Religion vs. the need to fit in

So recently I've noticed a trend among some of my old friends. Many of them are starting to turn to god and the church to help them find focus in their lives. I'm having a hard time dealing with the fact that some of my smarter friends can buy into this religious crap and really believe everything that their religion tells them.

Let me first start by explaining what my problem with religion is. I don't have a problem with people believing in a higher power, however I do have a problem with organized religion. My main problem is that people believe whatever their religion deems as right or wrong without logically thinking these things through. I call this "blindly believing." Please don't get all defensive if you are a blind believer, I was one too while I was growing up that is until I turned 18 and was allowed to think for myself. Blindly believing does none of us any good, I actually think it de-evolutionizes us. If we stop questioning and evaluating things for ourselves we are no different then sheep blindly following others around without figuring out why. One of the things that sets us apart from animals is that we can think and question why things are the way they are and so forth.

All that said, many of the values of religion are outdated and no longer valid. Let's look at the sex before marriage issue. As a logical person I can look at history and see why this was a good value for the church to promote up until about 30 years ago. If a woman had sex before marriage she had pretty good odds of getting pregnant since there weren't contraceptives. Woman didn't work then so an unwed mother couldn't support herself and of course no man would want her because she would be deemed a whore. So in the old days promoting no sex before marriage was a way to keep these things from happening. Now in this day and age this is no longer necessary. Of course a child growing up with 2 parents is of course more ideal and easier on society than having a bunch of unwed mothers around, but hey lots of people do it with success. Now we have contraceptives so if you aren't an idiot it's pretty easy to avoid unwanted pregnancies. For the church to suggest that having sex before marriage is still sinful is just silly. We all love sex and if you aren't hurting anyone, what's the big deal.

Moving on, this of course is just one example and I could really go on and on. If you are religious you should always think about an issue that the church has with something and then decide whether or not you agree. If you fail to think for yourself then you are just blindly believing. This is my major problem with religion. The church tells you what you should or should not believe. How can someone tell you what to believe! We all believe different things based on our own life experiences. None of us have lived the same life so we are all going to believe different things. Religion provides only 1 way to believe and live your life. It assumes that their own prescription for life will fit for EVERYONE.

The problem that I have with all of my friends suddenly becoming religious is that they have become religious due to hard times in their life which shows that when a persons life is in disarray it is very easy for a church to come in and miraculously save the day. It is the same as preying on the weak. Since these people haven't clung to religion in the past religion becomes this new, exciting thing and they feel the need to bring god up in every conversation or post on facebook. I don't get it. My sister is a strong catholic who is very involved with her church but she doesn't feel the need to talk about god all the time, post about him/her, or reference everything good that happens to her as a direct result of god. It is a little overboard for me. Yes you believe in god now, good for you. Now you can believe that all your sins and wrongdoings are finally forgiven. You no longer need to dwell over all the crappy things you did in your life because god loves you. So now you can act like this holier than thou person. Do you like talking about god so much because you are really trying to convince yourself that you believe in god or do you talk about him because it makes you feel superior to others who don't believe? This is what you need to ask yourself.

If you've been a crappy person in the past you don't need to turn to god to save you. You just need to forgive yourself and try to live your life in a better way because you know it's the right thing to do...it's common sense...you don't need god to tell you that.