Tuesday, February 11, 2014

An Apology to religion.

At the outset I would like to inform the reader that I haven’t been a follower of any particular religion since the age I gained a conscious autonomy over my beliefs.
I do believe in the existence of a being/power/entity that for want of an identifying word I call god, but I do not believe in personifying it into any kind of gender/character. I believe that limits its all pervasiveness. And so I do not follow any religion that would want me to eliminate that section of society who does not believe in it, which when it comes to practical application, all religions do.
Having said this, I do not hold an opinion against people who choose to entrust a religion with their faith and choose to identify a god constructed for it. I would like to respect them as much as everybody else no matter what religion they believe/not believe in.

The reason I use the phrase “I would like to” is because I recently found out that I don’t.

I have a very dear friend who believes in a religion, which for the rest of the essay as and when need be will be called “The Faith”.
So last night during a conversation of the usual jibber jabber and non sense that friends talk about, I ended up making a joke about The Faith, realizing seconds later that I had offended my friend.
During my profuse and embarrassed apology there was another realization that had this friend not been a follower of The Faith I would’ve never realized my unconscious disregard for people and their religious beliefs.

What I found out was that no matter how much I’d like to believe that I have immense respect for all faiths, there are layers of my mind that subconsciously make me take them lightly. I did not make that joke consciously, which makes it worse as it makes me realize the unconscious disrespect I have for other religions, which is a violation of my own personal individual belief that says all should be loved and respected for their beliefs.

What I also realized was that there might have been instances in the past where in during conversations, or within my own internal thinking process, I could have and definitely would have done such acts of disrespect in the past.

Not believing in any kind of mass religion for whatever reasons possible, does not give me the right to consciously or sub consciously make fun of other people’s beliefs.

In my attempt to not be outright blinded by a faith and consequently feel malicious towards other faiths, I choose to not believe in any, not realizing that what I gained from that was a superficial respect for all faiths and a deep rooted subconscious disregard for them. Not believing in something and wanting to respect it involves more thought than what I’ve been putting to it.

So here it is, an apology to all religions and all people who believe in any religion. I hope to learn my lesson and purge myself of all kinds of disregards I might subconsciously have for you.

I still do not believe in any religion, but I hope I’ll be able to give every body the kind of respect I’d like to able to give.

This is also a plea to everyone who would bother to hear it, that no matter where your belief rests, please do not let it over power you to an extent where in you demean, disregard, derogate or make light of any group or person particular who believes other wise.

Religion of all kinds including my own form of it, which hopes to inculcate only respect and love for others do not in any form preach that people/scriptures who do not share the same ideology should be treated as inferior.

My thoughts,no matter how unconscious, have been insensitive for I do not know how long, and I'm not proud of them.
That is about all that I’d like to convey in my apology to religion.

Thank you for taking out time and reading it.

Love and strength,
Rida.




3 comments:

  1. If I don't believe in the concept of Religion, its my perspective. When I critisize or ridicule the concept of religion or any specific religion, for that matter I'm talking about the religion. Not how the person concerned practices it. Its my choice and my right, whether I want to accept it or not. As long as I'm not imposing my thoughts, I think its just fair that I hold up my choices. If I find some things ridiculous with society as a whole, I will speak up. If one takes personally, its their problem. I won't feel offended, if the religious say anything about my thoughts. I'd just smile away. I don't think an apology is necessary for projecting ones thoughts.

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  2. Anurag I am not apologising here for thinking in a particular way, I am apologising for not respecting the beliefs of other people and yet expecting them to respect mine.

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  3. I think you'd like reading The God Delusion (if you have not already) by Richard Dawkins.

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