Tim's Religious Biography

Most of my life I have wondered what it would be like in our world without organized religion…....not in the atheist sense or the Marxist sense, but a world where people just 'were'. I think this curiosity developed with my early trinity growing up on the East Coast. My mother abruptly left the Catholic Church when she was only 19, and this was in the 1930's, when women did not do such things, especially with no support groups, S.N.A.P. or community acceptance. So obviously my mother felt the early sting of doctrinal abuse or possibly physical abuse at the hands of the servants of the Almighty. The second part of my trinity was my father who was brought up in an accepting Quaker home. There was no war there. There was no onward Christian soldier signing, just a sublime acceptance of all as sharers of the light of God, whoever that might be. The third and equally important part was the somewhat distant guidance of professors at Eastern Seaboard colleges who lectured about the origins, shared stories, myths of not just Christianity but all the religions, including the Egyptians, the Babylonians, the adherents of Zoroastarism, Mithraism. The latter were always identified as blue prints of modern Christianity. The most sobering experiences were at the holidays when most neighbors in the Colonial town of Westfield were celebrating Christmas and Easter as original religious holidays. Soon I learned, luckily before too much dogma seeped in that they were all solar, stellar or lunar festivals with a new icon. So pretty much the Santa Claus, Easter Bunny and the Jesus myths died at about the same time in my mind. God bless them all.

Of course during these times anyone who brought up evidences, theories or proofs outside the accepted religion mind set was a heretic, atheist, pagan, or a hand maiden of Satan. Kind of like the more fundamentalist beliefs of the Mormons, Muslims, Evangelicals, Catholics and the like.

As I got further into a religious experience I found out many things that I wish everyone was at least they could make up their own minds. First all religions have their own holy icon, their own holy book, their own holy doctrine, their own holy church and their own holy arrogance. Ever wonder why there are over 2000 church denominations in the USA alone? And of course their way to God is the only way; the rest of you brothers and sisters are headed to hell...'have a nice eternity.’

After that it was just a matter of time...our founding fathers? Not Christians...Jefferson, Paine, Washington, Madison, Monroe, Franklin...agnostics, atheists, and deists. Next fact all religions have stellar solar lunar origins...many think the Ark was theirs, that the Garden was theirs, and prophets theirs.

So after that, the rest is history, or it should be. As John Lennon sang Imagine………..

One of the worst aspects of religion is the exclusivity factor. Oh yes there are loving and healing messages in the higher teachings of Jesus, Buddha, Mohammad and Krsna, but don't even mention that to a devout follower of a certain religion, especially Christians, Muslims and Jews.

-Tim