Okay, I will try to explain this as best as I can.
I personally feel that organized religion puts too much emphasis on “little rules” and detracts from the big picture of someone’s overall morality. I think that too many of the rules are derived from antiquity. For example, not eating meat on Fridays during Lent doesn’t have the same meaning in today’s world, as meat is no longer scarce. In college, a priest chided someone for ordering red meat at a restaurant, where the priest ordered fish. The fish was much more expensive than the red meat dish (guess it wasn’t a filet
).
I am very concerned with morality, and I feel that humans of sound mind are able to look at particular life circumstances and determine the proper course of action. I think that too often organized religion gives someone a standard of action that doesn’t account for individual circumstance.
Moving on, I don’t agree with the Church in regard to homosexuality, birth control, sex before marriage, and other little issues that probably just aren’t coming to mind right now. I think that humans can practice homosexuality, use birth control, and have sex before marriage and still be good people. I think that these things can all be done morally, and the reasons that the Church has given for being against these particular actions have never been sufficiently convincing for me. Many rules of the Church seem to be outdated, if I’m honest. I think the leaders need to embrace the luxury of modern science more than they do.
The members themselves have also definitely pushed me away. From personal experience, many of them are hypocritical, and I believe that without the structure of organized religion I can avoid much of the drama of church-going and still be a good person. Honestly, I’m not even quite sure of what kind of higher power I believe in, but if he’s omnipotent, benevolent, and forgiving, then I think he must be more concerned with how we act toward others, than whether or not we sit in the pews for an hour on Sunday, often just letting our minds drift. On these forums alone, I see a lot of authoritative, holier-than-thou people, and it’s a real turn off. “Religious arrogance” might be a better term.
I think that more money and time could be spent on helping the poor, with fewer resources going to church upkeep and the like. Instead of spending time going to mass, what if people instead spent an hour every week volunteering at a soup kitchen or in some way helping another? In my mind, a loving higher power would be more pleased (or just as pleased) with someone working hard to ease another’s pain.
Furthermore, I really dislike how much the Church intertwines with politics, particularly in regard to its ties with the Republican Party. Because the GOP is “pro-life” I feel that many people think that they must not only be “pro-life,” but that they must also be staunch GOP supporters. In regard to the poor, I believe that the Democrats are more sympathetic and have policies that are more helpful to the plight of the underprivileged. The Republican ties (which run very deep on this forum) make me wary. I’ve seen logic go out the window so that people can remain faithful to right. Both parties have their good and bad people, policies, etc., and I wish that there could be more acknowledgment of that. I think I’ve been seeing a bit of greediness sneak its way into this religion, by way of the GOP. There seems to be this overwhelming idea that we are all starting from a level playing field and that if everyone puts in the same amount of work, then he or she can achieve the same level of success as someone who was born into a privileged family. There seems to be a lack of empathy for poor and minority groups, and I think that stems from the GOP, which has made its way to Catholicism through the party’s “pro-life” stance.
My overall moral philosophy is to try to never hurt others on purpose and to help others when I can. I’m not saying that I always achieve these goals, but I think it’s a nice pathway to being a good person.
I’m not trying to put down the religious, as I know many good Catholics, both in real life and on this forum, but personally I feel that I can be a good person without strictly adhering to an organized religion. I’m taking a gamble by posting this, I know. I hope that others will respect my opinions. As good human beings, I think that we should be able to discuss differences of opinion, but I do fear that I might have said too much. I hope that I won’t be kicked out for this.
I was blown away with some her explanations of “that’s how it was when I was a kid.”