Context: B mentioned that he didn't understand religion and that it all seemed pretty pointless to believe. Anyway, why do people believe?

I don't think the concept of God is that foreign to an individual. For myself, when i step outside, and I see the sky, i see people, I see all the ones i love around me, I think... wow this world is fearfully and wonderfully made. I am probably privileged and living in a place that does not see as much suffering and have myself never suffered from poverty or starvation before. Maybe i might speak differently if my situation was changed.

But still, for now when I look at the night sky, when i think about the human body and how it works, I think that these are all awesome designs. Maybe it was natural selection that got us where things are-- even then when I think about the processes of natural selection and adaptation, how wonderful it is that such evolution exists. How did such processes come into place? And that's when I think about an Architect whose design we are still trying to investigate, categorize and put into order.

So... to me the concept of God, a higher being than myself... is not too foreign. I can imagine why people might think about a god.

Then what about religion? Well... that makes sense to me too. I can see how religion came into place and why people chose to subscribe to a set of beliefs. I think at its core, (apart from its role as a rationalizing view to see the world) religion was very much about living well and about how to live with each other. Most religions have guidelines on how not to harm yourself and they have rules that dictate how society should organize itself. It seemed that in a large way, religion in the past used to function like a social contract.

Religion was in a way kind of like an ideology. A belief on how we should live life together.

But religion parts ways with ideology in the sense that the concept of "Truth" is associated with religion. And this i think is where it all breaks down. The moment someone else's truth threatens the tenets with which i've used to support and build up my community, my structure and paradigm is threatened. How do i deal with competing truths that may be at odds with what I have built my whole community and life with?

I don't have an answer for the world. I don't think God or religion is silly. But I do think we humans can be silly. For myself, I know I'm struggling with my own faith. But the God I am trying to pursue, and the relationship i'm trying to have with him... I'm trying to make it an honest one. One that is not so quick to call others a lie and one that weighs options carefully. In the end, i think i want to get back to the core of religion: to live well this life and give love to others.

Micah 6:8 -- He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.

let my cry come unto Thee.

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Further context: This post was borne from a conversation with B on the recent furore over the building of a mosque on Ground Zero. It kind of skipped, hopped and then ran away from the main topic of discussion about the American conflict of maintaining the rights embedded in their founding principles and the people's choice. But we did agree that for all the flak and weird policies derived, the rights that Americans so vehemently fight over, does make them a rather reflective people. I mean, its the freedom of discussion and publicly accessible opinion-editorials that make people react and think.