by Scott Knutson

Created on: June 17, 2008

I'm asked from time to time my thoughts about religion. And I guess there are three people, each of who made a statement that helps to sum up my thoughts about this particular topic:

Mark Twain said:

Man is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his religion isn't straight.

Blaise Pascal said:

Men never do evil so completely and so cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.

Susan B. Anthony said:

I always distrust people who know so much about what God wants them to do to their followers.

Three interesting quotes about religion from three very different people. None seem to be to keen on religion, but they don't really state my specific feelings on the subject. As a seminarian, it pains me to say this, but I have a difficult time with many of today's religions.

I'm not a real big fan because religion has made the whole concept of God, the whole philosophy of the Divine way too complicated. Whether it is Christianity, Islam, Judaism, or nearly any other religion, it's just too complicated. There are all kinds of creeds and canons that define what a Christian must do and recite and believe about God. The Torah has more than 600 commandments that Jews are to follow or risk angering God. And there are literally more than a thousand Islamic laws or rules to follow to be a considered good Muslim. There are Islamic rules for what to do when touching a dead body! But for me, it's really pretty simple. We don't need all these laws or creeds or canons or rules to tell us what to do or what to believe. For me, religion is summed up in three words. God is love.

When we love, we touch God. So anything that is not love diminishes God. Jealousy diminishes God. Envy diminishes God. Being judgmental diminishes God. Hate diminishes God. When we love, we touch God. If this is what today's religions focused on, then I'd be leading the parade. But they're not.

In my youth, when I became suspicious of my girlfriend and thought she was cheating on me and I ended up following her to find out if she was actually seeing someone else, I was diminishing God. When I look down the street and see my neighbor with a nice new shiny Cadillac CTS in the driveway and a new boat in the back yard and wish I could have those things, I diminish God. And when I don't give a dollar to a homeless person on a street corner because I'm sure they will use it to buy liquor, I have judged them and hence, have diminished God.

But when I stop and do give a homeless person

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