Okay, back to the religion topic.
Today, I had an enlightening conversation with my religion teacher, who happens to be an art teacher and a Catholic priest. He's a very intelligent and open-minded man. Not the sort of fellow to have you excommunicated from the church for saying, "God damn."
Anyway, my teacher assigned the class with a four-to-five page thesis statement starting with the topic, "Religion Exists Because..." and a deadline by the end of the week.
When I first sat down (with quill and parchment in hand, ha-ha-ha), I was completely baffled with how to finish this sentence without coming off sounding condescending. I'm a normally eloquent writer; I only need to think over my topic for a few seconds before I'm winding down a page. But this assignment, as with all assignments in class, could not be simply breezed through. My first thought: "Religion Exists Because The Almighty God Wishes It." But that was a simply lacking answer; my teacher would see I was just brown-nosing and the opinion of my fellow classmates, some of whom follow different beliefs, would diminish. In short, it was an easy way out that lacked any real effort.
So I wrote the page header as "Religion Exists Because Mankind Needs It." And, in my opinion, I feel that this is the truth. As I've said, my teacher is an intelligent man. He wanted my class to truly think on our topic, to really if we believed what we were writing and not just merely stating it.
The belief in a god is a somewhat selfish (or even egotistical, to a degree) sentiment. At least, I know that it makes me feel special to have a great divine being caring over every single action I commit. Knowing that He created an entire world for me, remained faithful to me even when I turn away, and sacrificed His son for my redeemption, yeah that's gotta make me feel special or at least cared for. And, despite unproveable aspects, its a belief that's easy to swallow for a young boy who's raised as a true-blue Catholic.
And the belief of a Heaven and Hell or at least an afterlife is also an appealing ideal. If it wasn't, then a vast population of clergymen (my teacher, included) would not be devoting their life to God. And its a completely unfounded and groundless belief. Sure, there are lengths of accounts in the Bible affirming that Heaven *does* exist, but we can never be sure. The only way to find out is to die, and there's no coming back from that to relate your discovery. Nevertheless, these clergymen are living a life of discipline and abstinance with the hope of Heaven lingering in front of them like a carrot in front of a mule. It's a matter of great faith to do that (and what a bitter, cruel joke it will be if my dear teacher might have wasted his life). I, for one, know that I can never be that devout. Anyway, going back to the opening of this paragraph, Heaven and Hell is appealing. Why? Well, it's the hope of an afterlife. I cannot accept that we broached evolutionary levels just to procreate to prolong our race and then die. There's got to be something grander for the great mankind who dominates over other creatures, right? And what better dream than Heaven or paradise? Where what good you did in life is repaid in Heaven, a life without pain. Here is the real bit and reign that keeps up my belief in Catholicism and I'm a bit ashamed of it, too: I want to live, even after I die. And then there's Hell, where no one wants to go but where some of us want to send our enemies (and I'm sure there's some of you out there). It's the belief that the bully who strikes you will get his comeuppance and burn for all eternity in Hell. Where those who you cannot get your hands on (Osama Bin Laden for one) will be punished. The Good Guys always win and the Bad Guys always lose, right?
So, I filled out four pages with these ideals and beliefs. It's a presumptious bit of writing by a freshman but I still got an A on it. Fellow Catholics may not follow the same ideas (and I'm not trying to represent them, here) but this is what *I* believe and I suppose, in the end, religion is truly a matter of individual belief.
