My God Is Better than Yours: The Hypocrisy of Religion

Faith is hope and confidence in a belief, person or object. Initially, people were so impassioned by their faith in their beliefs, that they felt the need to share their ideas with others. People began discussing and interpreting ideas, thus, adopting their own beliefs to form their own personal faith. Then along came religion; self-proclaimed “Holy Men” recorded and standardized faith. Beliefs are a matter of opinion; there are no right or wrong answers. However, once we decided to organize faith into religion, we solidified the beliefs and designated how people should react to those beliefs. By establishing a religious dogma, religion left less and less to self-interpretation, causing faith to become less about spirituality and finding inner peace, and more as a rulebook on how to win the game of life. In When She Woke, by Hillary Jordan, the protagonist, Hannah Payne, has her faith transformed through her experiences as a Red. As she begins to question her religion and its hypocrisy, Hannah develops a newfound faith in herself and humanity as she begins to think for herself for the first time.

Saying one thing and doing another, religion is hypocrisy at its finest; at least politicians know they are scum. Many religious people love to tell others how to live their lives, yet fall short of living up to their own examples and expectations. Religion was supposed to teach us forgiveness and understanding, but for some reason many have taken on Saint Peter’s job themselves, as though their religion endows them with the divine right to pass judgment upon others. Many do not stop to consider another’s situation or perspective until faced with a similar predicament, as in the case of Hannah who, prior to her chroming, never could just...

... middle of paper ...

...egard ourselves as better than someone else. Lastly, it reminds us not to hide behind religion; it takes much more than belonging to a church to make us a decent person. We must follow the Golden Rule and treat others the way we would like to be treated. We must remain focused on our path of righteousness but understand that straying away does not mean god has forsaken us and it definitely does not mean we should forsaken ourselves.

Works Cited

Freeman, Martin. " Our Ongoing Mission – The Road to Jericho." http://www.themonastery.org/aboutUs. Universal Life Church Ministries. Web. 13 Apr 2014.

Jordan, Hillary. When She Woke. 1st ed. 1. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2011. 344. Print.

"Petition urges White House to classify Westboro church as hate group." Reuters. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 27 Dec. 2012. Web. 13 Apr. 2014.