#wow this is long..

I went to three Catholic schools and was raised in a Catholic family, immediate and extended. I took advanced religion classes in both my senior years and while we didn't attend church every week, we read a prayer in homeroom every morning and was raised strictly on Catholic values.

You don't get much more brainwashed than that.

Yet somehow, I still managed to understand that Catholicism is just a belief. Possibly through the study of various religions in my senior classes, possibly through the general media coverage of other religions, possibly through fiction novels or possibly through common fucking sense, I somehow realised to pick up on the fact that not everybody is Catholic. I realised that I myself lean more towards agnosticism, despite being baptised Catholic and largely identifying with Buddhist values.

This is the conclusion I came to.

There are basic scientific truths we know. The earth orbits the sun, the planet is billions of years old, there is a cycle of life, what goes up must come down. There are basic sociology truths we know: Women are more suspicious than men, people avoid repeats of bad experiences, everyone strives for acceptance in every aspect of their lives, we all want to have friends. And there are certain psychological truths we know: everyone is different, yet everyone is the same. That's really the only relevant one. We all need to believe in something. I believe in the power of love, and not just romantic love, but the love a parent has for their child, the love a teenager has for their friends, the love a teacher has for their work. I believe in the good in everyone and I believe that is enough. I don't need to believe in a deity to make sense of the world, or in a scripture. I don't need to ask someone else to fix things I find wrong in the world. But some people do, and that is okay. 

The thing is though, it's not a one-or-the-other case. Everybody believes something different. Sure, you might all be Christian, but that doesn't mean that you all have the exact same beliefs on every topic, ever. That's why Religious law isn't prosecutable in a court of law in Western society. Can you imagine if coveting your neighbour's possessions was a federal offence? Imagine spending a night in lock-up for using the Lord's name in vain, or having to get a lawyer because you idolised a celebrity. Yes, there are some universal truths - Thou shall not kill (humans) is taught in most religions and is law in all advanced societies - It's ridiculous, right? Especially if you aren't Catholic, or even if you are and you don't see the harm in wanting something better for yourself, and it just so happens that your buddy from work has a nicer car than yours. 

So if we're all agreed that The Ten Commandments - the ten basic truths of Catholicism - should never be considered prosecutable law, then why is it that people think that 'because the Bible says it's wrong' is a good enough reason to prosecute? Are they not the same thing? If anything, The Ten Commandments should be more prominent than vague references to homosexuality. Then there's the fact that the separation of Church and State is so widely enforced in public schools, but the complete opposite can be said for America's legal system. Is it true that witnesses still swear on the bible or to 'God'? Great big fat lot of good that'll do if they're swearing on a book they think is made up and a deity they don't believe in.