I don't even know where exactly I wanted to jump in the conversation now about religion that is going on over in squeemu's journal but I read most of what has been said and when I was on the bus earlier today I wanted to put some things down in words about my own beliefs and personal religion (at least as of this moment in my life).
First off I've been raised in the United Methodist church with both of my parents involved in various aspects of it. Mom was always about the women's circles and missionary awareness/promoting. Dad is more of the quite type like myself and did more hands on physical work like running the microphones, video cameras, making breakfast for the youth lock-ins, and raising money by walking/riding in various hunger walks/bike rides. Both of them very liberal in politics and religion but still very adamant about having church in our lives. My grandparents, on a side note, are very conservative politic-wise but when it came to religion everyone seemed to love discussing and debating and in the end generally agreeing to a rather liberal point of view, liberal even to the stances of the church we attended.
Currently I am uncomfortable with the Bible as a religious book. I dislike people quoting from it or praising it or using it to guide their moral compasses. It is a book written by man, many men, by an antiquated culture, and those things make it so very fallible. I dislike Jesus, and Abraham, and all those other prophets throughout the book as individuals to be praised and regarded with high esteem. I try reading the Bible, more like a literary work to be analyzed, than to affect my belief system but I don't have anyone to discuss it with who wants to look at it in that manner. I was in a Bible study last year in GH but I felt so very out of dept because the two girls have studied it their entire life and I was just coming to it with a slight curiosity.
Even with all that said, I still really like the United Methodist Church. Perhaps because I've had very liberal pastors in the past, but more because of it as an institution. I like the history the church, the actions it has taken in the past, the actions it is taking now and for the future. I like that it has documentation on every little thing like how the hierarchy works between the pastor/board of trustees/various church staff and groups, and what exactly are the beliefs of the church. I like how the Bishop will move pastors to different congregations if they seem to be becoming too conservative she can move in a liberal pastor to bring it even keel. Though that can go the other way. I like how the church has a
conference every 4 years which it discusses and analyzes it's policies and the direction the church is heading as well as what projects it should fund and the amount for each. I like the work it does for women, poor, hungry, those with AIDS/HIV, and people in various other categories.
I just... a lot of the time I feel like I'm a fake when I'm there. Being in the Bible Belt of Michigan does not help either. But so many people when they see me they see such a sweet, respectful, resigned, religious girl. I think they see me that way because of my attitude, the "it will all work out right in the end" attitude that I carry with me and believe whole heartedly. I'm not sure why I believe that, that things happen for a reason and if you don't like what is happening in your life you have the ability to change it or to grow from/with it.
I few years ago bought a introductory book to the Qur'an called
"Approching the Qur'an" by Micheal Sells which translates, describes the words chosen for translation, and gives historical/cultural background information needed for the earliest/oldest Suras. It's rather beautiful. I like how the voice changes from being so very interpersonal to transcendent and back in just a few lines. Apparently that book is also used for a university class in somewhere like North Carolina or something so it does have some good credentials behind it's translation and interpretation. I don't think I could ever convert to another religion like Islam though because I don't have the cultural roots or historical knowledge necessary (or the drive to go that deep into the history of the area and culture) to fully appreciate it and understand it.
I do kinda want to buy and study the major books/texts of the major religions though. Like the Bhagavad Gita. There has to be some parts of them that I could incorporate into my daily life and understanding of the universe. I haven't gotten to the rules about how many times a day the Muslims pray but I like the idea that you take time in the middle of what you are doing multiple times a day to reorient yourself, refocus yourself to the bigger picture, the more meaningful purpose in life.
Umm... yeah. I drifted away to look up the number of times they pray, 5, and then recalled how in my intro to Health Care book mentioned eating 5 meals a day is better than 3, then landed on studies saying that's not really true and lost where I was going with my post.
Oh, I also think that our society needs a female religious icon (other than Mary, she's over shadowed by Jesus) or prophet. How many male prophets are there in history? Too fucking many, that's how many. Friggin' male dominated patriarchal society/cultural history. To help stop back sliding into women being a male's property we need a new religion with a female figure head. Not a female god necessarily. I think god is not in any way shape or form human so it shouldn't have a gender associated with it. My mom always embarrassed me by singing non gender specific names for god when we sang out of the hymnal together but I think she is quite right about this in the end. But a new female headed religion would be kinda awesome, I think.