Growing up, every Sunday I woke up knowing I had to put on the most uncomfortable pair of pantyhose for a grand total of an hour and 30 minutes. Sunday meant church. I was raised on Christians values and we certainly had our beliefs, but the older I got the more I started to explore the understandings of other religions. This was not necessarily to change my beliefs, I just wanted the understanding of people's beliefs outside of my own. It pained me to hear the judgment people had toward other religions simply because they didn't understand them.

I was raised Non-Denominational, but I had friends that were Methodist, Muslim, Jewish, Deist, Catholic etc. We all had our own beliefs. Muslims celebrate Ramadan, the Jewish culture read from the Torah, Catholics celebrate Lent. However, we all shared one common understanding of putting our faith or spirituality into something or someone. That is what the focus of religion should be. I feel that our society is so focused on what people believe. The worst part is that we are blindly judging with no understanding, and that is not what I thought religion was about.

That is my problem with organized religions, they create an easy way for people to focus on the labels rather than looking beyond the surface. We are not seeing the value in what other people believe because we value our own beliefs too much or just feel the relationship is too different from our own. We feel that our understanding and “connection” is more meaningful and beneficial and that should not be the case.

There is no right or wrong. Of course, there are legal limitations but morally, there is no superior belief system. You have no right to judge someone because their religious views are different than your own. That is essentially saying that what they believe is inadequate. We need to focus more on the core of religion, and that is worshipping in a way we feel benefits our own spiritual awareness.

Why does it matter if he is Muslim or she is Baptist? The labels are simply ways to keep people from truly understanding each other. The root of religion is faith. Whether it’s in God, the moon, a statue, or yourself, people put their faith in something when times are good and especially when times are bad. That is the bond we all share and I think that that is what people forget.