by Timothy Dumont Jr.

Created on: August 01, 2011

Religion is a wildly controversial issue. The search for the one "right" religion has caused thousands of arguments and has been the basis of many wars. The riddle of the right religion is a deep and complicated question that can only be answered if you truely understand what you're asking.

A religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs. While the definition of religion may come across as severely complicated the most important part is that a religion is a set of beliefs. But what is a belief?

A belief is an opinion or conviction. It is something believed. An opinion is a personal view, attitude, or appraisal. So the question, "Is there one right religion?" is actually asking, "Is there one right personal view concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe?"

Now let's determine what "right" means in the question. Does right mean in conformity with fact, reason, truth or some standard or principle? Or does it mean in accordance with what is good, proper, or just? Seeing as the question isn't asking whether religion is an accurate representation of the world we can disregard most of the first definition because that would throw us into an entire debate about whether god exists, so we'll go with the second definition for this question. However, this still brings up a very difficult question.

Who decides what is good, proper, or just? It's not god, because saying god determines what is right forces us to ask the question, "Which God?" That is a question that puts us back at the beginning. Religion is a personal view and as such can only be determined as "right" by the person who believes in the view. This means that the person asking whether there is one right religion is the same person who will decide whether the religion is right, and they will do this based on their opinions.

So, is there a right religion? Yes. There is a right religion, but it's only right because you decide it to be. A religion should be something that conforms to who you are and not the opposite. If your religion is doing something that you're uncomfortable with then maybe you need to switch religions, or change your beliefs to better suit you. I cannot stress more how important it is that people make their own choices when it comes to religion, because the alternative is putting yourself in a subservient role that you'll have trouble escaping from.

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