Q:
For
the last year or so I have been questioning my faith in organized
religion
- especially Catholicism. I find it so discouraging to know all of the
dirty little secrets that most all organized religions have swept under
the rug. I just don't think I have to be a part of any specific
religion
or go to Church to praise and worship God. Is this ok? Is it ok to
question
my religion?
-J.
A:
Are
you asking my permission? Yeah, sure, go ahead. You don't need my ok,
you
know...
And good for you for
questioning your faith. I
say that not to encourage you to leave the faith, but because it's
healthy
to examine what you really believe in. It makes you a better believer.
Like you say, all organized
religion is gonna
have dirty little secrets. And to be honest, some of them not
little. And not even "secrets"
...just dirty. You will always find hypocritical, egotistical,
self-serving people in organized religion. One of them is even writing
you right now!
But religion itself is
quite a good idea (God
came up with it, I'm pretty sure). It's the "owners manual" to life,
basically.
And the Guy who wrote the manual knew what He was talking about...
The organization part of
religion, however, means
human beings got involved; and you know how we can screw things up. But
you don't need to abandon all organized religion just because of the
people
in it.
Take the example of
organized government: America
is a great concept. But there are some people who are so turned off by
our politicians, the bureaucracy, etc..., that they want no part of it.
We usually call them freaks. We sometimes call them the Michigan
Militia.
This might not be a great
analogy, but the point
is: organization is an essential thing, and it might come with some
drawbacks...
But to judge the "Catholic Church" based on some,
not all, of the people in it is as stupid as those who judge "all
Muslims"
for the acts of some evil terrorists.
Organization is necessary
on some levels. For
how would we know about God, revealed to us in the Bible, if not for
somebody
organizing the books together to "make" the Bible in the first place?
And who organized that Bible? Huh?
Now I'm asking the tough questions! Suddenly the foot's on the other
shoe
now...or something like that.
Questioning faith can be a
good thing. Just make
sure you hear the right answers. And we're happy to suggest places to
find
those answers. Because Lord knows we're pretty much a fount of
mis-information
around here...
