Anyone who knows me will tell you that I'm not big on religion. The inside joke is that I don't have one. And, once when I was venting about a religious chick I was dating, a friend told me something along the lines of, "Jeez, does a woman have to completely give up all religious affiliation to be with you?" No, she does not (smart ass lol). I have nothing against religion or religious people. What I have a problem with is these new "mega churches" and the whole "come with us or die" mentality that some churches preach. There's nothing wrong with believing in something. Or choosing to not believe in anything.
I was raised Catholic and my Grandma was a hard core Catholic, but I never felt like it was forced on me. I went to Catholic school for two years because my core group of friends were going, not because we were super-religious. I dreaded church every Thursday. And at 17, I started to research other religions. I read up on everything, but nothing took until after my accident in 2002. I stopped believing in a lot. Not just because I was hurt but because my best friend had been taken so soon. I didn't understand that, just didn't seem right. I finally hit on something that stuck and I've carried it with me ever since. It's not really a "religion" in my view, more of a way to live. And I still carry around a few things from my Catholic upbringing, as well as a few others. But whenever I'm asked about what religion I am, I just say it's a complicated thing and people usually move on. I don't feel the need to preach anything to anyone. And I don't want to be preached to by anyone else about what they believe. I have friends of all kinds of religions and, of course, I'll sit and listen if it's something they wanna discuss. But, for me, it's more of a personal thing.
I have a friend, someone I met in the last four months or so, who was raised Catholic and then became a Christian years ago. She was, well, a handful during her teenage years and it still haunts her today. She's my age and I really didn't understand her issues until recently. In fact, what she went through isn't that different from what I did. Except her acting out came out of pure rebellion and mine wasn't about rebelling. She feels like she hasn't been able to move past the old her because of her religion. She thinks it hinders her by focusing on the things she done wrong in the past, rather than who she is now and will be in the future. Out of nowhere, she asked me how I got past my issues and how I came to be at peace with it all, because I'm really not bothered or conflicted by my past at all anymore. I told her that I just found something that works for me. It doesn't restrict me and it's about doing your best not to hurt others and by doing that you help yourself. I hope she can get past her past and move on because she really is one of the nicest, sweetest people I know and she deserves to be happy. She shouldn't have to live under this cloud and constantly repent for something that's done and can't be changed. You make mistakes and you move on. As long as you can forgive yourself, and live with yourself, that's what matters.
