Why I am religious

So I'm not a good Catholic. I mean, I try to be, but I'm not prone to accepting things blindly and I have a background in near eastern archaeology. This causes me to see the past in the same sort of terms I see the present in. In other words, I imagine how John the Baptist must have really emphasized to people that they shouldn't pee in the river, because not only would they drink out of it later, they were all standing in it. This could be thought of as sacrilege. But I don't think it is. I think all of the people in the past were just people like you and me. They had the same kind of problems people have always had, through out history. They were hungry, they got lonely, the government annoyed them, the temple priests opposed them, they had to move to find work. Sometimes they were poor and sometimes they were jealous of each other and they experienced all of those things that we do. I am not religious because I think times were better or more holy or anything in the past.

I am religious because of that feeling that you get in a church. When the choir is singing and the priest is going through the rituals. When the little alter girls, moving in unison, light the candles and bow to the host. Then there are the little personal things that happen that convince you there must be something else. Dreams, images or just a compulsion to do something or say something. Everyone can have these experiences. These are the reasons that I am religious. In the heights of my doubts, I can remember the feelings of peace and love in these sacred places. Even when I doubt the existence of God, I can't ignore the way people come together to create a place of peace and beauty. That makes it all worth looking into for me.

So maybe I'm not a good Christian...but I like what I do.....