To Thine Own Self Be True
Topic: Religion
First, definitions, as they are intended within the context of this entry.
God: the entity or entities that is (are) responsible for the engineering of the universe.
Deist
Faith
Dogma
Religion
Organized
Theism
Heresy

For the purposes of this text, Religion will be defined as the overt and obvious actions of a person or persons as they apply to that person?s beliefs concerning theism.
Faith will be defined as a belief without evidence to support it.
Dogma will be defined as the code of conduct and the historical background of an organized religion.
Note that God, Faith, Religion, and Dogma are not synonymous, and should not be used interchangeably. They are not the same things.

Here?s what I believe.

Everyone should be allowed to believe whatever they want. It?s their life. It?s their after-life. It?s their soul. No person or persons should dictate to any other person what they should or shouldn?t believe? and if you disagree with me, that?s fine with me. I won?t try to tell you what to believe. I?ll just tell you what I believe and why, and if you disagree, I won?t be a hypocrite and tell you you?re wrong. I also won?t tell you you?re right. I may not agree with your belief, but I?ll respect it, in the same manner in which I want my beliefs to be respected by others.

I believe that God exists. I don?t pretend to understand the nature of God (or Gods, should polytheism prove to be accurate), and in this manner, among many other manners, I differ from a priest. For example, I am not a pedophile. (I know? cheap shot. They?re the ones that put up the target.)
I believe that God is benevolent, because an omnipotent entity that was malevolent could make things a lot harder on us than we currently, or in any other part of the history of homo sapiens, have it. If God had it in for us, any number of things could make us more miserable? we could have no opposable thumbs, for instance. Or no spines. We could completely lose our ozone layer and be forced to live underground. Things would be much worse if God was not benevolent, is the point I?m making here.
But because God is benevolent, God cannot interfere with our lives. By helping one person, God might be harming another. Not even God can please everyone. So the best thing God can do is give us Free Will; the ability to decide for ourselves what is best for ourselves, and decide our own beliefs, even if that decision is to refuse to believe in God. The choice is ours to make, and God will not make that choice for us, or we have no Free Will.
God will also not dictate to us our behavior, because, again, it violates the tenet and precept of Free Will. Our belief is just that? ours. Not God?s, not a church?s, not any other entity?s. Ours. Sole proprietorship. You have yours. I have mine. They are not the same, in all likelihood.

I am a Deist. That is, I do not ascribe to any organized religion. I believe in what I believe based on personal experience, logic, evidence, reasoning, and thought. Some of my beliefs coincide with those of one or more organized religions. Some of them don?t. I am therefore not part of any organized religion (although there is an organized church of Deism to which I don?t belong, since I believe that is an oxymoron). That?s why I am a heretic, and proud of it.

Any organization that attempts to dictate to its followers what to believe and how to worship is guilty of denial of free will. It is also guilty of behavior contrary to that of the God they claim to follow. To provide an example, I need look no further than the Ten Commandments in the case of Christianity. The first one is ?Though shalt have no other gods before me.? Aside from the concept that there are other Gods implicit in this statement, it is a direct order to believe first and foremost in the Christian God. It is not an entreaty to Free Will. And there?s nine more after it? not 10 Good Ideas, not 10 Suggestions, but Ten Commandments.

I?m not saying organized religion is completely bad, but it should only be seen as a guide for your own beliefs, and not a strict set of instructions to be obeyed unthinkingly and unquestioningly. To the contrary? think! Question! Get real answers, that really answer the questions and doubts you may experience! I think a person that requires a book to tell them, ironclad and unwaveringly, what is morally right or wrong is so amoral themselves that they are completely antithetical to the religion to which they claim fellowship or followership. Understand that there are no absolutes, and temper your decisions based on reality, and not solely by a black-and-white, no exceptions dictation from a book written 2,000 years ago by fallible men.

In order to evaluate whether or not you agree with the dogma of a religion, you have to have an opinion of your own concerning what?s right or wrong. You need your own set of values, ethics, and morality. And while a religion can provide you with that, it is self-defeating to accept it at face value and adopt it without evaluating it, and deciding whether or not you truly agree with it.

It?s not important what church you go to, or what religion you follow. What matters is that you believe something. Even Atheism is a religious viewpoint; it is believing that there is nothing in which to believe. And whether or not someone agrees with you isn?t important. It?s not supposed to be what they believe. It?s supposed to be what you believe. If God had wanted us to mindlessly follow a behavior and belief, it would be programmed into us. The simple fact we have the power to choose and decide implies Free Will. If an omnipotent entity wanted us to exhibit ten specific behaviors, they would be ingrained into us, and ten commandments would be unnecessary because we?d already behave that way without considering any other behaviors to be an option.

Your parents raised you, and gave you the tools you need in order to become a functional, responsible, self-sufficient adult. And now that you are just that, they no longer tell you what to do and how to behave, because they recognize your free will, like any good parent does. And they know you?re not perfect and that you?ll make mistakes, but they still love you, and take pride in you, and while they may advise you from time to time, they still know the choices are yours to make as you see fit, based on your beliefs and your situations. And I think that God is literally the ultimate parent. And I think God is like all other good parents, who will look on their children from time to time, without interfering. They may be pleased with the successes of their children, or saddened by their children?s failures. They may see that perhaps their children are not perfect, or quite what they?d hoped their children would turn out to be. But they?re still proud.

This is what I believe. Thank you for reading.