When someone becomes overly insistent and aggressive about the truth behind their deeply held religious beliefs, I like to remind them that their beliefs are almost certainly predicated on geography.
For the vast majority of people, religious belief simply correlates with where they spent most of their childhood.
It’s not a belief found or discovered, but a geographic one.
In the United States, for example, 63% of Americans are Christian.
But let’s be honest:
If these same people were born in Saudi Arabia, they would almost certainly be Muslim.
More than 98% of Saudis are Muslim.
If they were born in Thailand, they would almost certainly be Buddhist.
More tha 90% of Thais are Buddhist.
If they were born in India, they would likely be Hindu.
More tha 80% of Indians are Hindu.
If you were born in Israel, you’d likely be Jewish.
More than 75% of Israelis are Jewish.
But it’s not only geography.
Roughly 86% of people who identify as Christian today say they were raised Christian, meaning that Christianity is not only geographic but also inherited.
The same holds true for other religions as well. A vast majority of people around the world identify with the same religion as their parents.
Spiritual belief is not found, discovered, or unveiled through introspection, deep thought, and study.
For most people, religion was given to them by their parents and determined by their longitude and latitude.
So relax, if you’re one of those overly aggressive religious interlopers.
I’m not saying that your geographic, inherited religious belief is any less important, meaningful, valid, or spiritually satisfying than any other belief (or absence of belief).
But if you’re attempting to impose your geographically based, inherited beliefs on others through political, legal, or economic means, you should remember that the fervent belief you have for your religion would almost certainly be a fervent belief in a different religion had you been born somewhere else or been born to different parents.
Your religious belief may be true to you, but just remember why you probably think it’s true and let others believe what they want, without judgment or condemnation. or persecution.
