Religion often asks that its adherent give up a piece of their personal identity in favor of a prescribed construct of what that religion has deemed acceptable. If not this, at the very least, then the followers of religion determine what acceptance they will grant or deny based upon personal interpretations of their religious texts. I believe this may be a simplification, but it is how I've come to see things. When given a choice, people often seek out a place that serves as a bolster for existing beliefs and to find a sense of community with like-minded individuals. For the people that choose the communities they're a part of, it serves as a comfort zone. For those who are born into it, it can either serves as a source of comfort or a place of increasing alienation.
Between the ages of six and seven I witnessed my mother reading from a blue book with an image of a rosary on it. (It was a prayer book.) I had no idea what was special about the book at the time; I was simply aware that it was only one of my mothers two pieces of preferred literature. My mother's other read of choice? The Enquirer. Had I known the depths of it then. For me, the conditions of religion were the loss of my youth by my attempts to survive the dogma of a person that I should love more than I do now.
Between the ages of six and seven I witnessed my mother reading from a blue book with an image of a rosary on it. (It was a prayer book.) I had no idea what was special about the book at the time; I was simply aware that it was only one of my mothers two pieces of preferred literature. My mother's other read of choice? The Enquirer. Had I known the depths of it then. For me, the conditions of religion were the loss of my youth by my attempts to survive the dogma of a person that I should love more than I do now.
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