Freedom From Religion?

In my World History Honors class in 9th grade, I learned about the process of Westernization and how the foundation of America was formed. My teacher asked the entire class, "Raise your hand if you are a Roman Catholic." Only me and two other girls did. Then he went, "Hmm. Now raise your hand if you are a Protestant." The rest of the class did. He then explained that the reason why there are more Protestants in this country is because that was the major religion of those who founded America. They were able to spread their beliefs easily before any other religion in the near future. Okay, that's enough history lessons for today. The reason I bring this up is because I recently fell in love with the song, "Same Love" by Macklemore. I thought he was just some white guy trying to be the next Eminem. But this song really opened my eyes and I became more accepting of who he was as a person. He is a Catholic who supports gay marriage. 

Now all of my friends already know that I am a practicing Catholic. But many others are shocked when I reveal this information. "But Ally, you're so accepting of everyone!" Here's why: As a young girl, I never paid attention in CCD (Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, or AKA Catholic education) nor to any sermons my priests gave during Sunday masses. All I knew about church was we sang, stood up for long periods of time, knelt all the freaking time, and at the end of mass was cracker time (Eucharist, or receiving the body of Christ as bread) and then we left so I could go home to play video games. As I grew older, I started really listening to the sermons more closely. I thought there was something wrong with me every time I went to church, it seemed. It was like a diagnosis every Sunday. If I fought with my brother, I sinned. If I skipped Mass last week, there was a spot waiting for me in Hell. If I didn't pray at night, I wasn't able to go to Heaven when I died. These rules became (I'm sorry if I offend any of you religious people) silly to me. 

One of my friends invited me to her youth group. She's Protestant. I thought I would have been ridiculed. But I was totally wrong. I felt so much more accepted than I ever was prior going to masses. It opened my mind in such a way that I started thinking about what I really believed in, not what the church was forcing upon me. By the way, this is in no way a hate speech about Catholicism or Christianity at all. It's about my views on life.

I consider myself to be a Cathostant (half Catholic, half Protestant). I do truly believe that there is a God watching over us. I believe that when we die, we go to Heaven and Hell is only for those who have proven themselves al evil (dictators, mass killers, etc.), not for those who commit suicide or have mentally unstable like how every Catholic believes. I don't, however, believe that I need to confess my sins. If God can find it in my heart to forgive me, then I know he will. I don't need to tell a priest any of my wrongdoings, it makes me feel like it's not between God and I anymore, it's between me, God, and now some old guy in a robe. Now here is where people question my Catholic practices. And if saying this next part gets me kicked out of the Catholic church, well I'm sorry that God gave me a voice. I am a very strong supporter in the two largest debates in all of history: gay marriage and abortions. This is going to sound stupid to most of you but I was watching Family Guy (*ding ding* stupid alert!) and Lois' parents only married for money and called gay marriage an abomination. She responded, "So two straight people who hate each other have more of a right to get married than two gay people who love each other?" So many people call it a fad to be gay or bisexual. I say it's a way of life. If you're gay, cool! Go be with your partner and be happy. I hate how everyone uses the Bible as an excuse to not accept Homosexuals in the marriage ritual. Did you know that the Bible also says you can't have sex before marriage and re-marrying are abominations as well? Yes, it acquires straight issues, too. And I bet more than half of you who read this have committed one, if not both, of these two sins. As for abortion, I would never abort my own child. That's just something I have always stuck with. However, I do not have the ability to ever force another woman to do the same. I will support any girl through any decision they happen to make, including abortion. That is their choice, not mine. I told this to my American History Honors teacher and he said, "That was the most mature response I had ever heard from a Sophomore in all my years teaching."

I do not wish to be debated with. If you try to tell me I'm wrong or a "bad Catholic", well then I'm just going to let you yell at me so I can say, "Are you done?" and if you say yes, then I will respond with, "Good, because I was done before you opened your mouth". And if you were a true Christian, you would accept me for who I am. And the rest of the religions? I don't care if you're Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikhism, Animist, Atheist, Deist, or whatever religion you happen to be. If you're nice to me, I'll be nice back. It's not in any of my good nature to convert anyone in any way. They say "All are welcome!" Yes, but only if you believe in exactly as they do.

Believe what your heart tells you,

Allison