Personal Narrative: How Religion Changed My Life

Ever since I was little, belief in God has been drilled into my head. I was taught to never question God’s existence, to always be faithful. However, recently, as I have been becoming a more curious adolescent, I wonder about religion. I wonder why people put their blind trust into a being that no human has ever seen. I think religion is very important, but there is no actual proof of this higher being, God, to exist except for the Holy texts (the Bible, the Quran, the Torah, etc.)
One rainy day, my Spanish teacher decided to keep my class 20 minutes after the school day had ended. The whole class was being punished with detention because a few kids did not complete their personal narratives four-paragraph essays for Spanish class. School ends at 2:20 PM, it was already 2:50 PM when I arrived at the bus stop for the bus that usually takes me home. I was aware that the next bus would be at 3:30, and that was too much time to wait. I could be home in fifteen minutes if I walked home. Though it would be tiresome walk after a long day of school, I decided to walk. Before that, I went over to

my friend and asked her if she would join me. She agreed. So, off we went.
On the walk home, my friend and I joked around.

We talked about high-schools, stress, funny puns, and the latest technologies, like Virtual Reality. As her feet splashed against the water from wet concrete, arbitrarily, my friend, Andy, asked me a peculiar question. She said, “What are your opinions on religion and God?” of course, I had wondered about this before, but not as deeply as I did this day. I told her I strongly believe in a God because I am Muslim. She started talking about how the existence of God actually can’t be proven. I agreed with her, but I also said not everything has to be scientifically proven to be true. We talked some more about how religion has caused a lot of wars. We wondered about how the world would be without religion. The fear of God, whether it be Jesus, Allah, Yahweh, etc, has kept many from doing wrong, or what is thought to be

wrong.
We were talking so animatedly that we did not realize we were not very quiet with our conversation. When I was right outside my home, a stranger from behind us said something. He said, “Excuse me, ladies. I don’t mean to be nosey or anything, but I couldn’t help myself because your conversation was so interestin’. I agree with a lot of things you said, but I think God is real. Sometimes, I doubt my faith. But then I believe again. If there is one thing I can tell you, is that this world would be lost without religion.” With that, the elderly man gave a small smile and walked away. Andy and I exchanged “He makes a good point” glances and said our goodbyes for the day.
To be honest, I was a little shocked that someone would find our conversation interesting. I just thought it was just another one of my and Andy’s crazy philosophical conversations that really made no sense. Not only was I in shock because the man talked to us, but because I felt so betrayed. I felt betrayed because it could be true. God could be just an illusion someone made up to keep society in line. My parents always taught me to never doubt God, but for the first time, I was glad I didn’t follow their directions. I’m still a faithful Muslim, but I was glad I could open my mind a little more and understand others’ perspectives. If there is a God up there, maybe s/he intended for me to not be stubborn about my beliefs. Possibly, s/he intended for me to become more enlightened on the subject of her/his existence.