My fascination with religions stems back to my foster family days – the one just before I was adopted by my family now. Although later I would learn that they were Seventh Day Adventist, at the time I just knew that I went to church and started out in the church school.
Some time later I recalled the stories from Bible school and found a book that I had probably been given about man’s exile from the Garden of Eden.
Throughout my youth, I had a back and forth relationship with various Christian churches, but my skeptical attitude toward blind faith always kept me from a full acceptance to and in the church.
When I got married I went regularly to church with my ex and got heavily involved in the church. Until they chose to judge me for the circumstances of the dissolution of my marriage, I thought perhaps I had been wrong about organized religions. I questioned my atittude toward choosing colleges that were not heavily affiliated with religions. However, the reaction of those in the church I had put a lot of myself into and the friends that I thought I had invested in turned me away from ever going back to such a way of life.
Still, I am a lover of philosophy and a believer in knowledge.
A few of my college friends are Mormon and so I became interested in why and how they believed what they did. I got my hands on literature to understand, but instead just came up with more questions.
With the same curiosity, I have always been fascinated by the Church of Scientology. Aside from the fact that big celebrities like John Travolta and Tom Cruise are heavily entrenched in the faith, I just find it interesting. The idea of cults and religions is a curious thing as the human mind and spirit is so fragile that people want to be led to believe they are important no matter the sacrifice.
Upon conversation with some friends this week, I decided to watch a documentary on the CofS. Having done so, I am glad I did. It was really interesting. Although my suspicions about some of the beliefs based on rumors that were circulated in the media have been confirmed, I still find it so amazing at the ability of one man to convince a large population to accept what he believes as the truth.
I am more and more convinced that my skepticism towards any belief system is the right way to go. If I am considered stubborn or cynical, I am okay with that! π
~T π
