Sore thumb in a religious world.

Most of my friends are religious so I stand out like a sore thumb, when they discuss religion and festivals. What does religion mean? The word “religion” is roughly defined as a belief in a superhuman being. This belief includes practices and worship. There was a time, religious historians say that religion was easy to pinpoint because people were defined by their beliefs, practices and traditions of worship. Its rituals, its comforts, its function of guiding people through pain and helping them to change.

Now, with the sheer number of people and faiths intermingling, believers are consumers of religion. Religions are everywhere, available to everyone, in every color of the conceivable theological, ritual, and experiential rainbow
When we get the news that we have a terminal illness, or suddenly faced with our own mortality, we panic, as we still have not learnt the true meaning of life and death, and we can only pray. But there is also the cultural preoccupation with self-help mantras, and yoga that are examples of something undefined––spiritual maybe––or vaguely religious.
Like living a life according to one’s likes and dislikes. These teachings usually get described as spiritual, and spirituality and religion are kept separate by most religious studies scholars. If we spend more time introspecting, a torrent of insights may follow––that makes us consider things that have been taken for granted.”