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| Image courtesy of www.gothictimes.net |
Anyway, religion has been a very complicated thing for me growing up and I have come to my own conclusions about it, and I thought I'd detail a lot of what I have to say about it having experienced what I have. Plus I feel a lot of what I say will resonate with some of you at the very most.
So if I remember correctly, my family practiced Church Of England during my early years, but we stopped doing so for whatever reason, I think it's because I always threw a tantrum for being pulled away from my toys. I was sent to a Church Of England primary school, and thankfully I was very unaware of the religious influence but didn't know any different outside of the heavily religious environment.
Going into secondary school, it wasn't centred around a religion and I started thinking about being a Christian, and I would wear a crucifix but only because I used to see Michael Schumacher (Who was making his F1 return) wearing it, not that he's my hero or anything but I latched onto that. This was a huge learning point in my life, I began placing all of my individuality into this religion, and people used to make fun of it, not that my secondary school peers would have short on reasons and motives to do so anyway.
I grew out of it eventually thankfully, it was a phase in my life like any other as simple as wearing a scarf, fingerless gloves and a trilby (Yes, I used to wear those un-ironically), but looking back on that point in my life, I remember thinking about what religion prompted. Let's just say after thinking back on that, I realised why religion as a concept is so negative.
Coming in and out of college and afterwards, I could see how religion seems to differ and how individuals who assign themselves into these religions are so extreme. The YouTuber Thomas 'TomSka' Ridgewell - who is mostly known for asdfmovie - made a video talking about how he met a public preaching Christian evangelist who he described as incredible with his public speaking and knowledge of the bible. For context purposes, Ridgewell grew up practicing as a Jehovah's Witness because of his parents and despite not agreeing completely with this man, he was in awe of him.
Afterwards, Ridgewell walked up to the man and told him how incredible he was and the man was very humbled by Ridgewell's words, but it was when he told him that he was a Jehovah's Witness that the man's look of joy turned into a sympathetic smile and he said to Ridgewell, "Well my brother, you're going to hell". This was followed by the man trying to convince Ridgewell to convert to his religion or he was going to spend the rest of eternity suffering at the hands of the devil, and from that point on, Ridgewell's faith died and he was no longer a Jehovah's Witness.
This video described pretty much what I had been feeling for years, that religion unites people for all the wrong reasons, it perpetuates mob mentality and oppression and for what reason? Because apparently if we all don't believe in a certain religion, we are all destined for hell, there's so many religions that if you don't believe the right one, you'll rot in hell with all the murderers and rapists. That's the vibe that I am getting at least.
But how can anyone be certain about what happens after death? I certainly don't and the thought terrifies me. We walk on such metaphorical tightropes because most religions can be separated by the most minor of details, such as whether it is okay to use a condom or not, or if Jesus died on a cross or something else. In the end, I don't identify with a religion because there's too many extremes and if there is an afterlife, I'd hope whoever the person up there is can understand where I am coming from, I do believe in a higher power.
I realised that what I am about to say extends beyond religion and into pretty much anything, the second you identify yourself as a part of any sort of group, you begin relying on everyone else and your label as a shield. Whether it is religion or political group, or even something as seemingly harmless as which out of the PS4 or the Xbox One or whether Marvel or DC is better. All of this prompts such toxicity.
You see so many religions be incorporated into someone's life so early on that it really messes with them, like those extreme Christian families who will then force their ideology onto their children and then as a result, these children then know no better. They'll be raised with the idea that homosexuals are even worse than murderers, or that any major disease will be cured by prayer and not medicine, but the second you begin attempting to criticise that belief, you're seen as personally attacking them or being the devil tempting them out of their faith. This by the way, isn't me trying to say all Christians are like this, I'll get onto that as a whole.
Basically, what I see faith and organised religion as, it's a self sustaining bubble of ignorance and sensitivity. I no longer want to be religious because I'm just overwhelmed by the vast scale of religions as a whole, and how on earth anyone can know with 100% certainty that their religion was the right one and someone else's wasn't? It's mostly based on what happens after death anyway.
Here's what I think might hit home for a large portion of you. There are so many religions out there, and so many groups of people who force their children to go by that religion and how dare they deviate? Because if they do, not only will they disown their children, they'll spend the rest of eternity suffering in damnation.
How can someone be certain that their own interpretation of an ancient book means that they'll be accepted into wherever we go after we're done fucking around here? That they hold the key to eternal salvation and that everyone else is wrong? Surely some interpretations are lost in translation. I mean, with all of these many variations of the countless beliefs what billions of people throughout history have believed in, that one single belief apparently results in either salvation or damnation, who is anyone to believe that they alone hold the key to the truth?
My personal belief is, I'm not going to glue myself to any one group and just hope that my actions as an individual mean that I am a good person. Believe me, I don't think I'm the best example of a good person just yet, I know I've done wrong in my life and I seek to be unburdened as not a man of religion, not a man of a particular political party, not a man of anything, just a man. I believe there's a higher power, and not only speaking for myself here, I hope that the many people out there who have ideologies forced upon them and know no better, they are not turned away at the pearly gates because they "Led the wrong life".
We all have a life here on earth, lead it and be as good of a person as you can.
Let me just say right here, I fully respect anyone who practices their religion. As long as it isn't a religion that involves hurting people or being a bigot who hates someone for their skin colour or sexual orientation, and as long as you don't force anyone into that religion, then you do that. This is aimed at those folk I like to call the 'Religiously aggressive'.
I'm going to end off with a quote that was said in one of my favourite films, Kingsman: The Secret Service by Colin Firth's character Harry Hart. He was attending a hate group rally whilst seeking the main antagonist and got up to leave, but a bigoted church woman tried to stop him and what follows is the most amazing thing ever. He says to her:
"I'm a Catholic whore, currently enjoying congress out of wedlock with my black Jewish boyfriend who works at a military abortion clinic. So, hail Satan, and have a lovely afternoon, madam."
Anyway, that will be all from me. If you're new here, I don't particularly talk about this often but every so often, there's that one thing that'll be out of the ordinary for me that I will need to write about. In the end, just be the best you possible.
Until we meet again,
Luca.
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