Religion is an ever-present force in the world and is often used as an excuse for events on a daily basis. It doesn't matter what religion it is: Christianity, Catholicism, Judaism, Muslim, Buddhism, Hinduism or any of the several others. The Crusades were multiple wars that were executed due to promises that had been made by the church. World War II was started on the principle that an entire religion was to be blamed for the troubles of a man with a complex. Even now, ISIS terrorizes the world because of religion. It's almost a given fact that in society, no matter when or where, religion will be used as an excuse.

A majority of people have used religion as an excuse at least once in their lives, whether intentional or not. Those who follow a religion use their god(s) as a baseline for everything they do. Atheists more often than not use the lack of religion as an excuse, saying or thinking, "I've done nothing against the law so why does your god care?" Young Christians and Catholics are raised to ask themselves, "Would God approve of this?" before doing anything. The Bible is used as a reference point for explaining why something is wrong, normally to children. However, in the past few years, the Bible has been used more and more to "explain" why homosexuality, bisexuality, pan-sexuality, asexuality or anything other than heterosexuality is "wrong," with Old Testament verses and only for convenience at times.

There are some questions I want to ask everybody, however. Why do people condemn those they have no right to judge, never having met them a majority of the time? Why are there heterosexuals demanding a parade and months, when we can sleep at night knowing for a fact that our parents won't hate us because of whom we love? When has there ever been a time when heterosexuals would be arrested if we made it publicly known that we loved someone of the opposite gender in a sexual sense? There hasn't been one and never will be.

I was raised with the belief that the Lord loves everyone, made them in His image and exactly the way he wanted them to be. However, even my mother believes that a sexual relationship is ideally between a man and a woman. Even if this is her opinion, she doesn't pretend to understand homosexuality or act like it is her place to judge.

I'm unable to understand how there are people in the world who are so extraordinarily contradicting. How can you tell someone that they are the way they are because the Lord made them that way when discussing a mental illness or disability, yet tell others they chose to be that way and can stop whenever they want to when discussing whom they love? That someone will tell their child that God loves them just the way they are, yet tell another's child or even their own, that they're an abomination and God will punish them for whom they love, disgusts me. Does anyone have an answer for why, besides the fact that they just don't want to accept them?

People seem to remember Old Testament verses when it suits their needs, yet conveniently forget verses that say eating pork is a sin, having sex out of wedlock or for anything other than procreating is a sin. They ignore that even looking at another person with sexual intentions is a sin! Not to mention divorce, adultery, masturbation and body piercings, which are all very common in today's society. My mother has been married four times, divorced three and lives with a man who is not her legal husband, despite us being unable to find him for them to divorce. My stepfather, a man who has raised me since I was 8, has been married and divorced twice and lives with my mother unwed.

So why is it so easy to forget what is considered a sin and then remember when it benefits you? When the New Testament was written the rituals and laws of the Old Testament became unnecessary. Where we could not eat pork, grapes or apples, we now can. Where mixing materials for clothing was wrong, we now do so in a daily basis. Let us not forget that the Bible was written by men, and men are fickle creatures by nature. Even with the Lord telling them what to write, how are we to know what is and is not a sin? How are we to know that we are correctly reading and interpreting what was written?

I suggest that we stop judging what is and is not a sin and live our lives using what we know to be right and wrong. Let the Lord be the only judge able to condemn us to hell for whatever we may do. Focus on following the Ten Commandments, the only set of rules written out and explicitly stated, and let the Lord judge my friends for who they do or do not love and my family for whatever sins they've committed. The Lord is a kind yet wrathful being that no one truly understands, so do not tell me what he is thinking when he sees people in love, just because you do not agree with it. Most of all, do not use my religion as an excuse for bigotry and prejudice.