Religion anyone?
When I started this blog, a friend said I should discuss religion and take a controversial stance. Not me I said, I was pretty sure I was going to stay away from discussing religion…well you know what happens when you say never.
At dinner recently, my teenage daughters started up a conversation about religion that I just could not ignore. The older one stating that she will seriously consider religion when raising her own kids. I felt a dart come straight at me. I did not have to defend myself too much as the younger one had some interesting questions for her sister. Do you pray? I ask for thanks but not pray for things.But do you pray for people and do you believe? I don’t know because I was not raised to go to church or understand religion. I interjected and reminded them that Religion is man-made and Spirituality comes from the heart. Not sure if this was understood at any level. Now understand my daughters have seen religious ceremonies in Churches and Temples of various denominations, Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist. So its not as if they haven’t seen the inside of a “holy place”.
I took them to see the controversial movie Water by Deepa Mehta. This movie exposes how India continues to subject widows to an outdated 2000 year old religious law even though its been made illegal now. A very large population in India is poor and uneducated and continue to believe in outdated religious laws that sadly benefit men mostly.
After seeing the movie, the girls are pretty okay with not being religious, for now at least! Thank God!
I was raised with the belief that religions are equal and there is only one God. It is only natural that religions would be different to accommodate different cultures and languages but ultimately leading us to the same path.
Water is playing in Toronto theatres now.. and it’s a must see! Here is a review from the Economist.
The Worrier Princess says:
A very interesting article indeed. I’m not from a religious background but I did attend church school and this made me realise that alot of harm is done in the name of organised religion. I feel that it’s far better to take on board all of the positive ideologies in order to live your life in the best possible way rather than use enforced rules and religious ceremonies as a psychological and emotional crutch.
August 22nd, 2006 at 5:36 am