As I started in High School 3 years ago I was fully Jewish. As I started to think about different religions in history class and just on my own I found that there are a lot of things in Judaism that I disagree with. For example the big thing is a God, obviously to be Jewish you have to believe in God, but through different events in my life I have not only stopped believing in God but also in Judaism. Some might say that I have lost my way but in my mind I have found it. When I was born I was given my name Josh, yet a week later I was given a Hebrew or a Jewish name. Why do I need 2 names? I found that when I was younger I was Jewish but not because me as a person was Jewish but because my parents told me I was. That being said I probably, if you asked me back then, would have said I am Jewish but that is because I hadn't become my own person yet. When I think about what religion has done to the world it makes me think, What would the world be like without religion?
Religion was originally formed to explain the unexplained. When things like the creation of the Earth or how humans were formed came up in conversation people didn't know how to respond so people created ways to explain these events. However when you have 2 people that think a like there is typically friction and conflict, kind of like in science when you try to put 2 positive magnets together. In my personal opinion I find that when religion comes into things there is almost always a heated argument or an, agree to disagree either way it doesn't end well. Sometimes it turns into more than a heated discussion and causes war or persecution. For example, the Crusades or the "Holy War" (which really isn't that holy), in the Crusades the Christians basically forced religion on people and took land under "The Church". In the Holy War the Muslims did basically the same exact things, forced their religion and took land. I don't think that this was the exact purpose of religion.
I am not saying that religion is completely bad though. I find that there are absolute benefits to being religious. You get to associate with people that you wouldn't necessarily know and you do get a enhanced education, plus some of the stories are pretty cool. Religion is a big part of any person but I feel like it is not exactly needed. If you didn't have religion than, what? If there was no religion there is not big side effect. I think that it is overly needed and not essential to life.
I think that religion is overall bad and I think that it is overly used. Without religion I think that the world would be a better place and possibly less tense. I think that I wouldn't have the inner turmoil of being agnostic if religion wasn't as big a part of me. I found that God hasn't really given me a reason to believe in him/her (whatever you believe) and I think that it is important for me to realize the fact that I am not religious. I understand that some people might have a problem with some of the things that I said, however you are just proving my point more.
I am sorry if this offends anyone.
