by Sari Krosinsky
Daily Lobo columnist
I was recently reminded of something that I couldn't really forget: anti-Semitism actually does still exist. In one of my classes, someone declared that Jews -- because we don't follow that person's religious beliefs -- are wrong and in our hearts we know we're wrong.
When I stopped being blindingly furious about the statement, it reminded me of something more significant: a lot of people are really hung up on being right about religion.
This hang up, aside from causing people to utter random statements that tick me off, also leads people to do things like crash planes into buildings, occupy other people's land, hold inquisitions, excommunicate people, burn people -- you get the idea.
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People have a funny way of using religion to justify violence, to such an extent that a lot of people see violence as an inevitable result of religion. But being a fairly religious person myself, I'm not willing to throw religion entirely out the window just because some people do very bad things with it.
On the other hand, I was beginning to really rethink this business of studying religion. That was until I heard what someone had to say in another class. This second person, who also strongly declared her belief in her own religion -- Catholicism -- did not condemn anyone else's belief. On the contrary, a big part of her idea about what it means to follow Jesus is to practice forgiveness and unconditional love. Though I don't share all the particulars of her beliefs, my respect for her faith and her dedication to putting her faith into practice reminded me of the reasons I started studying religion in the first place.
Still, one could prove that any and all religions have contained elements both of compassion and violence. So what's the point of it all?
I have yet to meet a person who doesn't want some source of fulfillment and a sense of purpose in life. I'm not going to argue that religion is the only way to get that. Plenty of people have found other means -- love, science, community service, children, et al.
All of the solutions that people find have a flaw. With love, we can't know if the people we love will continue to love of us. With science, we can't know whether the theories we hold stock in today will be overthrown tomorrow, or whether the useful inventions of today will be the weapons of mass destruction of tomorrow. With community service, we can't know how much good we're actually doing, or whether the good we do now may in the future be undone. With children, we don't know whether they'll follow a path that will give us pride or a path that will make us fear for them, or even lose them.
Whatever solution we choose, we just can't know.
The same is true of religion. Those who follow it can't know -- at least in this life -- whether the particular beliefs of a particular religion are true. We can't know if G-d even exists, let alone whether this or that religion has the right idea about what G-d is or what G-d expects from us.
Some people choose to handle this uncertainty by simply insisting that they're right and everyone else is wrong. Some carry their insistence to the point of death.
Personally, I don't find that option particularly appealing. But there is another option, an option that can be used for religion or any other life purpose we can imagine. That option is faith.
We can have faith that our children will find a way to be happy. We can have that our community service will do something good for somebody. We can have faith in the existence of G-d. We can faith that something, whatever it is, will carry us through and give meaning to our lives.
And if I have faith, the details aren't so important. I can admire -- not just tolerate -- those who happen to practice their faith in a different way than I do. I don't have to condemn anyone, and no one has to die.
Share epiphanies with Sari Krosinsky at michal_kro@hotmail.com.
