Personal Narrative: Unlearning Religion

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Socrates’ words, “an unexamined life is not worth living” best sums up my beliefs. I have no doubt that scrupulous examination of myself, as well as other philosophies and religions, will improve myself as a person. Perhaps enough thinking will even lead to enlightenment, but I am so far removed from that goal it would be foolish to consider the idea. The essay Unlearning Religion by Marianne Williamson best describes these beliefs. She writes that in today’s modern world, “our attention has been diverted away from the inner domains, the realms of true religion and spirituality, to the outer world.” She places importance in finding the truth within oneself, an ideal that I firmly support. Self-examination is also a concept I found important …show more content…

The premise of the essay is I, as well as everyone else, should trust God to give me the strength and resilience to make it through tough times. However, that requires me to believe God is on my side, and there are heavy implications that follow that belief. Having God on my side means I am good because God is good. It also means I am blessed with the divine strength of God himself, that I am special and God specifically chose to lead me, not someone else, through tough times. All these are assumptions I must make without careful thinking, and careful thinking is the core of my belief system. Trusting blindly in God without careful consideration is the unexamined life not worth living. In addition, it is an incredibly arrogant, ignorant, and a potentially dangerous perspective. Although unconditional and secure faith may sound desirable, history has consistently proven otherwise. For instance, the Ku Klux Klan thought God was on their side, and “the shadow” of minorities had to be purged. To them, live human beings were the unfairness and problem that God wanted them to fight. Similarly, the conquistadors thought killing and drawing innocent blood was a small price to pay for the conversion and salvation of the indigenous people. When Kushner draws the conclusion that we live in “a scary, out-of-control world, but it doesn’t scare me, because I know that God is on my side, not on the

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