06.30.08

Getting into a box

Posted in Life, the Universe and All that Jazz at 12:05 am by Meg

Today’s writing assignment is to choose a new religion for yourself. It has to be something different than what you are now, or have been in the past.

It kind of makes me think about a sci-fi series by Lydia Morehouse. The first book is called Archangel Protocol, and without getting to much into it, here’s the starting premise:

Science, which had brought an ugly end to the fighting by producing and detonating the Medusa bombs, and the secular humanism that spawned it, had fallen so far out of favor that it was now officially a crime not to be at least nominally part of an organized religion….

People had suggested I simply convert to another religion and have done with it…

The book then follows this excommunicated ex-cop as she saves the world and lives happily ever after fixing up the theocracy that the world had become - not quite.

So where to go with it?

I was raised without religion and am happy being there so that makes my starting point Atheism. (Though I prefer describing myself as secular or non-religious because while they have changed their tone some, the American Atheist’s used to have a rant against celebrating any kind of cultural holidays and it set a tone in my head.)

Now my father’s family was reformed Jews. Very, very secular, reformed Jews, was always my impression. But it was something that as an adult I have always been interested in. Enough so that I took an Intro to Judaism class at one point after the kids were born. It explained a lot about my family history and interactions. I even came to realization that for me, being Jewish is a cultural thing and I still have a lot of it even as removed as I have been from the religious aspects.

I’m also a traditionalist, so picking to change to reformed Jew is one of the first things to jump out in my mind. With the traditional choice, I can just claim whatever my forefathers were, and not have to think about logic and myths - hey, isn’t that what most people that claim to be religious do?

But since it’s suppose to be something that you have not been in your past, can I choose it?

Let’s keep looking.

My father often told me that one of my largest problems with religions is the problem that there is all the superstructure of the organization. He used to think I got that way from my mom.

I’m not sure. I do know that while I don’t believe in a mythical being that ‘cares’ about us peons; I certainly believe that if it/he/she was to exist it wouldn’t need someone to mediate between us.

Maybe because of that, I’ve always been attracted to some of the Quaker ideals. Especially the idea of declaring yourself married. I think the idea of standing on a hillside with your loved one and just saying we’re married is so romantic.

But they still believe in GOD, so it probably won’t be a great fit. And since there isn’t any tradition here sending me to them, I certainly need to be thinking about why I’d want to be there.

I have studied different religions with the kids as they looked at different cultural groups around the world, and Buddhism certainly gets away from the GOD problem…but reincarnation is just a weird idea and I could never give up eating animal tissue and become a vegetarian.

Now I could take the easy way and just say that I’d become a Unitarian Universalist. They would be happy to let me stay an atheist…

Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion that encompasses many faith traditions. Unitarian Universalists include people who identify as Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Pagans, Atheists, Agnostics, Humanists, and others. As there is no official Unitarian Universalist creed, Unitarian Universalists are free to search for truth on many paths.

…but that kind of by passes the whole point of this exercise.

But I’ve also run out of steam, so I guess I’ll stay where I am. It’s the best fit that I can see.

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