2008 Woodie Awards
External forces have no place in religion
Why spirituality should come from within, not from Kirk Cameron
J. Harry Painter
Issue date: 9/12/06 Section: Opinion
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Because of the Crusades. Because of President Bush. Because Mass is a waste of time. Because I don't believe that God is sending me to a fiery pit after I die. Because of Kirk Cameron.
Now, I know Cameron, Pat Robertson, and Mel Gibson symbolize the darker sides of Christianity, but that's no excuse. The fact that they exist is enough for me. The religion spawned these tools and without it they wouldn't be such tools. Cameron would still be acting in C movies, Robertson would be doing whatever it is he was doing before he received a television deal, and this Friday night most of us would be on our way to see Lethal Weapon 5.
The biggest beef I have with Christianity is that it's spread through fear. We have people like Cameron and Robertson on the television telling us that if we don't convert, we're going to Hell forever. What kind of God condemns the people He created to a sentence of everlasting pain? Not my god.
My other problem with it is that it doesn't make any sense. Jesus died for my sins? Okay, so before Jesus came around, the billions of people whose lives ended long beforehand, no matter how righteous they may have been, were just chilling down under, being tortured and beaten by Satan. Like I said, not my god.
I'm not saying Christianity is the only religion with flaws, though. I'll embrace Christianity again long before I convert to Judaism or Islam. And don't get me started on Jehovah's Witnesses. But the fact is that Christianity has flaws and many of them.
Why do we imprison ourselves within the confines of any religion? Fundamentally, don't they all preach the same concepts? There is life beyond this one, our actions have consequences, God lives within all of us. Does it truly matter whether you eat a Big Mac on Good Friday, skip Mass every once in a while, or choose not to confess all your wrongdoings to the local pastor?
Think about it. None of us have any evidence of whether or not Jesus really turned water into wine, or whether snakes really used to give bad advice. All we have is the word of some ex-child star-turned-evangelist. And Growing Pains wasn't even that good of a show.
When you go back far enough, the reason I grew up Catholic is because around 500 years ago, some pompous Spaniards colonized my mother's homeland and decided to force Catholicism on the natives. I, for one, am not going to believe in doctrine that was pushed on my ancestors against their will.