Over the last couple of weeks, we have seen religious views taken to the most violent extremes. However, squabbles over religion, faith, beliefs, etc. take place everyday.
Whenever the arguments begin, the others are always wrong. Even amongst people of the same faith or religion, it is next to impossible to find two people who can wholly agree with each other.
I was discussing this with a friend late last week. He told me about a book that he had that covered this topic in great detail: The Nescient’s Book of Religion by Dr. Jim Kirk.
My friend let me borrow the book over the weekend and I found Dr. Kirk’s research rather impressive.
He takes each religion and breaks it down into the base fundamental beliefs. As he points out in his conclusion, the overall similarities are striking.
After reading through the book, I took it back to my friend and our conversation about Dr. Kirk’s conclusion led to what we feel is an idea worth considering.
Even though most religions are polytheistic, they all have a chief god/goddess or a deity that is “more important.” Others believe in a type of “force” or even nothing at all.
Under this deity in the “believers’ faiths” there are “lesser beings,” i.e. other gods/goddesses, saints, angels, or demons, name a few.
Then of course there are the practices, laws, afterlife beliefs … Well, you get the picture.
Our proposal, in its simplest form, consists of a “Chinese menu” of beliefs, practices, deities, etc from which you can choose to form the faith which best suits you. Besides, this is what mankind has been doing for centuries. Only now, it would be in a more organized, but nonetheless complicated, form.
To start off, you have your choice of one of the “Prepared Package Religions,” such as Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and any other “-ism” you can think of.
If you just cannot seem to find the one that suits you, then you can try the “Create-Your-Own Religion.” Here, you have total freedom of choice over what you believe.
You start out with the name of your chief deity. Then, you just go down the form, picking the options you like the most. You can worship Thor, pray to his warrior-saints while facing Copenhagen, fast once a year, and go to Valhalla after you tire of reincarnation.
Or, you can worship only Jupiter Optimus Maximus, honor him by consuming offerings of good food and great wine in his name, serve him by freely bestowing your seed, and follow his path so that you can live for eternity in the heavens.
You have 100 percent freedom of choice in this. If you want, you can choose to believe in nothing. If you don’t like the idea of only one chance at life, then try a little reincarnation. The decisions are yours to make and the possibilities are endless.
Nonetheless, people do change over time. Maybe they are just not too happy with their choices. This is no problem at all.
The contracts under our system are not binding in that sense. Unless you have an anti-apostasy clause, you can change options or even deities if you want. However, you must follow the moral and ethical guidelines that are laid out under the practices of your contract.
It is important to understand that under this system, you do have freedom of worship, beliefs and practices. Basically, unless your actions are harmful and/or deadly to people or nature, the state will not interfere.

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