There is so much wrong with religion. And there is so much right with religion.

Seeking to understand our origins, our place in the universe, has been an objective of mankind since our first bite of the apple. But it has always seemed to me that it must be a very personal thing. The quest and the ultimate acceptance of our origins and destinies rests within each of us. We are free to believe what we may.

I am very suspect of those who say they have all the answers and try to force them upon others. And part of this goes back to the documents that many of us use to help chart our course through life. Whether it be the Bible, the Koran, the Torah or any other document passed down for thousands of years, it seems doubtful that through all the millions of retellings, translations and lost and found pieces, that we have word for word copies of the original teachings, stories, etc. I have seen how stories change between beginning and end when something is whispered to eight sets of ears at a party.

I am not discounting these documents but I am very wary when religious leaders say we should accept every word as we see it today. We have seen consistent examples of religious leaders who use these documents to give legitimacy to their quests for political and military power.

Every religion, at one time or another, seems to become compromised by leaders who turn religion into a weapon of power and control. Ironically, religions founded on peace and love, have filled the world with death and violence. And we see it today.

Perhaps this is the fate of all organized religions and should lead us to return to seeking our own individual answers to our origins.

I don’t really have any answers except to say that I personally believe that some superior being has indeed dealt with all the complexities of life and our existence on this beautiful planet. And that when I gaze into the heavens on a quiet, clear cold evening, I am over whelmed and yet calmed by the universe that is my home.

I pray to that superior being in thanks for the ability to think for myself and in hopes that mankind will never be deprived of the freedom to seek out the answers to our origin and our destiny by ourselves.

I have written a new poem “The Bible” that discusses my hopes to find guidance there, as well as admitting that it has not provided me with answers to all my questions. In many ways it seems to show that human emotions and the way we treat each other hasn’t really changed in all these years.

Glenn K. Currie

The Bible

I have never understood the bible.

Love and violence written to confuse.

I don’t know whether to be afraid or reassured.

Are the psalms really meant to be sung,

“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death?”

Or are they a tune to whistle by the graveyard?

They seem lost among so much anger.

Like summer flowers pressed

Between the pages and forgotten.

Copyright Glenn K. Currie 2015