Religion is a complicated subject, with there being many different types of religion - meaning that we all have different beliefs about things to do with the world that we live in and what others should and shouldn't believe - resulting in many arguments.
I am just going to throw this out there now, I do not think of myself as a religious person. I was Christened when I was six months old and as far as I know all of my family members have also been Christened. I also attended a Church of England primary school. However, I don't particularly believe that there is a God and don't really believe any of the things that are in the Bible. I know that many people are going to disagree with me on this one so I apologise about any offence that I may cause any of you reading this and I assure you that I am not trying to imply that there is no such thing as religion or a God, this is just my personal opinion.
Even though everyone in my household is religious, religion isn't anything that has ever been particularly forced upon me or my brothers so I guess that's probably partly why I don't really believe that there is a God. We used to go to Church for the odd Christmas Eve service and possibly once or twice for Easter and for Harvest Festival (plus all of the times I had to go to Church as a part of my primary school), but other than that we have rarely stepped foot in a Church. In fact, I can't even remember the last time I was in a Church for a religious reason, but it has definitely been a fair few years.
You'll notice that above I mentioned that I used to go to Church for Christmas and Easter services when I was younger. I still celebrate both of these holidays, however I am unsure whether it is okay for me to do this if I don't view myself as a religious person. I mean, Christmas is meant to be about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ and Easter is about celebrating his death (although I don't understand how death can ever be celebrated to be honest) and his later resurrection (please correct me on this if I am wrong). I guess that you can argue that today Christmas isn't particularly about the religious side of things and is now more to do with spending time with your friends and family (or at least it is in my household), but Easter for me has only ever really involved giving each other chocolate eggs and having a roast dinner. For this reason, part of me feels that it is wrong of me to celebrate two major Christian holidays when I don't view myself as a Christian or a religious person. Yet at the same time (and again I'm sorry if I offend anyone with what I'm about to say) I don't think that these two holidays in particular are viewed purely as something to do with religion and have become more commercialised and (with Christmas in particular) about spending time with your family. So when you put this into perspective, I would say that it probably is okay for me to celebrate these holidays, but please correct me if I'm wrong on this one too.
In today's society, everyone has their own views and opinions and even though we might disagree with some (or many) of them, there is no right or wrong answer. If you google how many religions there are, you will find that there are estimates of there being around 4,200. I reckon I could only name about five.
What particularly annoys me about religion is the fact that some people try and force their religion on you and try to get you to believe what they believe in. If you're passionate about something and that thing is your religion then that's great and I would never want anyone to feel like they couldn't be passionate about something that they believe in. However, because we all have our own opinions I don't think that people should try and force others to change their opinion because they think that what they believe is right and that everyone should believe in what they believe in and that anything other than their belief is wrong. We all have our own opinions, which we ALL have a right to, however there are certain ways that we should put our opinions across: which is to NOT force them on other people.
At the end of the day, I think that it is absolutely okay for you to not be a religious person. It is your decision and you are entitled to your own opinion. I know that I am not a religious person as I don't believe in God or in anything that happened in the Bible. But if you are a religious person and do believe in God/the Bible (or whatever else your religious beliefs are) then that's okay too. There is no right or wrong answer. It is what you believe at the end of the day.
I am really sorry if anyone has been offended by this post as that was never my intention. Do any of you agree with me and think that it's okay to not be religious? Or do you believe that everyone should have some sort of religion? Please comment your thoughts down below as I would love to see what everyone's different opinions are.
Love Beth xx
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