I feel the need to discuss this. One reason is because the subject makes people cringe. It also is a subject that has the potential of sparking a lively debate. So where does the Grinch stand on religion?

I have no real problem with religion. I was raised in a religious household. My family, for a long time, was Baptist. My parents now attend a non-denominational church. I was brought up going to First Baptist Church in Chandler, Arizona for years. We went practically every Sunday. We also attended Wednesdays and Sunday nights on occasion. I was baptized on Easter Sunday. I went to Sunday School. I went to several Church camps during summers. I basically did it all.

As an adult I have pretty much forsaken religion. There are a few reason for this. For one, hypocrisy reigns supreme. Secondly, religious fanatics. Fanatics not only exist in Muslim and Islamic religions, they also exist in Christian based faiths. Third, I could no longer stand by and believe in a deity. The idea just doesn't do it for me anymore.

Let me discuss my first point, hypocrisy. People are flawed. We have been for centuries. We are jealous. We are capable of doing horrible things. We are many things which is a far way off from being perfect. If you believe in the bible you can say this is all Eve's fault. She is the one who introduced sin into our world by eating an apple. Sure. Sounds reasonable to me. Christian based faiths want you to be like Jesus. Jesus, supposedly, lived without sin. Based off the idea of sin being caused by Eve this is damn near impossible. Due to Eve's mishap it is inevitable we will sin. So right off the bat we are screwed. There is no possible way to be like Jesus. You can strive for it all you want but you will fail. It is a lofty goal you will never ever achieve. But there is a loop hole. Since Jesus was murdered by the Jews and hung on a cross he has enabled you to enter the pearly gates of Heaven. He sacrificed himself so the blood of the Lamb will cleanse your dirty soul. You are forgiven of your sins. This enables you to live a life of sin and when all is said and done you are forgiven. The church still wants you to live a good and wholesome life but if you don't it is okay. Let's not forget the Ten Commandments. Here they are if you are not familiar with them.

1. "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before Me..."
2. "Do not make an image or any likeness of what is in the heavens above..."
3. "Do not swear falsely by the name of the LORD..."
4. "Remember [zachor] the Sabbath day and keep it holy" (the version in Deuteronomy reads shamor, "observe")
5. Honor your father and your mother..."
6. "Do not murder"
7. "Do not commit adultery."
8. "Do not steal."
9. "Do not bear false witness against your neighbor"
10. "Do not covet your neighbor's wife"

I don't know about you but I have broken a few of these and I know a lot of people who have also. These commandments come straight from God Himself. So I would assume if you broke them you are in some seriously deep shit. I find them to be a bit ridiculous. Now I don't plan on committing adultery or murdering anyone or lusting after my neighbor's wife. But I definitely do take the Lords name in vain quite frequently and Sunday isn't exactly a holy day for me. The first one is also a tough one for me. But since Jesus was crucified I am cool.

Now for the religious fanatics. Let me show you one of my favorite images found on the internet.

That statement is so true. We have all seen them. Some even have their own TV show. They are the ones that go beyond the call of duty to inform you of your sins and how you will burn in a lake of fire for all eternity. There are also the bizarre churches that use snakes. There are the ones that speak in tongue. If you have never heard someone speaking in tongue just imagine someone without a tongue babbling on about nothing. I could go on and on about this but we have all seen it.

Third we get into the deity aspect of religion. I am supposed to believe there is an all knowing, all powerful god up in the heavens watching over our every move. I am also supposed to believe that he is a loving god. This is where things get hard to swallow. For one, I have a hard time believing in something I cannot see. I'm just one of those people. Secondly, if god was so loving why is there so much violence, war, famine, disease and all kind of horrible things. I guess you could point back to Eve and her indiscretions and I am sure most Christians do. Also, if I do not follow gods rules I am going to be cast into hell for eternity. But what about the loop hole I discussed earlier? Who knows? It is all very confusing.

There are also things about Christianity that bother me. First is the fact that the bible was commissioned by a pagan. Yes it is true, look it up. Also, the bible has been translated so many times a lot of the meaning has been butchered. There are also reports of books being removed from the bible. I could also discuss the theories presented in the DaVinci Code and other works based off the same stuff. I also have a problem with schools trying to pass creationism off as science and forcing children to learn about it. It isn't the schools place. There is nothing scientific about an invisible being saying "Let there be light".

So what is Grinch to do? What I do is believe in myself and my family. I don't give thanks to god or Jesus for any of my success and I don't blame them when things go wrong. It just makes more sense to me to believe in myself. Now you may have noticed a link to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The reason I link to it is because it is funny. I am not a member. I do not claim to be a Pastafarian. But the ideas behind them is worth looking into. I have read a lot of their stuff and I like it, it makes sense kind of. Check it out and see for yourself.

Recently I was doing research for a character in a story I intend to write. I wanted this character to be a card carrying member of the Church of Satanism. A honest to god Satanist. Since Hollywood as warped my idea of what a Satanism is I did some Googling. What I found was surprising. Their ideals aren't that bizarre and some of them made sense. They don't believe in hurting children or animals. They don't worship any kind of god and there is no redeemer, the individual satanist is their own redeemer. They believe in being kind to those who deserve it. They believe in indulging their desires. There nine sins include stupidity, pretentiousness, solipsism, self-deceit, herd conformity, lack of perspective, forgetfulness of past orthodoxies, counterproductive pride, and lack of aesthetics. They also don't believe in heaven or hell and that Satan is not a being but a force of nature. Now they are into magic and all of that which I don't wholly believe in either. I am not claiming to be a Satanist and I am not planning on becoming one but at least they make some sense. Their rules are easily followed unlike Christianity.

If believing in god and Jesus get you through the day then good for you. I don't expect you to drop your religion based off anything I say. In the end we will all find out who was right and if all this was really worth it. I think we will all be surprised. To close I will leave you a video discussing religion. He makes some good points.