I define religion as the old way of living life, it is the beginning and end of every religious person who entertain the idea that they are far more superior to everyone else on earth. I also define religion as a form of mental and physical slavery that has bound people and made them afraid to live their life the way that they want based on a non-existent concept.
Faith, as I define it, is a strong belief that everything, no matter how bad or dismal, is going to work out. It is what keep people from completely succumbing to life’s woes and problems and choosing to commit suicide, it is what has always made people believers in a religious entity or that their deity will come through for them. According to Groff & Smoker (1994), “Religion is ubiquitous, but it is people’s belief in their religion that gets them through the day” (Groff & Smoker, 1994).
Spirituality is the study of different religious sects that gives people a different way of living their life, it can impact everything from what a person does to what a person eats. It gives people a sense of belonging based on the perspective that there is something or someone bigger than themselves looking out them, forcing them to consider questions such as what is the meaning of life or how is human life viewed on a cosmic scale; if an afterlife exists.
I personally feel that the role that religion and personal faith plays in the world is that it gives people a comfort that they never knew before, it has allowed many people to believe that God or whoever they worship is watching out for them. Also, they believe that their god is making sure that they get where they are going and keeping them safe from harm or allowing them to live long enough to reach that goal such as trying to be as perfect as their god. Personal faith can be a light in the darkness, it has made people appreciate themselves as well as their personal belief system that drives them to get up in the morning and go to bed at night.
Where I am spiritually in the present day, is non-religious; where I was, a follower of the Christian faith. I do not believe in religion or even serving a deity. I believe in me and it has always been enough to get me through anything that might or might not happen, an example of this is when I am trying to find an answer to a question, I will be less likely to look to God to answer my question or to provide me with an answer because I do not believe in him. Furthermore, I personally believe that those who are deeply religious are too dependent on an invisible force to handle the harsh realities of spending a harsh life alone and it can be a little depressing when you cannot count on the deity that you are going to church to pay homage to every Sunday. From experience, my spirituality is all about counting on me and my atheist beliefs. According to Travis (2013), “Certain arguments about how a person’s views of religion is unique to them” (Travis, 2013).
Based on my own personal religious biases, I do not believe that they will present any obstacle to the religious world because atheism is all about belief in oneself instead of a deity with infinite knowledge of the universe. My religious biases might become an obstacle if my belief system needed to change for a different reason such as if I changed it just to please someone or arguing my religious biases and views are right while everyone else’s is wrong. Ultimately, my religious biases do not and will have nothing to do with any religious study or become an obstacle in a religious study.
In conclusion, based on my own personal religious biases, I feel that being true to myself instead of entertaining the religious perspectives of yesteryear is more important. Also, I can argue that where a person is spiritually when they are 11 years old, is not the same place that they will be when they reach the ages of 15-35. It cannot be argued that a person’s religious studies and views can hardly become an obstacle if they do not believe in God.
References
Groff, L., & Smoker, P. (1994). Retrieved March 2, 2016, from http://www.gmu.edu/programs/icar/ijps/vol1_1/smoker.html
Travis, M. C. (2013, August 11). Is Personal Religious Experience a Useful Argument? Retrieved March 2, 2016, from https://hcchristian.wordpress.com/2013/08/11/is-personal-religious-experience-a-useful-argument/
