I was raised Catholic. I attended Church on Sundays, sometimes said grace before dinner, and was completely comfortable believing in God. However, throughout my childhood and early teenage years, religion became a smaller and smaller part of my life until it drifted, for the most part, out of my life. Although religion was a part of my life for much of my early childhood, I never felt like I really could connect with, or relate to all that was being said in church or any of the passages I would read from the bible. For whatever reason, I have never felt particularly connected to god, or to any texts or passages in the bible. Then, one night a couple years ago my parents and I began talking about my lack of religion, and our growing lack of religious lifestyle as a family. They wondered if they had done me a disservice by not raising me more religiously, however, I did not feel the same way.

While religion for many, including members of my own family, is an outlet, or guidance, it never served quite the same purpose for me. This led me to believe that some people don’t necessarily need religion in their life, while some simply turn to alternate sources to gain the same source of morals, or faith in life. I believe that despite my personal lack of religion, I had a similar thing shaping my life. I had faith, and spirituality, which for me serves the same purpose for me as religion does for many others. I also have spent my summers at a summer camp in Maine, which set the tone for me on the morals and qualities that I strive to embody. I have spent time connecting to the outside world through a lack of technology, which, for someone who was born and raised in New York City can be a much more spiritual experience simply due to the contrast between New York and the camp. At this camp, there are also moral qualities or traits which each member of the camp strives to embody. These qualities make up what we call the ten component parts, which for me, when put together have created qualities that embody the person that I strive to be. I think that religion does provide a great basis for a moral compass, however, as someone who doesn’t fully believe some of the principles of religion, I personally felt that it was for me. However, subconsciously I was given a basis to substitute religion for beliefs and morals than were largely based more upon ideas than a religious text.

For me, one of the reasons that I haven’t relied on the spiritual basis of religion simply goes hand in hand with my personality, and my optimistic outlook in life. Despite the curses of being an optimist, being an optimist brings some of the light that religion brings into others’ lives during tougher times. I tend to always to imagine the best possible scenario, instead of the worst, which at many points will let me down, however, it does constantly provide a similar natural faith as is often present in any religion.

Thus, to me, religion and spirituality, serve the same purpose, simply I choose to show my faith in life, and humanity in an alternate way. The similarities between the two have assured and guided me, as I have learned to understand why it is that I am able to live without religion.