We Need to Calm Down

My dear friend and I stumbled onto the topic of religion one weekend by the pool. She was a self-proclaimed “religious person,” and I, a recovering religious person, I did not talk of faith very often as I did not have the energy to listen to the damnation of my soul more often than I already do. With a typical German warning of “if this is too personal, just tell me,” which Americans never need because our personal information line is only violated when we are asked about sex, she asked, “when did you first doubt your religion?”

I just recounted the story for my aunt the week prior, so I had my answer ready. “It was when I was 12 years old,” I responded. “I was reading Left Behind, do you know those books?”

“No.”

“It is a book series about the rapture.”

“What is that?”

“It is an event referenced in the last book of the Bible and precedes the end of the world. The rapture is when all the “true” believers’ souls are taken to heaven (their bodies turn to dust like in Avengers Endgame), the war between good and evil begins, which eventually destroys the earth and it is swallowed up into hell.” I rambled. “anyway, it is a book written about that part of the Bible; for children.

“What?”, she balked, never actually closing her mouth. “Stop. Why?”

We examined our religious perspectives for another hour, discussing the differences between American and German liturgy while attempting to deconstruct how the same religion might end up being taught to each of us so differently.

I was left with this lingering thought: the common religion of today, and of my childhood, is based on fear, focused solely on the unknown. Rather than fix what we observe as broken and love those who warmly exist, rather than invest in the community in front of our own eyes, we avoid, hate, and ignore. We abdicate all agency and responsibility in service of an unknown power who may or may not damn us to hell for eternity.

In the wise words of Taylor Swift, we need to calm down.