by Carla Baron

Created on: December 05, 2008

Being good vs. being religious? One would think these two go hand and hand. One would think that being religious means you are good. Sorry, maybe for some people but not for others the fact that they have faith and are religious does not make them good.

I've known people and have seen people who are so religious do horrible things. I am sure we all have. Some for the sake of religion have tried to justify their bad acts against others in the name of religion. How can anyone who believes they are good burn someone at the stake in the name of religion? Where is their goodness in that? How is it they can actually believe that causing pain or murdering someone is good? How is it that religious people can have prejudice against others and think they are good people? I truly don't get it.

I grew up Roman Catholic and in a very religious household. My family is really good and they taught me values and principles that have nothing to do with religion. They went to Church and they prayed and honored all the holy days throughout the year. but I am not sure that the religion had anything to do with their goodness. Those that are still with us still go to church and live a good life but again the goodness I see in them has nothing to do with the religion.

I lived in a neighborhood where there was not much of a mix of different religions so many of my neighbors and the people I knew all went to the same church. I could never understand how some people I saw go to church behaved so poorly outside of church. They dressed up every Sunday and made sure they went to Mass but some of my interactions with them showed me a side that was not church like or even close to being good. Some I thought were evil. I would think to myself they are such hippocrites. Do they actually believe that they are good or that they are going to heaven? I've seen them mistreat kids and animals. I've seen them be mean spirited people and yet I saw these same people in Church. I thought do they read? Do they not hear what is being said and what is expected of them? Why do they go to Church? When they go to confession what do they say? Are they honest? My guess is probably not. They were not good people dispite the fact they went to Church.

So in my mind and based on my own experience I have found that being good has nothing to do with religion. Now don't get me wrong I have faith and I believe in God. I believe in the 10 commandments and I believe that religion no matter what the religion teaches us values.

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