One topic that a person cannot go through their life avoiding is religion. From the moment we are born we have religious decisions thrown upon us, and from there onwards we’re on our own.
Some parents decide to baptise their children, while other do not. Some circumcise their children for religious reasons, some do not. Some are taken to church weekly, some are kept home and some are told that god does not exist. It seems that it does not matter what we may believe ourselves as a child but rather what those around us believe.
Personally I was not christened or baptised. I grew up in a household where I was considered a little strange for not swearing, smoking or drinking as I grew up. The A grades that I received on my school work was a little out-of-the-ordinary and my stance towards God and religion was somewhat… unliked. Growing up I honestly don’t think that the words ‘god’, ‘jesus’ or ‘christ’ were muttered in a sentence unless accompanied by ‘fuck’, ‘hell’ or ‘burn in’.
I’ve written briefly about my religious stance before, which isn’t easy to put in a nutshell. I’m not for or against God per se. Not really. What I am for or against is religion. What I mean by this is the devout following and faith in the God and the rules dictated by the religious scripture- that being bible, Koran or whatever book it may have been labelled. For arguments sake, they all are the same.
I’ve been shown no proof that God exists, merely some compelling stories and somewhat-convincing fanatics. On the flipside, the non-believers have also been very convincing and very rightly pointed out the flaws, mostly of which consist in the fact that religion somewhat goes against a lot of proven facts. How much evidence does one need to sway me one way or another? Well, that isn’t the point of this article.
Recently I watched the 7pm Project and I saw a great segment which featured Father Bob Maguire. To be honest, I’m a great fan of this man. He has done a lot of hard work in the community and he himself has been stuck on an anti-church pedestal for his approach at Catholicism. The segment, which you may have seen, was about how we can get more youths into the churches. You know what: What a great question!
I would seriously love to experience what church is like. I’ve only ever been in a church twice- the first being for a christening of a family friends child, and the other while I was dancing [back in the days of my traditional-greek-dancing]. Since then, I’ve never been. And yes, to put it plainly: I’ve never been to a service.
Many people my age are quick to jump on the idea that church is boring and that the services are enough to put you to sleep. The weird thing here, contradictory as it is, those of my friends who regularly attend church often say the opposite of their churches. So what brings about this contradiction?
My first assumption would be preconceptions. Entering into a church I suppose I would think that I was about to be getting a lecture from some old guy standing out the front. In such a modern time though, I find it hard to believe that all churches are like this. Does Australia [pray, Adelaide] have any of those ‘modern’ churches where people are involved and the youth have fun?
To answer this question I suppose that I should just ask myself. What better place to start? Why does Brodhe not go to church?
Here’s a few reasons:
- Too early on a Sunday morning
- I don’t like to be told off for the things that others perceive as wrong
- My friends do not go
- I do not follow the bible
So is there a place for us Generation Y young adults where we can freely talk about our own religious views without the worry of being told off. I’m yet to be answered the questions of ‘Why would God care?’ I mean, if I said the word ‘fuck’, without it meaning to be an insult, why would god care? Sure, if I said it with the intent to belittle someone or to make them feel uneasy then I can understand. But any words can do that, and we can say them freely!
Also, when I drink I do not act aggressively nor do I perform illegal deeds. I do what is deemed socially right [on the normal occasion] and keep myself in line. Why would god say I cannot get drunk?
If there was a church which promoted that people merely get along and do what is morally and socially right for each other, and stopped worrying about condemning us to hell and telling us that we are all sinners- well, that’s a church that I would go to.
While I know that it wouldn’t happen, I’d love to see the idea of a congregational venue- perhaps a ‘church’, however it would be open up to ALL religions. It would be a place of meeting and conversation. Peer review about each others beliefs. It would be a meeting of sorts, where people spent the first half hour or so saying thanks to their own religious idols, then spent the following few hours in discussion about different topics. Political, environmental, moral and ethical topics would be discussed and religion would be kept civil and polite. There would be no judgement of ones sins, but merely the reminder of what is morally right on the path to the afterlife.
I would call this setting Urban Belief. It is those that live in a modern society, have belief of God or gods, but simply do not feel that following a set religious scripture is the correct way to live their life. I suppose that’s me in a nutshell: an Urban Believer.
I would personally love to hear the ideas that Father Bob Maguire has to get the youth back into the church. While the church may condemn my lifestyle “choices”, I still see a heck of a lot of good being done by the church. I still strongly believe in the family unit and doing what is morally right, I just believe that the archaic way that they enforce their rule is wrong.
I would really love to hear everyone’s thoughts on this, so if you are in Australia or Adelaide or just have some general views on this, I’d love to know!