It touches upon every part of our lives. Society nurtures us from the cradle and deposits us in our grave. From start to finish there is the the involvement of religion, typically some variant of Christianity in the context of Europe and America.
When one thinks about it one realizes that the church often manifests within the structure provided by the existing state. When we are born we are registered at a church. Before we are able to walk we are already defined as being of this faith, made official through baptism. And so this continues throughout one’s early life, both within the structure of the family and that of education.
As we make it beyond those stages in our lives where the parents were in more of a position to dictate one’s beliefs to us we then found that our hormones were starting to kick in. Before we even realize it we’re contemplating marriage.
Now while none of this may seem particularly terrible one has to point out that life is always easier when one goes with the flow. The mettle of a society is only truly tested when one breaks from such artificially determined predestination.
A heterosexual male middle-class staunch catholic is less likely to feel at odds with the system than a homosexual female working class pagan might. Taking the aforementioned example one can clearly imagine the difficulties in finding acceptance within a such a society. The problem becomes more pronounced when one realizes that it is not just the status-quo religion of Christianity/ Catholicism that rejects the individual who dares to be different - but the entire state. It negatively affects that person’s right to be herself, to practice her religion, to raise her kids as she feels is right, to participate in society, at the work place, at the hospital… the dominant religion imposes itself upon her life no matter which way she turns - even making her sexuality an issue.
When one looks at the exception one finds the faults in the system revealed in the most stark of fashions. The church not only regulates the lives of the chosen but oppresses those deemed deviants by its own yardstick - making their lives a Hell on Earth.
Yet should this really be the case? While the church structure is promotional of solidarity its invasive permeation of society seems to have been allowed to go far further than it ever should have been. The freedoms and lives of individuals are compromised in totalitarian fashion while the same church sets up a lucrative situation of donations coerced indirectly through fear - but to go there would be to go beyond the scope of the topic.
More shall be written on the relationship that ought to exist between church and state and shall be included in a follow up. The purpose of today’s contribution is merely to point out the existence of the reality of the situation.
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