by Sita

Created on: March 10, 2007   Last Updated: May 11, 2007

There comes a point in any spiritual journey where one must admit that there is no real way to know what the truth is. This is the basis of the idea of Faith, which is- or at least should be- the basis of any religion. I went through this journey and made it a point to study a vast number of religions. What I've found is that, for the most part, there are certain elements that each touches on- these certain things that all human beings seem to sense are just the way things should be.

I'm not against religious people. However, I've found that many times people adhere to religion for reasons that aren't truly belief. My favorite are the ones I like to call "God-fearing Athiests". These are the people that follow a religion just in case, when they really don't seem to believe in God at all, but they do their best to act like it, because if Christianity is right they don't want to go to Hell.

I don't think this counts. I understand that for even the most devout believer, there can be dark times that lead to doubt. But fear shouldn't dictate human actions.

I like to think that deep within every human being, there is an innate sense of what is good, what is right, and what should be done. That they don't need to follow a doctrine or a set of teachings, but only to look inside themselves and realize that they already know the answers. There are things you just don't do- or shouldn't, given a choice in the matter. I like to think that if there is a Creator, He (or She) would have enough faith in his children that he wouldn't have to set down a code for their lives. Of course, some will stray, even rebel- but the majority will choose to do good.

People do good things for bad reasons, and bad things for good reasons. Sometimes they do things for what appears to be no reason at all. But I like to think that any Creator would have given us the freedom to choose what we do, and that we aren't just puppets playing into a pre-written plan.

There's a quote from a Jethro Tull song that I love. The quote is, "my God's not the kind you wind up on Sundays." That pretty much sums up why I think being good is better than being religious. We can never know for sure the answers to any faith-based questions, we can only believe we know. But often we have an innate sense of what is right. Rules can be wrong, or the people that created them could have done so for unknown reasons. Living according to principles and what appears to be natural human mores seems to be a lot more meaningful than worshipping in a certain "correct" manner.

I guess what I'm getting at is, being good is pretty much a basis for every faith. Treat people with respect, don't cause intentional harm- most religions have some sort of guidelines that say these sort of things. Being good is never "wrong". Some things that are now taken as religious doctrine were adopted for reasons that don't apply so well to the modern world, and most people don't even know the original reasons they were included. Yet there are aspects common to all religions that never lose their significance, that still seem to have relevance- and these very things are what can be summed up as "being good".

Whether its some spiritual aspect of the self, or just human nature, everyone has a sense of what's good, what is just the right thing to do. If we were all to "be good", maybe it would help to close some of the rifts that are caused when this is specifically linked to being religious.

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