Over the last decade or two, there has been a lot of discussions about Religion, about being Gay, and about Marriage. Now the California Supreme Court has made it legal, for a civil marriage, the Religious Right have vowed to fight on, but I wonder, are they not missing the whole thing about Religion and God? I mean, for some, the concept of homosexuality is an affront to their beliefs, which I can understand even. Seriously, I can, but what I can’t fathom is why they believe so vehemently that they are right, and everyone else is wrong?

See, to me, Religion is personal. How I choose to worship, to believe, is not for someone else to determine, but for me to decide, and I have a lot of issues with the way Organized Religion deals with the issues of today. Take their stand on Illegal Immigration as just one such issue, but there is more to all this. I mean the Pope recently visited America, where he felt it necessary to chastise the USA on its Immigration Policies, just as in a speech in his homeland of Germany, he condemned the Muslim Religion as being Violent, Radical, then later on while trying to bridge the gap between the Catholic Church and others, he claimed that only Catholics were granted salvation, because only the Catholic Church is the true Religion of Christ.

Now comes the story where a Church has taken out a restraining order on a family, to prevent them from bringing their autistic child to Church, on the grounds that he is unruly, disruptive, and prone to violence. And yet, even if that is all true, how can a Church do that?

A Catholic priest has filed a restraining order against the parents of a severely autistic 13-year-old boy in an effort to keep him from attending the church in Bertha on Sundays. (source – ABC News)

I can see where this is a difficult case, if what the Church alleges is true. However, I am rather surprised in that I was always of the opinion, that these are the very people who deserve to be treated with care, with compassion. I simply cannot believe that if Christ did exist, as the son of God, that he would order out of his Church any soul, who was brought to him. Just as I cannot accept a God of Vengeance either, as so many seem to believe in.

Now that is me, and yet, I wonder, isn’t religion supposed to be about love, about compassion, about turning the other cheek? Did not thousands walk singing into the arena’s to face the lion’s under the Romans? So they can’t accept an autistic child in their midst?

I wonder, maybe someone should send this Priest a copy of Morris West’s book, Clowns of God, part of his trilogy about the Catholic Church. We all want something to believe in, I know I do. Yet, why is it we seem to reach for the negatives only? Why do we insist that GOD is so unbending, so devoid of compassion that he would consign us to some dark fiery underground world, when he created us? See, I can’t accept that part of Christianity, that says his children should fear him, should bow to his wishes, no matter what.

Religion is a funny part of humanity. We want to believe in a hereafter, but what kind of place can Heaven be, if we are devoid of compassion, if only those who hate others for being different, who show no tolerances for those challenged by illness, are its inhabitants?