Religion, God and Faith: What it means to me

Disclaimer: This is a controversial topic, and these are just my opinions and views of it, there is no offence meant to any faith or religion. Some of the terms used might be inaccurate, but it is a complex subject, and terms are often used interchangeably. I've dealt with it the best I could.

Religion and theism have not, and still do not play an important role in my life. I wrote in an earlier post about how I don’t really believe in the afterlife: heaven, hell, reincarnation and everything that comes along with it. Of course, that’s just a belief I have, and I could well be wrong, but there’s no way of proving it either way. In recent times, I’ve started thinking more about spirituality and faith independent of religion, and the benefits they potentially bring.

I don’t think religion is for me. I was born into a Hindu family but didn’t have a particularly religious upbringing at all. I do remember my mom making me say my prayers every evening for a couple of years as a child, and praying at home during major festivals, but not much else. There were no rules or restrictions based on religion, and the most we’d do was (which was rather superficial in my book) not eat meat during festivals, or at least not cook it at home, while there was no problem doing that for the rest of the year. I’ve been to a temple only a handful of times over the years, and not for the past 15 years at least in my memory. I studied at a school which was run by something to do with the Church, and every morning’s school assembly started by saying The Lord’s Prayer followed by a hymn or two, and occasional visits to the chapel. Christmas was of course a pretty big deal in school, and we’d do things like having Christmas plays, sing Christmas Carols, have Santa visit etc. As an adult, I had the chance to live in the UAE, an Islamic country, for more than 3 years and so have had exposure to at least three of the world’s major religions in different ways. Personally, I think religion has done more harm than good over time and continues to do so. The amount of money spent on building places of worship, especially in poor countries really upsets me, since the money can be put to far better use. Prayer can be done at home too, but I get why people might feel the need to congregate and the power of togetherness, so I’ve adopted the philosophy of ‘Live and let live’ in this regard. And besides, most religions have ‘rules’, which are generally restrictive in some way or the other, and I don’t think I’d be able to follow them. Yes, I know not all rules have to be followed, but I’d rather not do it at all if I’m not doing it properly.

When it comes to God, I’m a bit conflicted. Part of me says that it is in fact a huge coincidence that ‘life happened’. I recall having a debate with a friend of mine who believes in God, and he said “Prove that God doesn’t exist”. Well, how does that make sense at all? If you’re saying something exists, surely the onus lies on you then, otherwise, it’s status quo right with neither of us knowing for sure that God exists. There’s no way of proving it one way or the other, and yet we spend so much time on Earth discussing, believing in, and even fighting over God. It’s comforting to know that there might be someone up there who is responsible for everything that’s happened in our lives and is taking care of us, but it’s also a bit far-fetched, isn’t it? Someone else I know said that he hadn’t had the best childhood, and was a loner till he started believing in God. Through this, he felt a sort of togetherness and for the first time felt like he was not alone. That’s powerful stuff, and I’m happy for people who can see that benefit in it. But then my question is, why God, what’s so powerful about it? I could find that same sense of community as a fan of a band, or a football club. How, or rather why is that different from believing in God?

I get being spiritual and having faith in a higher power, which might not necessarily be God but just someone or something out there. No one knows what’s out there anyway, or why or how we came to be, so it’s pretty harmless as long as it doesn’t take over your life and drive every action of yours. If there is money and brainwashing involved, that’s where I’d personally draw the line. Often, we find ourselves at a loss to understand why things happen a certain way or wonder how difficult situations are going to resolve themselves. During times like those, I think it would be helpful to believe that God, or whoever is out there, has a plan (cue that awful Drake song), and wants things to happen a certain way and that there’s a reason for it. It just helps to make sense of things sometimes. Also, I feel that it might help give one a sense of purpose in life. I’ve increasingly started to wonder what the point of life is, in terms of what the greater purpose is, and what I’m doing all of this for. Having belief in a higher power could probably help, in trying to rationalize that one was given this life to achieve something, and in a strange convoluted way, could present a reason for living, and bring a purpose to life.

It’s a strange one to deal with and sure is confusing. Believing in something now would also involve letting go of a bit of ego for me; after all, for so many years, I used to laugh at the idea of God and dismiss it outright without even considering what it meant. I also don’t think it’s a light switch that you can just turn on and become a ‘believer’ one day, but rather a gradual process. I might or might not get there, but I think I’m going to give it a shot.

Thank you for reading!