and over again, why make them all different? In fact, why bother making them in the first place? Paper dolls would have been far more pleasing.
So no matter what I believe inside my own little brain, I don't think I'll ever be setting foot in a church or a coven or an atheist sit in or any other kind of religious function (and yeah, lately, even the atheists seem like their own religious group). Being me is how I express my beliefs.
By the same token, if what you want to do involves the buildings and the rules and the rituals, that's fine too. If that's what you need, it's what you need. Just please don't try and make me be part of it.
Because the saying is true . . . religious beliefs (of whatever variety) are like genitals. They're really cool to have and serve a great function. You may find your own to be life altering and perfect . . . but it's still a bad idea to wave them around in public and you shouldn't just shove them in people's faces.
"Religious beliefs are real cool to have" -- really? Most people I know would be better off being true to their own sense of right and wrong. Where they go far wrong is where they rely on some religious precept.
ReplyDelete