thread: 2006-09-08 : Picky-choosy religion, 3 views
On 2006-09-08, timfire wrote:
If you believe your cats are worthy of worship, and that inspires you to be a more compassionate, thoughtful, connected person, is that wrong? What if it's your stuffed toy cat?
This is a VERY big *IF*—-if your (toy-)cat inspires you to be a better more spiritual person, then yes, it's worthy of worship. The real question is whether mixing and matching religious traditions honestly leads to a more spiritual happier life.
In all honestly, for some people, it does. But will it be that way for most? I don't know the answer. Some people have been hurt by established religion, and the only way for them to recapture spirituality is to distance themselves from established religion. That's cool and understandable. But I've also met many with that attitude that are doing it for reasons other than an honest desire to improve themselves. They're looking for an easier life without having to give up certain things they enjoy, but might be actually hurting them (like bad relationships or messed-up priorities).
I believe that those people with an honest spiritual desire tend to sort that stuff out in the end. As Jesus himself said, "a tree will be known by its fruit" (or something like that). Those people who display an honest, err, goodness are all right by me. But that type of honest desire is rare, even among the religiously "devout".
This is a very difficult but important discussion, and I suspect one without easy answers.
