When speaking to other people who converted religion, they say it’s because they hate their ‘old’ religion and look forward to having a new one as a way of ‘cleansing’. I think that is wrong. I believe that converting to another faith should be done out of love for the new one rather than out of hate or spite for the old one. If you convert because you dislike your previous faith, you are only carrying with you your upset emotions into your new life as a freshly converted.
Many say they want to change religion because the previous one was too conservative/hypocritical etc… Firstly you have to remember that you make the religion what you want it to be. You own your faith and so you interpret beliefs in your own individual way. For example, you might not believe one part of the Bible, and that’s fine. Or you might question one set of values. Again, it’s fine to do so and it doesn’t warrant hating the whole religion. Secondly, remember that just because religion is institutionalized it doesn’t mean that the religion is bad. Religious corruption, unfair practices and discrimination happen everywhere, does that mean you will hate everything? It is important to separate the religion from the institution (to an extent) which I believe enables you to see it more clearly. Church and State are separate (or should be) and so religion and the religious institutions should be separate when we contemplate faith.
Other people openly hate religion. Their (wrong) argument is that it creates war. It doesn’t create war, man creates war. Fanatics/nationalists/the extreme right wing use religion as a vehicle to wage war on another set of people and on another set of beliefs. No religion preaches war, none (and I know what you’re thinking now – no! it does not say that at all). It is the wrongful interpretation of religion and the use of faith as a political act which helps wage war. Why then do you think that there is a demarcation between Church and State? So war will be used properly, for spiritual guidance etc, rather than for hatred. There is no room hatefulness in faith.
Personally there are some things in both Christianity and Judaism that I believe and don’t believe in. The list is too long and too serious for a light-hearted blog like this. But for me, the values of Judaism draw me to it. And just because I’ve chosen to be Jewish doesn’t mean I have anything against Christianity. It still is a beautiful religion with many wonderful beliefs and I won’t abandon all of them. But just because I lean more towards Judaism does not mean that I hold any discontented emotions towards the Christian faith. Quite the opposite, I still have the highest respect for it – as I do for all religions. As I hope you do too.
No comments:
Post a Comment