Personal Faith

As citizens of the defining western culture, it is no secret that there is one thing that rules our lives. Built into every form of media, studied as a science, breaking people into demographics; impersonal numbers that represent dollars, is advertising. Commercialization can be said to be man’s greatest sin—the demeaning concept that everyone has a price, that people are a commodity to be bought with ideas and sold to the lowest bidder. The true tragedy of our obsession with hollow brand names or our undying loyalty to the cult of bigger is better is that our souls have literally become for sale. Just as any great company is defined by it’s logo, so goes religion. Do we really need to be sold on the ideas of faith? Is it really so important that we be constantly reminded of our faith through an endless stream of symbols, holidays, rituals and prayer. It is my contention that no, we do not. True faith needs not remit to these commercial pressures.
The most obvious religious concept that has gone horribly, horribly wrong is that of the ‘holiday.’ Once defined literally as ‘holy day,’ this has become an excuse for humanity to largely ignore any reverence of what the day represents, choosing instead to turn its attention to taking advantage of this week’s greatest discount prices. The entire concept has become a putrid marketing scheme, so much so that uttering the word ‘holiday’ with a terrible taste in the mouth. To begin with, one who is truly strong in faith should live in perpetual reverence of what is holy; truthfully, there should be no need to set aside days of the year that represent especially ‘holy’ days. One should live each day as a holy day. The idea of a ‘holy’ day weakens what is holy—it should be true that something that is holy is always holy, not on a specific day or month or moment, but always, and we as the faithful should recognize the holy as such. The idea of Christian holidays is further tainted by the fact that they fall on or around the same day as pagan holidays, so as not to be overshadowed by the ‘heathen.’ (Fieser pg 333-334, Livingston pg 146). This sort of petty jealousy is a mockery of what one would perceive as ‘holy.’
The idea of religious space is further manifestation of man’s ignorance to true faith. The religions of the world believe that God, or the powers that be, are everywhere­—in all things—but space is set aside specifically for worship. This concept seems to contradict the omnipresence of God or The Gods. It is said that “Consecrating a place is equivalent to founding a world, a cosmos out of chaos,” (Livingston, pg 44). The idea that a particular place is ‘holy’ is a testament to the weakness of human faith. Every step, every breath, every flower and every wall is holy. Every experience is a gift from the heavens-sorrowful experiences can be lessons; joyful experiences can be blessings. These holy moments needn’t be shoved into a cubby-hole of space, these holy moments should be in the open air, where the Gods intended us to experience life. God didn’t build churches or erect altars—these are the works of humanity. God created the wind, the tree, the rain. God has blessed us with the beauty of nature, and reverence of good should occur everywhere, not just at a specific place. Currently, there is a debate over the placement of a mosque, an Islamic house of worship, near a site of a terrorist attack. This debate would not exist in a faithful world, for in a world of fully developed faith, every square inch of the earth would be holy and religion would not act as divider.
Even more of a detriment to religion is the worship of religious symbols. Each of the major religions seems to have developed a logo, something that can be displayed proudly to show what team you root for—religion has been relegated to the marketing ploys of sneaker companies and sports teams. These symbols, once meant to represent the death of your savior or the leadership of your forefathers are now for sale on every city corner, plated in gold or platinum, diamond crusted and featured in the least holy, most demeaning ways—flaunted with half nude women or else defined as the inspiration for the latest call for violence and greed. The use of the religious symbol as a twisted representation of faith is certainly not new; the crusades pitted the cross against the scimitar and dying in these battles assured one of eternal salvation. The third reich used the symbol of the Jew against them, forcing the Jewish to be represented by their star, a representation that meant almost certain death. Religious symbols have done more to divide the people of the world than to unify; it seems to me that most religions ascribe to peaceful ideologies and the love for your fellow man, but this peace and love is nowhere to be found. Religious symbols have become one of man’s most simple tools for separation.
It will be a wonder if we don’t, in our lifetime, see the development of mascots for the various religions—they already have cheers! People gather regularly to sing their anthems and recite their chants, almost as if they were a fan at a sporting event. “LET’S GO, GOD!” The tales of their victories are long written in the pages of religious texts­—the defeator of demons, the savoir of humanity. Slayers of giants, healers of the sick. These stories reflect the same reverence offered to the legends of sport. These Gods don’t deserve this sort of childish homage; they shouldn’t be emblazoned on posters and hung on adolescent bedroom walls. They should be truly revered! They aren’t common victors; the Gods ARE victory! The Gods are power! The Gods aren’t awe inspiring, they are AWE itself! These texts serve only to water down the power of the word of the Gods. Repeated over and over until they can be spoken in one’s sleep; too often they are. They have become meaningless mumbles of the disinterested, the mundane ramblings of commonality.
Finally, I will address the idea of the relic, the talisman. This is such an obvious attempt to take advantage of the weak-minded, the weak in faith, and the strong in pocket. Since the dawn of man, the idea that an ordinary object can be the embodiment of a heavenly power has held man entranced. Everyone has a lucky penny or stone, a lucky article of clothing; these basic talismans expected to decide the outcome of a game of chance, or define one’s fate in a positive or negative manner. How dare we entrust our fate to anything but the holy themselves? Who is it that has blessed this object, given it it’s magical powers? God? The mere thought of this is disgusting. The world is literally a floating orb of suffering. Disease, famine, pestilence, violence, greed, inequity and pure, unadulterated filth swirl about, taunting superior powers with their ability to trod down the common man, and we are to believe that God cares so much about your poker game that the time was taken to bless your socks? The true tragedy is that religion plays on this idea! The concept of the holy relic, for sale to the highest bidder, authenticity guaranteed. Maybe Billy Graham’s sweat rag, full of all that god-fearing goodness. The money all goes to an honorable charity, we promise. This is, after all, a non-profit organization!
If these statements seem cynical, friends, I assure you, cynical is an understatement. The fact that the idea of the holy has become so warped that it is defined by time, or space, or object—all of which are man-made—is a travesty of epic proportions. What man really needs to do is take a step back and realize that true faith, true religion, is expressed in every action and in every place. Are you caring for your brother the best you can? Are you caring for your earth the best you can? None of us is as great as all of us. Nowhere else can life be sustained as it is here on earth. It’s about time we stepped up and started living truly religious lives. Honor the Gods by doing everything you can to take care of everything you can. No time or place or book will define this for you. Only your actions will define you and your God.