Talking about religion - Round 2!

[Anita Cholaine]

Organized religion just has never worked that well for me. I do believe in God, and that there is "life" after death, I cannot dismiss the existence of the other side, if that makes sense. But I don't believe that being a member of any certain religion is an automatic ticket to heaven, I think being a good person is the most important thing.

I couldn't agree more on this. Actually, one of the reasons why I stopped going to my church, is that I got tired of seeing so many people singing and praying out loud pretending to be the perfect Catholic. I know that lots of them are not good persons outside church. God knows what it is inside your heart better than anyone, no matter your religion.

[Sophist]

In any church there are going to be 'bad' people who seem like they are trying to come across as perfect examples of the sect. Yeah, some are just hypocrites. And some may be troubled people pouring themselves into the religion to try and help themselves gain the strength to cope with and correct the rest of their lives. In my estimation, it is really up to God to decide who falls into which category. I won't let trying to judge their worth determine my own involvement in the religion, or let trying to figure out their personal struggles distract me from trying to fix my own shortcomings. The way I see it, there's no such thing as a perfect Catholic, Jew, Mormon, Pentecostal, Muslim, or anything else. And any time you start expecting anyone else to be more perfect, you probably need to pause and take stock of your own issues.