Today I decided to write about religion, even though (or because) I am no religious man.

I have often though that what makes people believe in something that just can’t be proven. And yes, god (notice the lowercase g) not existing can’t be proven neither, but most people don’t believe in the Loch Ness monster, even though it not existing can’t be proven.

I have also often thought that if I would all of a sudden start believing in some sort of entity creating this world, would my life change after that enlightenment? Would I start judging people just because they do something that the religion (I chose to follow) says that what they do is wrong?

Would I give my cape to the one who took my belongings (or what does the bible say that Jesus of Nazareth said?) Would I stop eating pork as the Muslims and the Jewish people do? Would I start using cannabis as the Rastafarians? The religion truly is an weird thing, as it has started wars, made peace and helped many people survive the most depressing times in their lives. But probably the weirdest thing in religion is, that many people don’t believe in god (or God) or any other “good” entity, but they believe that there is an “evil” entity, such as the devil. (I must admit that I am myself one of these people) What makes these people believe in the “great evil”, but not in the “all forgiving good”? Again, that is something I can’t answer, even though that is a part of the way I see the world and life.

(By the way, I just noticed that I make many questions in my texts, but I only give very few answers, I wonder why I do that.)

I’ve had some discussions about religion with my friends, and here’s one of them (translated from English to Finnish. Also note that he is an Lutheran)

Me: “Do you believe in God. God of the Christians?”

TN: “Yes”

Me: “What does religion mean to you? Does it somehow affect how you do things in your life?”

TN: “Well, I am a bit “over” believer. Most teenagers that are the same age I am don’t give a shit about things that have something to do with church, like confirmation camps (is that the correct word?) and such. I am like a “saint” when dealing with church and I don’t like it when people mock church, God and other things. I mean that of course I sometimes laugh at some jokes about religion, but still, I try to be serious with religion”

Me: “how do you think religion has affected your life?”

TN: “Church doesn't actually affect my life very much, but it's still a huge thing in my life and something that is hard to let go o”

All this has been published with the permission of TN.