As I define religion, I must acknowledge that my use of the term is different from the norm and likely different from they way the reader uses it. When I write about religion I am not making accusations about your personal life of faith, that you may call “religion.” Observe how I frame religion and if my description does not resonate with you, then I’m not writing about your experience.

Because I have received so much criticism about my personal following of Jesus of Galilee, I am very careful about making any personal accusations toward others. Yes, I am very critical of ideals, especially those I see as dishonest and those that hurt people or creation. But on a personal level, I start with the assumption that your relationship with the creator of the cosmos and Jesus of Galilee is outstanding, better than my own. I start with respect for others and it takes a lot to dislodge that respect. On a personal level, my grace toward others is unfettered and overwhelming.

To be honest, I know that much of my previous thirty-eight-years experience as a Christian was a religious experience, the bad religion I will describe. Then, as I have described before, I had a crisis of faith in 1990 after observing how dishonest that world was. I made a commitment to be honest, to tell the truth, with the rational assumption that if there really is a creator of the cosmos, they would reside within a world of factual truth, not in a world of magical thinking. Even though this new path has been somewhat of a curse for me, making me the perpetual punching bag for the religious, I still have no choice but to live consistently with my quest for factual truth.

Religion Defined

Religion is a human-derived system of rituals, behaviors, spirituality, and beliefs that have one purpose, to enhance one’s (narcissistic) feeling of piety. A key process of this self enhancement, is comparisons. Therefore, religion is very competitive, because the fastest way to increase your feeling of piety is to compare yourself, favorably, to others.

Religion practices the demonization of those outside the religion, and has a highly critical view of those inside the religion (except for self-awareness). To create a framework for criticism of those inside the religion, a detailed master list of appropriate beliefs and behaviors is created, to measure and accuse other religious people so that you can compare yourself favorably.

As Jesus described the religious, they are more interested in show, performance religion, behaviors and rituals in the public forum, than internal, private enhancement of their relationship with the creator and Jesus of Galilee. For example, the religious fight for public praying, displaying the Ten Commandments, and creating governments that impose their ideals upon the masses as we are witnessing in America now.

I want to continue developing this conversation about religion and to deconstruct it in a way that a more honest following of the teachings of Jesus of Galilee can ensue.

On a footnote, I was experimenting with a vlog to try and put my ideas out there, to a wider audience. I had searched the web for someone with my same honest deconstructing of religious faith and came up empty. However, a couple of weeks ago, I did discover Dr. Mark Sandlin, a presbyterian pastor in North Carolina. I have not examined him exhaustively, so I’m not sure we agree on all things but from what I’ve heard, we seem to be on the same page. He seems to be more gifted than me in communication with a much larger audience, so I will end my pursuit of filling this void.

Respectfully,

Mike