Post 8: Why spirituality needs to be individual
By: Katarina M
Tags: Religion, Islam

Any adult anywhere in the world who has ever heard of social events knows that war is an unforgiving and eternal aspect of society. Most of these people also know that religion is a major contributor and cause of strife. Whether it is the war between Sunnis and Shiites, two factions of the religion of Islam, in the Middle East, or the persecution of Jews by, well, everyone, religious wars and persecutions exist and have existed for thousands of years. I do not know why differences in religion make people want to kill each other. Many of these religions, such as Judaism and Islam, come from the same family of ancient men who were chosen by god to lead. Islam’s holy prophet Muhammed was a descendant of Judaism’s Abraham, yet Jews and Muslims have been warring for thousands of years. Even today in America, I have many Jewish friends whose parents would disown them if they ever married or dated a Muslim.

Considering this, as well as other Inquisitions, persecutions, and holocausts, it is safe to say that religion can be very dangerous. Apparently, the threat of someone else disagreeing with your beliefs in god warrants violence and the need to get rid of those opposing individuals. I don’t understand this. I understand thinking that someone’s views on god are outright crazy, but if those people aren’t causing harm to anyone, why do others feel they need to be punished?

This, I think, is where the corruption of true messages of prophets and “chosen ones” comes into play. If there is one message that Jesus and the Bible stressed, it is to love one another and to love god. The same can be said of the Quran, and I’m sure Jews would not disagree with this message either. Faiths such as Buddhism and Hinduism stress reaching enlightenment or becoming the best version of yourself, and while these ideals are more Eastern and abstract, such concepts can be found in the Torah, Bible, and Quran as well.

Let me criticize the corruption of Christian messages first.

CATHOLICISM: hard to even be considered “Christian” at this point. Yes, they love Jesus and do all this stuff for him, but they have loooong missed the point. They make other Catholics pray to Mary as well, and believe in confessional booths as a way to be forgiven of their sins. The main issue with all of this is that they have appointed priests, bishops, and a Pope to exist as figureheads in a hierarchical structure of religion. Why and how are priests given the ability to forgive people of their sins? According to true Christianity and biblical teachings, only god has that power. Priests and popes were not mentioned by Jesus and not mentioned in the Bible, so how do they have the authority and the claim that they have a direct line with god? Does saying 40 “Hail Mary’s” absolve you of your wrong doings? Really?

These concepts infuriate me because they manipulate people into feeling guilty all the time and tricking them into thinking that “holy men” like priests have more power than them. Maybe priests are generally more devoted to serving god, but maybe they also molest altar boys. Priests are humans, and if the thinking is that Jesus died for our sins, then what the hell is the point of priests. Priests, if anything, should be regarded as interpreters and teachers of the faith. They are given man-made, not god-given, power over individuals, and this is insane.