It's Easter Sunday 2021. It is only appropriate for me to write a few paragraphs regarding religion, and most precisely, the religion to which I ascribe: catholicism.
I was a wise-ass adolescent. Much like most millenials, I was absolutely convinced that religion and the Catholic Church were nothing more than a scam, preying on peoples's insecurities and utilizing mind-control methods to gain power and riches. How could anyone buy into such an outdated, fake concept? After all, science has shown that the universe was created thanks to the big bang, not magically by a higher being. How could anyone seriously believe that God created the earth in 6 days? Gullible, all of them. And definitely not as smart or woke as me, who had found a very sound argument to expose the lies of the church.
As I said, a wise-ass teenager. And then, life. Real life. Real issues, real problems, real confusion. And wouldn't you know it? I found answers in the religion that I had so arrogantly brushed aside a couple of years back. Even though I had been raised in a religious household, I only understood the value of religion when I voluntarily found my way back from sceptiscism, arrogance and "science" to the practices and values that my religion preaches.
The "cool" thing nowadays is to hate religion, to firmly believe that we, as a society are way beyond needing some weird institution telling us how to live our lives. Churches are starting to empty out. People think that they are oh so much smarter than those than believe in some made up god. A friend of mine told me, with a straight face: "God is as real to me as Superman". That is what we've come to. In the minds of young people, religion is nothing more than groups of uneducated, gullible people following a false figure made up by people who want power.
The "cool" thing nowadays is to hate religion, to firmly believe that we, as a society are way beyond needing some weird institution telling us how to live our lives. Churches are starting to empty out. People think that they are oh so much smarter than those than believe in some made up god.
Oh, the arrogance. 20-something year olds smuggly preaching their atheism, because they know much better than those ignorant, religious people. It's not entirely their fault though. Mainstream media outlets and public figures have been, for some time, ridiculizing the meaning and importance of religion, claiming it to be a series of empty, useless practices. And young people who don't know any better see this and swallow it whole, because it's "progressive" and "woke".
The collective wisdom of mankind, accumulated throughout centuries of suffering, overcoming, creation, growth, progress is synthesized in religion. And you are seriously so arrogant as to tell me, that at 20 years of age, having lived in a bubble of comfort, junk food, pornography and recreational drugs, you know better? Get a grip man.
Start to look as religion not as the media wants you to look at it, but as something that speaks to the deepest parts of your soul, as a framework that has been guiding men and women for centuries, showing them how to properly live a life based on values, based on family and on things that really matter. It is not outdated, and as a matter of fact, it is as relevant today as it has always been, maybe even more. We are straying far away from God, and it is showing. You need only to look outside your window to see that we are going in the wrong direction. Is disregarding God the only reason? No. But it is one of the reasons, and quite an important one. The further we stray from God, the worse it will get out there, and if we don't return to faith, to values and to a way of life that is good we will let the degeneracy that is poisoning our lives and our children's lives win. And that will be the end.
Religion is too broad a concept for me to analyze and discuss in a single post. Also because my intellectual capacity is limited, and I will not claim to understand the ins and outs of religious practice, much less to be able to explain it. I will sum up my point thus: do not be so arrogant. Religion has existed since the dawn of time, and it has a purpose, it has value, and it is much deeper than you and I will ever manage to understand. All we can do is interpret it to the best of our abilities. Of course there are many different religions, and you are free to believe whatever you want to believe, same as I. All I am asking of you is that you remember the importance that religion has had in the lives of many men that have lived before us, including your very own ancestors, and stop brushing it aside as a meaningless fictional story. Do not be so arrogant.