Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

 What do I even say about this, I have so many thoughts about religion and God. My Grandma’s very Catholic and my Mom and Dad were both raised Catholic. I’m baptized and I’ve had my first communion in a Catholic Church, but since, my views have changed. When I was younger I never consider not believing in God or Jesus or the Church or whatever. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve come up with my own beliefs. I don’t really believe in the bible or God per say, at least not what the bible says God is. I feel like there has to be some sort of spiritual world after ours, but I don’t know what it is. I think it’s silly for people to pretend they know what happens after you die or what’s beyond our world.Maybe it's not that I feel like there HAS to be something after we die, but I want to believe there is.  I don't want to just disappear, for my soul to go away. Catholicism gives people security, it tells then what they want to hear. That they won't actually die and the bad people will be punished and that they will get to live in paradise forever. I'll tackle most of the blog referring back to the Catholic Church because its what I know, it's the most experience I've had with Religion. 

I don’t understand religion, it leaves me utterly confused. The Bible for instance, supposedly these prophets wrote it, but why should we believe them? Why should we trust them? Maybe these people are just writing a book to fit their own agenda. People in powerful places are writing rules to get other people to do what they want them to. How is it that so many Catholic Priests (men of God, am I right?) can sexually abuse kids? (Including little boys) Aren’t these the same people preaching against not only sexual abuse but also homosexuality? I guess I just don’t get it.  I’m tired of our society being closed off to people, denying them their rights. I’m a firm believer that everyone should be able to marry. My Mom always says that 50 years from now people will look at our struggle to legalize gay marriage in a similar light to the way we look at the civil right movement.Warning: I'll connect anything I can to gay rights, it's sort of my thing.

In the Catholic Church women can't be Priests or anything of the like, just Nuns. I'm sorry, but what? Did the Church just decide to turn a blind eye to the past century of women's rights and our struggle for gender equality? Guess so. If Lutherans can do it (My best friend's mom is a Lutheran Pastor), why can't the Catholics?

Religion can be good and useful and all that stuff, but too often it harbors a close minded mentality if not fear if not hate. And if "God" or whatever exists, then I think he is angry. Angry because people are using him to keep humanity from furthering itself by arguing about who should be whom, who should do what, and who should love whom.