So, you want to learn what I know of religion, what I think of it, and what mine is. Well, I shall try to be straightforward, which is hard to do, especially with a topic such as religion.

     I guess I shall start with a bit of history, so you can see where I came from. When I was young, I mean really young, we didn't really have much in the way of religion in the house, I mean, sure we said prayers before mealtimes, but it wasn't really a religious thing, more like a family tradition, something we just did. Then, one day we decided tp check out some of the local churches to see which one we prefered. We ended up settling on the Delaware United Church, ministered by Rev. Susan Eagle. Susan was one of the more liberal ministers I've met, placing more of an emphasis on being a good citizen then on being a good Christian. She was involved in many community organizations, setting a good example for those of us in the church. Around the time I hit grade 8 or so, I think we just stopped going to church on Sundays, it was a fine social gathering, fulfilling a functional role in providing social cohesion(This is the functionalist sociologist in me talking now) but my brother was never much interested in going(he prefered to sleep past noon on Sundays if possible). I still kept believing for a while, but then I realised that my spiritual needs simply weren't being fulfilled by Christianity, and so I began my search.

     My search for meaning took me down many paths, on my shelf is found the Bible, the Koran(I can never remember the proper Arabic spelling of it...), Seven Taoist Masters and The Power Of Compassion. Within these and the traditions they represented, I found the truth, yet it was not necessarily MY truth. That is the conclusion I have drawn about religion:

   All religions hold the truth, however, it is up to each of us to find that truth which best suits our own spiritual needs.

     Religion must be an individual choice, it has to be something that you choose because it fulfills YOU. I found my religion in a sort of a factor analysis style. This is really simplifying things, but I found common elements within the religions that most appealed to me. I found that, associated with the full moon, in all of these religions, was a female goddess, and these various goddesses shared certain traits. The goddess aspect that I pay homage to is the Lady of Compassion, Guan Yin to the Taoists, which religion has had a large impact on my life lately. Yet, I do not limit myself to just the traditional imagery of her, as she is not usually associated with wolves, and so the idea of the Huntress enters in, the Lady who first laid her claim upon me. I do not know if the gods actually exist in the real world, nor does it truly matter, for they exist within me, and that is the only place that really matters.


(Since writing that, I've done a lot more soul searching, and gained some better language... What I have is spirituality - it's about a personal connection with something else. It's a guiding way of looking at the world, it is my metaphor. It's not something that has a lot of community connection, and as a result, I'm not pressured to believe any one thing. It's really rather freeing... Plus which, I get to sleep in on Sundays.)

     I have often looked around at the conflict between religions, in fact I wrote a paper on it just a month ago(if you want, I can e-mail you a copy, it got an A). Too often religion has become concerned with power, control, dominance. When this occurs, the religion has lost direction. ALL paths are the true path, they are merely different branches of it. When one branch believes itself to be the path, a mistake has been made. We must remember that religion is to be an individual phenomenon, something an individual chooses because that branch fulfills them, gives meaning to them, gives them hope.