Religion is meant to reconnect us to God and our fellow man. The word religion means, “To rejoin, to put together what was separated.” It is ironic that religion actually adds to the separation of people through the judgment of other’s religious beliefs. When everyone is pointing their fingers at everyone else and saying things like “it should be this way”, “you are wrong”, “this is the right way to believe” it only serves to drive a bigger wedge between mankind. It’s not about others preaching how “things should be,” it’s about our personal relationship with God. The truth is that it does not really matter how you reconnect yourself to God and your fellow human beings, but that you JUST DO IT.
RELIGION vs. SPIRITUALITY
Religion is an “external practice” and spirituality is an “internal practice”. Religion is a possession and Spirituality is a way of being. Being “religious” might look good from the outside, but can fall short of how Christ would want us to be. Religious practices point a finger and say this is the way “it should be done.” Spiritual practices work at making the person better, more loving, etc. Spirituality has no need to point a finger at others -- for their life is the example. It is unfortunate that usually those who promote church and “Godly ideas” are religious, not spiritual. Their message is one of separation because they focus on judgments rather than being better people. That goes for every religion from Baptist to Zen. Buddhists, Catholics, Baptists, Wiccans, etc; can all be religious or spiritual practices. To me whatever you label your religion is like skin color. Great people can be found in every race/color.
One last thought, if God is Omnipresent (everywhere), then s/he must also be in all of us. If s/he is not in all of us, then how can God be Omnipresent???