My belief in God

I am a Roman Catholic. I believe in God. I believe that Jesus was the Son of God and the Redeemer of Mankind. I was baptised in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. I was educated in the Catholic school system of Scotland. I made my reconciliation, my First Holy Communion and my Confirmation in the Catholic Church that I attend every Sunday. I was brought up in the faith of my family and will aim to bring up my children, if I have any, in the same religion.

Religious people are often criticised for forsaking science and being backwards for believing in a higher power. My beliefs are based on the marrying of religion and science. For me there are too many coincidences and random chances for there to have not been a God to have started things off. I believe in the theory of evolution. I believe the Old Testament of the Bible is an allegory for the events which created life. It was written over two thousand years ago when people didn't have the solid facts of modern day science, which still does not have all the answers. That is not to say it is all allegorical. There are historical facts and scientific data for the various Kings and of course for the prophet Moses. The New Testament also has its flaws but as it was written by different people at different times there will still be facts. An once again there is historical evidence for Jesus being real.
Another part of my belief in God is the presence of religion or some form of belief in superior beings in a lot of cultures throughout history. The Ancient Egyptians, Romans, Mayans etc. all believed in powerful beings. And most cultures have some notion of an after-life.
But truthfully I just believe. I have faith.

In recent years it has become acceptable to 'bash Catholics' for the despicable crimes of some, a small minority, of Priests and Nuns in Catholic institutions throughout the World. I detest that everyone gets dragged down for this tiny portion of people. What they did was wrong and unacceptable and certainly is not condoned by the Church as a body of people. But what everyone seems to forget is that unacceptable crimes took place in other institutions, run by other groups of people. I'm not trying to say that anything is justifiable but the comedians who make these jokes should remember this. I can laugh along when comedians who were brought up in the faith slag it off, but when someone is just trying to get a cheap laugh by alienating people different to them (and this goes for anybody for who alienates whether anti-gay, racist or anti-religion). Self deprecation not alienation.

For me Catholicism is about inclusion and acceptance. Catholicism means universal. I have no ill feeling toward anyone regardless of religious background, skin colour, sexuality etc. I have a lot of friends who are homosexual and I have do not believe they will go to Hell. If God made them that way then why would this be a sin. At the same time I do not push my beliefs on other people. If they are not interested in Catholicism or Christianity or simply do not believe in God then whilst the topic may come up I will certainly not be ramming religion down their throat. This is why I get annoyed with people who do. I respect you regardless of belief system so why do people think that it is okay for them to tell me I'm 'backwards for believing'. And yes at the same time I am annoyed by 'extreme' Catholics and Christians who try and force others to share their views, especially on matter such as family planning and homosexuality.

I hope that this has been interesting and informative. Feel free to leave comments.

AEx